A native of North Darfur region of Sudan, Ms. Ahmadi is the Founder and President of the DC-based Darfur Women Action Group DWAG, the organization that focuses on the empowerment of the Darfur genocide affected communities and the historically marginalized Sudanese to bring them to the center to participate in decisions making and to effectively contribute to shaping the future of Sudan.
Ms. Ahmadi is a veteran human rights advocate and seasonal strategic planning and management professional. Ms. Ahmadi previously worked as the Director of Global Partnerships for United to End Genocide and the Save Darfur Coalition. She served as an advisor at the 7th round of Inter-Sudanese Darfur peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2006.
Previously, Ms. Ahmadi worked with NGO’s in various fields of emergency and development in Sudan, including Oxfam Great Britain, Intermediate Technology Development Group ( Practical Action) and the United Nation’s World Food Program. Ms. Ahmadi was recognized by President George W. Bush as one of 8 global human rights fighter of the year 2008. Ms. Ahmadi has been awarded a Fellowship from Ford Motor Company International Fellowship at Columbia University in 2007. And in 2009 she has been awarded a Fellowship on Women in Inclusive Security at American University by the Initiative for Inclusive Security. Ms. Ahmadi possess a great deal of expertise on the North/South policy advocacy, Conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan, The Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and US Foreign Policy.
Ahmadi earned MSc. in Sustainable Development and BA in Psychology from Ahfad University for Women
Mariam Ibraheem is a Sudanese public speaker and a religious freedom activist. She represents a wider issue of persecution of Christians in Sudan. Born to a Muslim father whom left her Christian mother to raise her from early childhood, Ms. Ibraheem was raised in her mother’s faith and married a Christian man.
On the 14th of May in 2014, under Sharia law, a Sudanese judge sentenced Ms. Ibraheem to death for proclaiming her Christian faith after being raised by a Christian mother. The Sudanese government ruled her an apostate from Islam, a crime punishable by death in Sudan because she did not follow her father’s Muslim faith.
The prosecution demanded she abandon her Christian faith, and Ms. Ibraheem was given three days to convert to Islam. However, she refused to claim she had been a Christian all her life.
Her husband, an American citizen, appealed the sentence on both of their behalfs. On the 24th of June in 2014, Ms. Ibraheem was released on the order of a Sudanese appeal court.
Ms. Ibraheem’s story was negatively received by the rest of the international community. The United Kingdom government described her sentence as “barbaric” and claimed that Sudan had breached international human rights obligations. The United States also called upon Sudan to meet its obligations under international human rights law.
Currently, Ms. Ibraheem and her family live in New Hampshire in the United States where she continues to campaign for other victims of religious persecution.
Behar Ali is currently the Director of Emma Organization for Human Development. Registered in Kurdistan, Iraq this organization works to create a more peaceful, developed, modern and secure Kurdistan and to guarantee the equal and full participation of women within its borders.
Growing up in Halabja in Kurdistan, Iraq in a city attacked with bombs, artillery fire, and chemical weapons under the regime of Saddam Hussein, she has dedicated her life towards promoting human rights and justice within her country.
Living in the Netherlands between 1996 and 2010, she studied Gender Studies at the University of Nijmegen. Additionally, she studied Translation at the University of Mosul while majoring in law studied at the Gihan University of Erbil.
Since August 2014, when the Islamic State controlled the area of Sinjar, a multi-ethnic region, Ms. Behar has been committed towards advocating Yazidi women’s rights in the region and promoting the rebuilding of co-existence and peace within the area. She currently lives in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq.
Mr. Patrick Realiza is a seasoned strategic communications and public relations professional based in Washington, DC. He is the Vice Chair of the Peace and Security Committee of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA), a program of the United Nations Foundation, where he actively leads in the development of programs that assist and support strong US-UN partnership. Prior to this current post, he has also held the dual roles of Chairman of the UNA-NCA Sustainable Development Committee as well Co-Chair of the Communications Committee.
