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Christopher L. Avery (Director)
Christopher Avery, a US and UK national, is an international human rights lawyer who founded Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in 2002. Based at the Centre’s London headquarters, Chris is responsible for managing the global organization, ensuring the quality of its work, and overseeing implementation of its strategic priorities. Chris’ remarks about the Resource Centre’s work have been featured in Financial Times, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, SocialFunds.com, Reuters Television, and Der Bund (Switzerland) . He has been a speaker at United Nations side events, including “The workplace: Addressing racial discrimination & promoting diversity” (UN Durban Review Conference side event, co-organised with Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), “Engaging NHRIs in securing the promotion and protection of human rights in business”, and “Follow the money – How companies are impacting human rights: corruption, payments to rebels, inequitable contracts, tax avoidance, transfer-pricing" (co-organised with Global Witness). Chris has spoken at conferences held by, for example, World Economic Forum (Davos); Public Eye on Davos (the alternative World Economic Forum organised by NGOs); Roundtable of National Human Rights Institutions; UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights; International Seminar on Business & Human Rights; Foundation for Human Rights (South Africa); CSR Asia (Hong Kong); Amnesty International; Avocats sans Frontières; UN Global Compact Learning Forum (Brazil); International Council of Mining & Metals. Ethical Corporation magazine named Chris to its list of "15 leaders who made a difference in 2007...the 15 individuals from business, politics and civil society who have done most to push forward the case for responsible business”. The magazine recognised him “for making the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre the key internet human rights information source for companies, NGOs and others”.
From 1983 to 1995 Chris worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, first as Legal Adviser, then as Deputy Head of the Research Department (the department then comprising 130 staff in 6 units: Africa, Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Legal & Intergovernmental Organisations). His work at Amnesty included representing the organisation at the United Nations, undertaking research missions and trial observations in various countries, ensuring the quality and impartiality of country research, and serving as a member of the Senior Management Group.
After leaving Amnesty, Chris conducted independent field research on the extent to which companies were contributing to development and human rights projects in South Africa, India, Thailand and the Philippines. When he returned to Europe, he discussed human rights issues with multinational companies preparing to adopt human rights policies. He researched and wrote Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change, a 108-page report published by Amnesty International UK. He also served on the Advisory Group for the business & human rights project conducted by the International Council on Human Rights Policy (Geneva), which resulted in the report Beyond Voluntarism: Human rights and the developing international legal obligations of companies (2002).
In late 2000 he founded the Business & Human Rights Resource Website, which became the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre in Sep. 2002.
His publications include:
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Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change (London: Amnesty International UK, Feb. 2000)"Business and Human Rights in a Time of Change," in M. Kamminga and S. Zia-Zarifi (eds.), Liability of Multinational Corporations under International Law (The Hague: Kluwer International Law, 2000)
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"Business and Human Rights," in V. Iyer (ed.), Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Essays in Honour of Nani Palkhivala (New Delhi: Butterworths, 2000)
In 1997 he was Stanford University's seventh Visiting Mentor - a programme sponsored by the univeristy's Haas Center for Public Service that "brings distinguished professionals in public service to a week-long residency on campus, where they speak with students, faculty and staff."
Chris was educated at Columbia University School of Law (LLM); University of California, Davis, School of Law (JD; Order of the Coif; Corpus Juris Secundum Award - awarded by faculty to graduating law student who “made the greatest contribution to legal scholarship”); and Stanford University (BA, Honours; recipient of Weter Prize – awarded by History Department for outstanding honours paper of the year: The Treatment of Black Prisoners of War by the Confederacy: The Case History of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment).
Chris is fluent in English, with some Spanish & French.
Joanne Bauer (Senior Researcher, New York Representative, HIV/AIDS Project Manager)
Joanne Bauer is a specialist in environmental issues, human rights, international policy and Asia. From 1994 to 2005 she was Director of Studies at the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (New York), where she founded their human rights program and environmental values program. She was the Council’s Director of Japan Programs from 1991 to 1994 and before that held positions in banking, government affairs, and broadcast media.
Joanne has organised, led and spoken at workshops, panel discussions, and seminars in the US and abroad. At the Carnegie Council she developed and directed the fellows program, which attracted each year over 350 applications for five to nine fellowships designed for early career scholars and mid-career professionals.
Joanne was founder and editor of Human Rights Dialogue, a magazine published by the Carnegie Council from 1993-2005 that featured the perspectives of scholars, activists and other policy makers from around the globe working to put human rights theory into practice. She edited Forging Environmentalism: Justice, Livelihood and Contested Environments (ME Sharpe, 2006), that presents new case material on environmental politics researched and written by leading Japanese, American, Chinese and Indian scholars. She co-edited The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights(Cambridge University Press, 1999). Joanne served as a contributing editor to the journal Ethics & International Affairs, editor of Dialogue OnLine, the on-line companion to Human Rights Dialogue, and has authored numerous articles, reviews and conference reports. She wrote "The Challenge to International Human Rights", which appeared as a chapter in Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization, Mahmood Monshipouri et al, eds (ME Sharpe, 2003).
Joanne earned her BA from Colgate University and her MA in International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
Joanne is fluent in English & Japanese.
Malena Bengtsson (Project Researcher)
Malena Bengtsson, a Swedish national, works part-time on the Resource Centre’s Business & Children Project (currently developing a special portal on the subject), and half-time on the Centre’s Corporate Legal Accountability Project (including the portal which profiles human rights lawsuits against companies worldwide). In early 2010 she worked on the Business, Conflict & Peace Portal. She has also been involved in updating the Resource Centre’s running list of company human rights policy statements.
In 2009 Malena worked as an intern at the Resource Centre. Before joining the Resource Centre, Malena completed a traineeship at the European Court of Human Rights and interned at the Permanent Swedish Delegation to the OSCE. She has also worked with law firms in Sweden and the UK, specialising in family and immigration law. She volunteered with Amnesty International Swedish Section and Lund’s women’s shelter. Malena has a Masters in Human Rights and Intellectual Property from Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden), and a Masters of Laws from Lund University. She is fluent in Swedish, English, French and Spanish, with some Italian.
Aliou Diouf (Francophone Africa Researcher & Representative, based in Dakar)
Aliou Diouf is a Senegalese human rights advocate and lawyer.
Aliou joined the Resource Centre in April 2009. From his base in Dakar, he has primary responsibility for covering the entire francophone Africa region, from Mauritania to Madagascar. In 2010 Aliou undertook a research mission to the Kédougou region in southeast Senegal, where a number of mining companies are operating, to receive information about concerns raised about companies’ impacts, as well as positive initiatives by companies. In Kédougou he met local NGOs and advocates, as well as company representatives. He is planning a mission to Niger. Aliou represents the Resource Centre at local meetings and regional conferences organised by NGOs, business and government. He was interviewed about the Resource Centre and his work for the May 2010 issue of “Business & Community” [PDF], published by Be-Linked, a Paris-based corporate social responsibility organization.
Aliou was previously Legal Advisor at Geneva for Human Rights, an NGO that provides training on the UN human rights system. Before that, he interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania) and at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva), and worked with the World Trade Organization. He also worked as a social worker at a residential refugee centre in Geneva for many years.
Born in the village of Yenguélé, Senegal, he was educated at secondary school in Fatick, Senegal, and at high school (lycée) in Dakar. He obtained his PhD in International Criminal & Humanitarian Law from the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies in Geneva. His doctoral thesis on universal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity was supervised by Professor Andrew Clapham. He also has an LLM in International Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from Gdansk University in Poland. He has completed human rights and international law short-courses at the International Institute of Human Rights (Strasbourg), Geneva International Peace Research Institute, United Nations – Geneva and University of Helsinki.
Aliou’s publications include "La lutte contre l’impunité en Afrique. Enjeux et perspectives", in A. Ayissi & D.L. Tehindrazanarivelo (eds.), Les défis de l’Afrique au XXIe siècle (Geneva: Graduate Institute for International Studies, 2005)
He is a member of human rights NGOs including TRIAL (Track Impunity Always) and REFORMAF (Réseau de formation et de recherches sur les migrations africaines, specialised in migration issues).
Aliou is fluent in French, Polish, Serer and Wolof, and has strong English.
Harpreet Kaur (South Asia Researcher & Representative, based in Delhi)
Harpreet Kaur is an Indian human rights & development professional.
Harpreet joined the Resource Centre in August 2010. From her base in Delhi, she has primary responsibility for covering the entire South Asia region, from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. Her tasks include drawing attention to the human rights impacts (positive & negative) of companies in the region; highlighting under-reported cases and concerns raised by civil society; seeking company responses to alleged abuses; undertaking research missions; and building contacts with local NGOs, companies, journalists and government representatives.