Major programs achieved throughout his tenure include a moderated televised conversation on the Paris Climate Agreement (COP21) with U.S. House Representative Don Beyer (VA-08) on Capitol Hill, a high-level forum featuring representatives from the diplomatic missions of Afghanistan, Barbados, Costa Rica, Finland and Sweden at Georgetown University on the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a co-joint dialogue with No Lost Generation, a student-led organization committed to the solidarity of refugees, featuring the 2017-2018 U.S. Youth Observer to the United Nations, Munira Khalif and Ambassador-in-Residence, Professor Caroline Croft at American University.
Mr. Realiza has also held posts at various federal government agencies including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the U.S. Department of Treasury in the areas of program coordination and human resources management.
Mr. Realiza holds a degree in political science from The George Washington University and is a former White House press intern serving within the Executive Office of the President (EOP). In this role, he worked closely with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to further promote and communicate policy initiatives on behalf of then-Ambassador Ron Kirk, a Cabinet-ranking member who served as President Obama’s principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson from 2009 to 2013.
Mr. Realiza’s foreign language skills include Filipino, Spanish, Italian, French and Arabic.
Mike Brand is an advocacy and strategy consultant focused on human rights, atrocities prevention, and peacebuilding. Mike has over a decade of experience in advocacy, policy, organizing, and informal education. Throughout his career, Mike has worked for NGOs in the United States, Rwanda and South Sudan, and has done fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Mike supports civil society organizations and diaspora networks in strategic planning, program development, and in achieving their advocacy and organizing objectives. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, publications like The Nation, The Hill, and IRIN News, and has been quoted in various news outlets as an expert in his field. Mike is the author of a forthcoming book that makes the case for a prevention-focused foreign policy. He holds a Master’s in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, with a concentration in human rights and conflict prevention, and BA’s in History and Political Science from the University of Connecticut.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a talk show host, writer, activist, and trade unionist. He is the executive editor of The Global African Worker, a co-author (with Fernando Gapasin) of Solitary Divided, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us”–Twenty Other Myths about Unions. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at http://www.billfletcherjr.com.
Norrie was born in 1943 and raised in Brooklyn, NY and Ellenville, NY, a small upstate resort community. She earned a BA in English from SUNY-Albany and an MS in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Adelphi University. She worked in a school for neurologically-impaired children, followed by a 20 year career as an audiologist at NY’s Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. In 1989, 18 months after the adoption of their 7 year old son from South Korea, her husband passed away, and Norrie changed careers and became the Senior Vice President of Global Data Research at Capital Access International.
Norrie’s family was always active in social and economic justice issues. In 1949, her parents learned of cousins who had survived Auschwitz and sponsored them to come and live with them. “During the 2 years they lived with us, I would fall asleep to my cousins’ stories of the horrors they had endured. I cried myself to sleep each night for the entire time they lived with us – but those stories of horror and subsequent human resiliency and survival shaped my entire life’s perspectives, philosophy and personality. They imbued in me a fire for social and economic justice for victims of human injustice.”
As a young adult, Norrie was active in the civil rights movement of the ‘50s and 60’s – followed f protests of US involvement in Vietnam in the ‘60s and 70s. Since 1999, she has participated in several 3-day 60 mile walks against breast cancer, a 20 mile walk in San Antonio, TX supporting Prevent Child Abuse TX and, since 2004, an annual 3-day bike ride to raise funds and awareness with Braking AIDS ride supporting Housing Works, an advocacy and support organization for homeless HIV/AIDS people. She currently is on the Temple Emanuel Holocaust Remembrance Center at Temple Sinai, Summit, NJ committee and is the Temple Sinai representative to the Summit Area Green Faith Circle environmental group. She is also a co-Chair for Temple Sinai’s participation in the Family Promise program, where the Temple hosts homeless families for 2 weeks each year. In addition, she belongs to First Friends, an immigration advocacy group.
“But it is the genocide in Darfur that touched a unique place in my heart from the moment I learned of it. I joined a local faith-based group, the Summit Darfur Rescue Committee, that responded to the genocide with outreach, political action and resettlement resources. Initially, I was Chair of the resettlement section and subsequently became Chair of the entire group. It was here that I first met Niemat Ahmadi – and was propelled into a decades’ long fight against the injustices in Darfur and Sudan as a whole.
I am so honored and humbled to be the Chair of DWAG since its inception, 10 years ago, and beyond grateful to Niemat for her friendship, her courage, and her sheer doggedness in her attempts to bring justice to the people of Darfur.”
Hadi Babashikh is the spokesperson and the director of the Office of His Eminence Al- Babashikh, the spiritual father of Yezidi, since 2011. He represents His Eminence in cultural, religious and media activities and conferences nationally and internationally. He holds both Iraqi and German citizenship and speaks Kurdish, Arabic and German fluently. He has co-founded organizations aimed at countering ethnic cleansing and genocide of Kurdish, Yazidi, Armenian, Amazigh, Tuareg, and other ethnic minorities and rescuing the children of victims of terrorism in Iraq. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at Yezidi Cultural and Social House in Oldenburg, Germany and has a degree in public administration from Mosul Technical Institute of University of Mosul.
Eiman is currently the cultural Secretary of the term 2018 to 2020 Representatives of Political Party (DUP) in Asmara. She is the founder of the Sudanese American Community Development Organizations (SACDO) founded in 1997. Founder of the Sudanese American Women Organization (SAWO) in 2001 as well as The Sudanese American Family Organization (TSFAO). She used to be the Representative of Egypt Women’s conference for Sudanese Democratic Women Unionists from 2002 to 2003
Mr. Elmuez Nur Eldeen is currently an Operations Officer at Le Relais. In coordination with partners Auchan, Carrefour / Carrefour market, Casino, System U, Top Office, Office Valley, and E.Leclerc, Le Relais re-purposes backpacks by providing underprivileged communities in Africa and France with used backpacks left by customers in exchange for a voucher for school supplies.
Additionally, he has six years experience working with humanitarian organizations in conflict areas in Darfur, Sudan. From 2010 to 2012, he worked as a Project Coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme where he promoted the Rule of Law in Darfur working at the Kabkabiya Paralegals Center. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Eldeen worked as the Executive Manager of the Human Rights Upgraded Association.
Mr. Eldeen currently resides in France where he hopes to obtain a degree in organizational management in order to work with an international organization and to contribute to development and humanitarian issues around the globe.
Renifa Madenga is the founder and principal consultant of Juniper where she is qualified as a legal practitioner and human rights lawyer with 29 years of experience working with survivors of domestic, sexual and conflict-based sexual violence. Most recently, she has continued to consult for various United Nations agencies and has played a key role in independent fact-finding missions for South Sudan, Nigeria and Libya. Additionally, Ms. Madenga is currently completing a doctoral dissertation on sexual and gender-based violence survivors from the Rwandan genocide.
For over the course of a decade she worked within various roles as a trial attorney, legal advisor, appeals counsel and a gender focal representative for the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). While located there, she also performed extensive research discussing the structure and functions of the United Nations system and its agencies and programs as they relate to the mainstreaming of its development, human rights, and humanitarian and peace-building work.
Ms. Madenga also worked as a public prosecutor and regional magistrate in Zimbabwe working in national jurisdictions. She then headed leading a nonprofit organization, Musasa Project, where she exercised judgment in handling human rights issues related to rule of law and access to justice at a national, regional, and international level.