Harpreet is also currently working as an independent consultant and managing social affairs journalism training projects for BBC World Service Trust and Panos South Asia. Prior to this, she worked with BBC World Service Trust as a full-time Project Manager and Research Officer where she handled Trust’s work in Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Harpreet has previously worked for organizations including Partners in Change (editing the publication “Business and Millennium Development Goals – A Primer for Indian Business”), ActionAid India, Voluntary Action Network India, Doordarshan (Indian public television), and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
In 2003 Harpreet served as an intern at the National Human Rights Commission of India and later worked on a project with the Commission.
Harpreet received her PhD from University of Delhi in 2008. Her dissertation, “Terrorism and human rights: a cross-cultural study in Jammu & Kashmir”, involved extensive field research examining how terrorism impacts the economic, social and cultural rights of all ethnic groups in the region. In 2003 Harpreet received a post-graduate diploma in Human Rights Law from National Institute of Human Rights, National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She also has an M.Sc. degree in Anthropology and a B.Sc. degree in Zoology, both from the University of Delhi.
Harpreet is fluent in English, Hindi & Punjabi.
Mauricio Lazala (Head of Latin America and the Middle East & Senior Researcher)
Mauricio Lazala is a Colombian national, an international lawyer with human rights experience in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe.
Mauricio joined the Resource Centre in 2006, where he serves as Senior Researcher and manages the work on Latin America and the Middle East. He also coordinates research on private military & security companies, and manages the “Business, Conflict & Peace” project. His work has taken him to Latin America, where he meets with local NGOs and companies. His visits to the region have included leading a training programme for staff at the Andean Commission of Jurists in 2006, two regional consultations of the UN Special Representative John Ruggie, meetings with leading human rights NGOs, and interviews with a financial newspaper in Colombia, and a radio station in Peru. At the United Nations in Geneva he has organised and participated in three side events, on topics ranging from the role of business in zones of armed conflict to the human rights impacts of tax avoidance by companies. Mauricio has published articles on business & human rights in Spanish.
He was previously a law clerk at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he worked at the Investigation Division of the Office of Chief Prosecutor. During 2002-3 Mauricio worked in Mexico for NGOs including the Mexican Commission for the Protection and Defence of Human Rights, and Espacios Alternativos, working on a microcredit program for low-income women. He also lectured in a course on international human rights and humanitarian law at Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights. In Israel, Mauricio was Outreach Coordinator at B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and worked at the Public Committee against Torture in Israel.
Mauricio was educated at Cambridge University (Law degree, Honours), where he was president of the Students’ Law Society of Wolfson College. While at Cambridge he published "Solutions for the Israel-Palestine Conflict" in Per Incuriam - Magazine of Cambridge University Law Society (2004). He obtained his BA in Political Science and History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he co-founded the first human rights student organization in Israel. In 2001 he participated in the International Human Rights Exchange course at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Mauricio is fluent in Spanish, English & Hebrew.
Abiola Okpechi (Anglophone Africa Researcher & Representative, based in Cape Town)
Abiola Okpechi is a lawyer and human rights advocate.
Abiola joined the Resource Centre in 2007 as the organization’s first researcher in Africa. She covers Anglophone Africa from her base in Cape Town, and often meets with local and grassroots NGOs, and with companies, operating on the continent. In 2009 Abiola undertook a research mission to Zambia to talk with local NGOs, companies and others about human rights issues relating to the mining sector in that country, including concerns raised by Zambian NGOs about how tax avoidance by multinational mining firms was impacting the ability of the Zambian Government to fund health care, education, etc. In 2010 she undertook a mission to Ghana, to talk with NGOs, companies, the national human rights commission, and government about human rights issues relating to the country’s emergent oil operations. Abiola has taken part in regional consultations by the European Investment Bank, International Commission of Jurists and the UN Special Representative on business & human rights, John Ruggie. In 2008 she attended the International Seminar on Business and Human Rights in Paris, marking the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2007 and 2008 she was one of the preliminary speakers at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s annual “Sir Geoffrey Chandler Speaker Series” event in London, presenting an update on key business & human rights developments in Anglophone Africa.