Fata Acquoi is currently a Masters of International Affairs with a focus on Conflict Resolution student at The George Washington University in Washington D.C. For the past two years, she has served as the Programs Director with African Immigrant Services (AIS) in Minnesota. From building power with stakeholders in the community to working on statewide education reform policy issues, Fata was among very few immigrant women throughout the state of Minnesota whose work is effectively disrupting racially predictable outcomes for students and communities disproportionately affected by growing disparities and inequities in education.
Furthermore, in 2016, she effectively organized and led a community-powered campaign that created Osseo Areas Schools’ first Racial Equity Policy. Six months later, she organized and facilitated another campaign called the Osseo Health and Wellness Policy, which eventually produced the district’s first community-driven health and wellness policy in 30 years. Recently, her work in 2018 on immigration reform gave her the opportunity to lead the AIS delegation to Washington D.C. where they lobbied congressional delegates with Liberian constituents in search of an extension for Liberians on Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). AIS’ immigration work extended to the facilitation and planning of the March 26, 2018 Liberian Immigration Solidarity Rally. These efforts ultimately led to the extension of DED for 12 more months.In 2019, she was the lead organizer for the Liberian Lobby Days in D.C. fighting for a pathway to citizenship for Liberians on DED. Ultimately, the Trump administration granted a 1 year extension for Liberians on the program. Presently, Fata serves as the Diaspora Millennial Liaison for the Ghana’s Year of Return initiative.
In 2018, she started her own non profit called The Take Back Africa Foundation. The Take Back Africa Foundation is a 501 c 3 made up of African millennials living in the diaspora with one goal in mind: How can Africans within the diaspora contribute to the improvement of the socio-economic status of the African continent while making it sustainable for future generations? She has also researched and published on several articles on Darfur and the current state of millennial activism. She is a 2016 graduate of the University of MN where she earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and Sociology of Law. Fata is a Liberian-American.
Sudanese Scholar, Human Rights Activist and advocate for preservation of the Nubian Cultural and historical heritage in Sudan. Board member of Voices for Sudan, an organization that works to give voice to the Sudanese diaspora community and helps end the political crisis in Sudan. Mr. Gerais has spoken at many events at the US State Department, US Congress, Hudson Institute, and community centers about the marginalized people of Sudan in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Beja, Nubia, and south and north of the country. Mr. Gerais is also the co-founder of Nubia Project, an organization that advocates for the protection of Nubian artifacts and culture against flooding due to dams built by the government of Sudan
Bridget serves as Peace Direct’s US Executive Director, sharing our work and the work of our partners with the US peacebuilding community, funders, and policymakers. She has worked for 20 years on international peace and conflict issues, with a focus on US foreign policy. Prior to joining Peace Direct’s staff, she was part of its founding US board for four years. From 2013-2015, Bridget served as Atrocity Prevention Fellow with USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation. She spent nine years lobbying on US foreign policy and peace issues with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, where she developed and led the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program. She has also worked with the Quaker United Nations Office, Oxfam America, American Friends Service Committee, and the World Policy Institute. Bridget directed the Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City, a Quaker center of hospitality and international understanding, from 2006-2008. She also worked in Capetown, South Africa, with the Quaker Peace Centre during her graduate studies internship. Bridget holds a PhD with George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, where she focused her dissertation on understanding the motivations of local peacebuilders and how the international community can better support them. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and Quaker studies at a variety of institutions, including Haverford College, Columbia University, George Washington University, and Eastern Mennonite University. Bridget lives in Washington, DC, and has two sons who challenge her peacebuilding skills every day.
Jill C. Morrison is the Executive Director of the Women’s Law & Public Policy and Leadership & Advocacy for Women in Africa Fellowships Program at Georgetown Law. She teaches Reproductive Justice, and co-teaches The First Thousand Days, a Global Health Law course focusing on laws and policies impacting the developmental period from a fetus’s conception through birth until the age of two.
Jill previously served on the National Board of If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, and is currently on the Steering Committee of the District of Columbia Bar Association’s International Law Community. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and Yale Law School and completed her LL.M. in Global Health Law at Georgetown in 2018.