Abiola's previous experience includes working as a Refugee Counsellor with the University of Cape Town Law Clinic, and before that, as a Legal Officer in the Human Rights Unit of the Justice, Development & Peace Commission (JDPC), Archdiocese of Ibadan, Nigeria. She has also worked as a legislative aide in Nigeria’s Senate where she provided analytical and research assistance, especially for bills having a human rights perspective.
From 1998 to 2001 Abiola was the Abuja (Nigeria) Representative and Human Rights Coordinator for the Center for Development Action, where she coordinated the organization’s reproductive health and children’s rights advocacy programmes and served on the drafting panel of Nigeria’s National Reproductive Health Policy, and on the National Committee for the International Year of Volunteers (IYV 2001). Between 2001 and 2003 Abiola served as a facilitator/trainer in the North-South Centre’s annual summer university course on Human Rights in Molina, Spain, and as an intern with the International Federation of Women Lawyers in Ibadan. There, she was part of the Federation’s election monitoring group during Nigeria’s 1999 general elections.
Abiola is author of “The protection of children and young persons under African refugee law”, the result of field research she conducted in the UNHCR refugee camp in Oru, Nigeria.
Abiola is currently studying for a PhD at the University of Cape Town, where her thesis examines the accessibility of the South African justice system to refugees and asylum seekers. Abiola was also educated at the University of Ibadan (MSc Humanitarian and Refugee Studies); Nigeria Law School Abuja (BL); and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (LLB, honours).
She is fluent in Yoruba, Hausa and English, and is continuing her studies in French.
Gregory Tzeutschler Regaignon (Head of Research & North America Manager)
Gregory Regaignon is an international lawyer whose academic background includes degrees in African Studies and International Economics.
Greg has been with the Resource Centre since helping establish it in North America in 2003-04. Greg's responsibilities include coordinating the Centre's research work and missions, and supporting its regional researchers. He has helped to develop and launch three of the Resource Centre’s portals, on Corporate Legal Accountability, the work of UN Special Representative John Ruggie, and “Getting Started” (an introduction to the subject). He regularly makes presentations and moderates discussions on business & human rights, for example at Amnesty International chapters; Business Leaders Initiative for Human Rights; Business for Social Responsibility’s annual conference; Cornell Univ. School of Industrial & Labor Relations’ labor rights webinar series; and Responsible Endowments Coalition. His engagement with Tiffany & Co. about its sourcing of rubies from Burma was featured in a Financial Times article profiling the Resource Centre’s work.
Greg was previously an associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, a leading international law firm based in New York City, where he focused on restructuring sovereign, project and corporate debt in emerging market contexts, and on pro bono political asylum, domestic violence, women’s rights and civil rights matters. He has worked with Human Rights Watch in New York, the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, and the Legal Aid Institute of Indonesia, focusing on issues of labour rights, corporate responsibility for human rights, the environment and civil/political rights. He also served as an election monitor for Indonesia Election Watch during Indonesia’s historic 1999 elections.
Greg’s publications include "Why all companies should address human rights (and how the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre can help)" with Chris Avery and Annabel Short (book chapter, 2006), and "Corporate Violator: The Alien Tort Liability of Transnational Corporations for Human Rights Abuses Abroad", Columbia Human Rights Law Review (1999).
He obtained his JD (Stone Scholar) from Columbia Law School, where he also obtained his certificate from the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law and was Senior Editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review and winner of the Gitelson-Meyerowitz Prize for Human Rights Writing. He obtained his MA in African Studies and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he was an editor of the SAIS Review, and received the African Studies Program Paper Award. He conducted independent field research in rural Senegal on land rights issues, and published the results in the Journal of African Law. He obtained his BA in Political Science magna cum laude from Amherst College.
Greg is fluent in English & French, with basic proficiency in German, Indonesian & Spanish.
Annabel Short (Head of Programme)
Annabel Short is an environmental journalist whose academic background includes Spanish, French and Development Studies. From 2002-2003 Annabel was a consultant with Context, a London-based company specialising in corporate social and environmental reporting.
Before joining Context Annabel worked as a freelance journalist. She has written for magazines such as Ethical Corporation, Geographical, and Tomorrow, and has written a book of environmental tips for The Ecologist (entitled Go Make A Difference!). Annabel contributed the working group statement on sustainable production and consumption to Why women are essential for sustainable development (results of the European Women’s Conference for a Sustainable Future, Prague, 2002). She reported on the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, for a UNEP-sponsored media project.