Maesoun Hassan is a Darfur Genocide Survivor, Ms. Hassan is undergraduate students at GW I am majoring in international affairs with a concentration in Security Policy and International Development. She is a current campus ambassador to the Harvard Ignite Team, working on tackling mental health crisis in higher Ed institutions. I am a competitor on the GW American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) Team and guest author in one of my schools’ magazine. I was a 5x national qualifier in high school and competitor in World Schools Debate and Speech. I competed at the National Individual Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) and finished in the top 13 speakers, ultimately finishing my career in the National Speech and Debate Association in the top 30 speakers in the country, with 6 total bids. My whole life I have been involved with academic and social activism for human rights, and for black Americans through the Girl Trek program, NAACP, and Amnesty International. My particular academic interests for helping disadvantaged groups have come from my involvements with the Global Youth Institute when I was a junior- through my research- to the World Food Prize. My personal activist interests come from the humanitarian works of my father, at the UN and SPLM, and relatives in Darfur who suffered the pains of the violence and killings.
Hashem Mekki, MA, has taught Arabic Language, Culture & Middle East Media at IWP since 2012. He is the owner of Bridge Language Solutions, providing an array of language translation, interpretation and teaching services to the Washington DC metropolitan area, and the founder of Kele Global, a nonprofit organization that promotes education, health, and economic empowerment in the Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan. He also teaches Arabic language to federal employees & professionals at the National Nuclear Security Administration at the Department of Energy. Mr. Mekki volunteers with the IWP Center for Human Rights and International Affairs by providing Arabic translations & strategic cultural perspectives on North Africa and Middle East. Mr. Mekki previously worked with the Center for Strategic and International Studies and served on the board of Voices of Sudan, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. He holds Bachelors degrees in both Political Science and International Studies from the City College of New York, and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies and International Politics from IWP.
Dr. Elisa von Joeden-Forgey is currently an Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey, President of Genocide Watch and the former Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
She earned her BA in History from Columbia University and her Ph.D. degree in modern German and African history from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2010 and 2011 she worked as a workshop coordinator for the Raphael Lemkin Program in Genocide Prevention that was hosted by the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation in Krakow and Oswiecim, Poland. In 2014 she was chosen as one of thirty-six scholars to join the Stephen S. Weinstein Symposium on Post-Holocaust Ethics at Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, England.
Dr. von Joeden-Forgey has received research grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation under with which she has published within the fields of German history and comparative genocide. Her current research on genocide, gender, and race has appeared in the journal Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies, New Directions in Genocide Research, and Genocide Studies and Prevention.
Currently, she is completing a book on gender and the prevention of genocide that will be published by University of Pennsylvania Press.
Salih Mahmoud Osman is known for having provided free legal representation for hundreds of victims of ethnic violence in Sudan for over two decades.
While originally from the Jebel Marra area in central Darfur, western Sudan, he has been detained three times for his determined and courageous advocacy while defending human rights.
For his ongoing work on human rights issues in Sudan, he has been honored with the Human Rights Watch award in 2005, the International Human Rights Award from the American Bar Association in 2006, and in 2007 was included in European Voices 50 most influential people.
In 2005, Mr. Osman was appointed to the National Assembly of Sudan where he now works to establish rule of law within Sudan and promote legal reform.
Dr. Abdelhadi Eltahir an expert and consultant for emergency reproductive health needs and prevention of gender-based violence (GBV) and inequality in conflict and post conflict settings. Recently, Dr. Eltahir has been conducting frequent missions to UNFPA Ethiopia Country office to strengthen the humanitarian team to effectively respond to the urgent crises and mass displacement.
Dr. Eltahir has a long-term experience in f several fragile countries addressing the health and reproductive health priorities including prevention of maternal and neonatal morbidity, mortality and disability. Dr. Eltahir is expert in promotion of gender equality, women’s health and rights and prevention of GBV. These countries include Ethiopia, Yemen, Syria, Sudan (Dar fur), South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Liberia and Sierra Leone to mention some.