In 1999 Annabel worked in Lima, Peru, as a campaigns volunteer with Amnesty International and an intern at Reuters. She has also spent a year teaching English in Chile.
Annabel has an MSc in Development Studies from Birkbeck College (University of London), for which her dissertation examined security & human rights issues associated with oil extraction in Arauca, Colombia. She also has a postgraduate diploma in Periodical Journalism from City University, London; MA Joint Honours in Spanish and French from Edinburgh University; certificate in International Human Rights Law and Practice from London School of Economics.
Annabel is fluent in English, Spanish & French.
Ella Skybenko (Eastern Europe/Central Asia Researcher & Representative, based in Kyiv)
Ella Skybenko joined the Resource Centre in August 2008 as Eastern Europe/Central Asia Researcher & Representative based in Kyiv, Ukraine. In addition to her research work and her ongoing contacts with local NGOs and companies, she has represented the Resource Centre at various events in the region, including the First Eurasian Summit on Corporate Social Responsibility, and meetings of the Ukrainian Global Compact working group on human rights. In 2008 she attended the International Seminar on Business and Human Rights, held in Paris to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Also in 2008, at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s annual “Sir Geoffrey Chandler Speaker Series” event in London which was keynoted by Jody Kollapen (then Chair of the South African Human Rights Commission), Ella presented an update about key business & human rights developments in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Ella is a human rights specialist. Her previous experience includes working on issues related to the realization of women’s and children’s rights to health care. From 2005 to 2006 Ella was HIV/AIDS Program Manager at Holt International Children’s Services in Ukraine, where she worked to increase access of HIV-infected children and their families to social, medical, educational and other services. She also planned and coordinated relevant training and technical assistance activities that resulted in the development of the foster care program for HIV-affected children in Ukraine.
From 2000 to 2004, as Program Coordinator for the American International Health Alliance in Ukraine, she managed health care projects in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova and ensured that street children and disadvantaged women received quality services at clinics and wellness centers.
In 2007 Ella was an intern at Corporate Accountability International, where she worked with key allies in various countries to monitor, expose and challenge tobacco industry interference with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
In June 2008 Ella received her M.A. in International Human Rights from University of Denver, where she graduated within the top 5% of her class. She has a degree in International Relations with a specialization in International Law from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine). She also studied at Yerevan State University (Armenia).
Ella is fluent in Ukrainian, Russian and English.
Patricia Surak (Development Director)
Patricia Surak is a fundraising professional and international social worker whose academic background includes degrees in international social and economic development and political science.
Patty joined the Resource Centre in 2009 as the organization’s first Development Director. From her base in New York City, Patty is responsible for stewardship of all donations to the Centre, and identification of new sources of funding. Over the past year, she has been working with the Director to diversify the Centre’s funding sources, increase the number of individual donors worldwide, and build the US board. Patty and her colleagues are seeking financial support to enable the Resource Centre to expand its work; recruit researchers in regions where the Centre does not yet have a presence (Latin America, Middle East, Southeast Asia); and continue providing its website, Weekly Update and other resources without charge.
Prior to managing her own fundraising consulting business for several years, Patty was the director of development at a local senior care facility in New Rochelle, NY, where she oversaw a capital campaign which raised over $6 million to build a nursing and rehabilitation center. From 2001-2005, Patty was the Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), where she managed relationships with over 600 foundation and corporate supporters and grew the revenue from this sector six-fold.
Patty was previously the director of Corporate and Foundation Relations for Catholic Relief Services in their world headquarters in Baltimore, MD. While at CRS she traveled to projects in Guatemala, Turkey, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Bosnia, in most locations providing technical assistance and fundraising training to CRS field staff to help with capacity building of local independent NGOs. Before moving into the international humanitarian arena, Patty lived and worked in Philadelphia, PA where she was the public policy coordinator for Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth.
Patty’s academic and research projects include:
- Researcher, focus group leader, and grant writer for The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, & Mexico, led by Dr. Richard Estes, at the University of Pennsylvania;
- Lead staff person for the Pennsylvania State Senate Welfare Reform Task Force, which conducted research and developed a comprehensive report on the effects of welfare reform on poor and low-income Pennsylvania residents;
- Volunteer consultant assisting in the development of a strategic plan for the newly formed International Bureau for Children’s Rights.