Dr. Eltahir has MPH from Columbia University in New York and medical Degree from Faculty of Medicine in University of Khartoum, Sudan. He worked over ten years focusing on Obstetric and Gynecology and responding to droughts and epidemics in Darfur.
Dr. Eltahir academic career started at Columbia University as Assistant Clinical Professor at the School of Public Health and Head Department of Public Health at the Health Science College in Saudi Arabia. Then joined USAID Headquarters in Washington DC a Senior Advisor for total abandonment of female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C) as a global priority and established the global FGM/C donor working group. Actively contributed to development of US strategy for total abandonment of FGM/C and successfully assisted USAID country missions to incorporate FGM/C interventions into their reproductive health programs through culturally sensitive approaches.
Dr. Eltahir has a wide range of experiences and skills in strategic planning, program design, monitoring, evaluation and learning. In addition, to coordination and initiation of effective partnerships and resource mobilization.
Mohamed Hamid an international economist and an expert in trade economics, empirical and policy analysis of international trade, economics of Brexit and developing countries particularly African Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACPs), and migration.
He was consultant for SEEFAR enterprise, deployed cultural mediator under European Asylum Support Office (EASO) support to Greek asylum authorities in implementing the EU-Turkey agreement of 18th March 2016. Currently, working as migration program officer for Farsight enterprise based in Rome, Italy. He advised SEEFAR enterprise, EASO and the UK government.
Mr. Hamid is Ph.D. candidate in economics and finance, Sapienza university of Rome, Italy where he earned his Master Degree with first class honors in development economics and international cooperation. He obtained certificate of advanced public policy impact assessment from international school for advanced training, Roma Tre university, Italy. Policy evaluation, university of Oxford, UK. Ph.D. visiting fellow, University of Sussex, UK.
Mohamed has recently joined the Darfur Women Action Group as a Global Ambassador. DWAG’s Global Ambassadors are comitted to advancing DWAG’s mission on a global stage.
Kelley E. Currie was appointed to lead the Department of State’s Office of Global Criminal Justice in February 2019 after serving at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York as Representative to the Economic and Social Council and Alternative Representative to the General Assembly of the United Nations. President Donald J. Trump appointed Ms. Currie to the U.S. Mission’s leadership in August 2017, following her confirmation by the United States Senate.
Throughout her career in foreign policy, Ms. Currie has specialized in human rights, political reform, development and humanitarian issues, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. From 2009 to 2017, she served as a Senior Fellow with the Project 2049 Institute. Prior to that, she held senior policy positions with the Department of State, the U.S. Congress, and several international and non-governmental human rights and humanitarian organizations. Ms. Currie received a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. She is married to Peter Currie and they have two children.
She is a Canadian Senator representing British Columbia
Senator Mobina Jaffer represents the province of British Columbia in the Senate of Canada, where she is deputy-chair of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defense. Appointed to the Senate on June 13, 2001 by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, she is the first Muslim senator, the first African-born senator, and the first senator of South Asian descent. Senator Jaffer also sits as a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration, and the Standing Senate Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament.
After spending almost, a decade with the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, Senator Jaffer had the opportunity to chair a number of studies including one on the sexual exploitation of children in Canada and the need for national action. A champion of Canada’s linguistic bilingualism, she advocates measures to advance the use of English and French in communities across Canada. As public safety has assumed a significant place in national debate and policy, Senator Jaffer raised awareness on the abuse of profiling in counterterrorism measures and the fundamental imperative to respect privacy, human rights, and the rule of law. Communities are at the heart of any successful policy initiative and progress; Senator Jaffer works to engage communities in protecting human rights, celebrating Canada’s diversity, and promoting progress.