Patty earned her Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was awarded the Ruth Smalley Award for Outstanding Achievements in International Social Welfare, and her B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Patty has been an active member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals since 1999, the Association of Development Officers since 2005, and the Médecins Sans Frontières USA Association since 2001.
Sif Thorgeirsson (Manager, Corporate Legal Accountability Project)
Sif Thorgeirsson, a national of Iceland & USA, was a Researcher at Yale Law School on international human rights issues (including business & human rights). She was an associate at Troutman Sanders law firm in Washington, DC, where her practice focused on project development and finance in the energy sector, international law and corporate law. Sif received her law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1998. While studying law, Sif worked as a research assistant to international law Professor Ralph Steinhardt, working on subjects including human rights and corporate responsibility. Sif attended the Oxford University Summer Programme in International Human Rights Law. She received her BA in History and Political Science from McGill University in Canada. Sif is fluent in English & Icelandic, with some Spanish & French.
Joe Westby (Researcher & Operations Officer)
Joe Westby, a UK national, joined the Resource Centre in March 2007. His responsibilities include research on business & human rights issues in Western Europe, and recruitment, training and supervision of Research Interns. He has helped co-ordinate a number of events hosted by the Resource Centre, including the annual Sir Geoffrey Chandler Speaker Series. Joe led a workshop on business and the right to water at the 2010 Justice and Peace Assembly in the UK. He has also given presentations on business & human rights to students in the “Critical Perspectives on Global Citizenship” course at the University of Connecticut in London, and to human rights students at the University of Roehampton.
Joe has a BA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Oxford University, where he specialised in International Relations and covered a wide range of human rights issues. He also has a Certificate in International Human Rights Law and Practice from LSE Centre for the Study of Human Rights. Joe was previously a Research Intern at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, and in 2007 completed an internship at EIRIS (Ethical Investment Research Services). In 2003 Joe spent three months working with children on a voluntary project in a disadvantaged area near Lima, Peru. He has also worked as a Learning Support Assistant in a school in London. Joe is fluent in English with some Spanish.
Rita Bonora (Research Intern)
Rita Bonora, an Italian national, completed her MSc in Development Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London -- her dissertation examined the rehabilitation and reintegration programmes of child soldiers with a gender perspective. While studying, she was programme co-ordinator for the Volunteer Programme at Birkbeck. Rita received her degree in Economics and Business Studies at Bologna University, Italy. She worked as an analyst for an independent provider of financial information in London. Recently Rita attended a programme in India focusing on participatory practices and community-led development initiatives. She previously volunteered with Global Development Forum and Peace Brigades International. Rita is fluent in English & Italian.
Brett Dodge (Research Intern)
Brett Dodge is a U.S. national. He recently completed a master of laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex in the UK. He holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, USA. Brett recently completed a legal volunteership at Interights (UK). He is also an executive editor for the Essex Human Rights Review and has been involved in human rights research and litigation projects for the Essex Human Rights Centre. At Essex he did research into the human rights impacts of international natural resource extraction agreements between developing countries and multinational energy consortia. Brett speaks English, French, Spanish and some Greek.
Amy Man (Research & Legal Intern)
Amy Man is a UK and Chinese national. She has recently completed her Masters in Law in International Commercial Law at the University of Birmingham. Her dissertation focused on the right to development as a human right, in relation to the global trade in commodities. Amy has also obtained a BA (Hons) degree in Business and Law from the University of the West of England, UK. Since 2007 Amy has been involved with various Model United Nations projects in the UK and Europe. In 2008, she worked as a student ambassador for the International Law and Armed Conflict Symposium at the University of the West of England. Amy is fluent in English and Cantonese, with good Mandarin and French and some Japanese.
Bruck Teshome (Research Intern)
Bruck Teshome is an Ethiopian and Israeli national. Bruck recently completed a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law (LLM) at the University of Essex. He also has a Masters of Law in International Law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Bruck has worked as a research assistant on regional economic integration in the Middle East and North Africa region at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. From 2004-2005, he worked as a project officer in Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia, where he was involved in conducting research on access to justice in the country. He has also worked as a member of the coordinating team of Ethiopian Civil Society Network for Elections in the Ethiopian National Elections of 2005. Bruck is fluent in Amharic, English and Hebrew, with some French and Spanish.