Senator Jaffer served as Canada’s Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan from 2002 to 2006. From 2002 to 2005, she chaired the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace, and Security. Senator Jaffer is often invited to speak at international conferences on security issues and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, which “urges all actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts” and “calls on all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.” As a grandmother, women’s rights and children’s rights are central to Senator Jaffer’s advocacy.
An accomplished lawyer, Senator Jaffer has practiced law at the firm Dohm, Jaffer and Jeraj since 1978. Appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1998, Senator Jaffer was the first South Asian woman to practice law in Canada and she has a distinguished record of service to the legal profession.
The Women’s Executive Network named Senator Jaffer among Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in 2003 and 2004. In 2003, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Open Learning University.
Senator Jaffer earned a Bachelor of Laws from London University in London, England in 1972. She has also completed the Executive Development program at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
Born in Uganda, Senator Jaffer speaks six languages and is married with two adult children and two grandchildren.
Kawaar Mahmoud is a 2nd year International and European Law student at
Vesalius College in Brussels. For him, one of the essential elements of democracy in accordance to international law is minority protection. He believes that in all conflicts, women and minorities become victims of atrocities and the international community does not prevent and punish international
crimes; this is because state sovereignty is more important than human rights in the international system. He comes from the Kurdish minority in Iraq were his fundamental international right to self-determination has been denied due to the importance of state
sovereignty. His goal in life is to contribute to the golden age of international law where the goal
is to transition from an international system that favors state sovereignty to one that favors
human rights. He has been called blindly optimistic and naïve because of his goals of life but the
people that call him those names are the ones that are afraid to move outside their comfort
zone and follow the status quo. Well, he is not. He is a firm believer that one person can create a
very small change that will contribute to a major movement that favors universal human rights.
Optimism always wins.
Ms. Mona Ali Khalil is an Affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC). She has a Bachelors of Arts in Government and with a Masters in the Middle East Studies from Harvard in 1988. In 1992, she obtained a Masters in Foreign Service and Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University.
While serving as a Senior Legal Officer in the UN Office of Legal Counsel (UNOLC) in New York, and the IAEA Office of Legal Affairs in Vienna, Ms. Khalil has also undertaken several special assignments. These assignments have included serving as Legal Adviser to the UN Mission to Investigate Allegations of the Use of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic and to the Joint OPCW-UN Mission for the Elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Programme. Additionally, she served as Legal Adviser to the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on post-Saddam Iraq and to the UN Support Mission in post-Qaddafi Libya.
Between 2010 and 2015, Ms. Khalil served as a Legal Advisor at the Independent Diplomat where she provided advice on public international law to promote greater rule of law, inclusivity, and justice within international diplomacy.
She founded the organization MAK LAW in January 2018 which is an international legal consulting and advisory service that assists Governments, NGOs and IGOs in securing their legal rights and fulfilling their legal obligations.
Congressman Jim McGovern was born in Worcester on November 20, 1959 and grew up around the corner from his current home on Burncoat Street. Growing up in Worcester taught Jim a lot about the value of hard work and giving back to his community.
Jim helped stock shelves at McGovern’s Package Store, a small business owned by his family since 1937. He attended Burncoat Elementary School and then Worcester Academy. By seventh grade, Jim knew he wanted to make a difference. He volunteered on the 1972 presidential campaign of Senator George McGovern (D-SD) – no relation – and held signs and knocked doors for the Senator’s anti-war campaign.
Later, he managed Senator McGovern’s second presidential campaign in Massachusetts, delivering his 1984 nominating speech during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
Jim attended The American University in Washington, D.C. where he earned both his bachelor’s degree in History (‘81) and his Master’s Degree in Public Administration (‘84). He worked his way through college as an intern in the office of Senator George McGovern.
Jim worked for Massachusetts Congressman John Joseph Moakley (D-South Boston) from 1982 until 1996, serving as a staff assistant, press secretary, and legislative director.
In 1989, Congressman Moakley asked Jim to be the lead staffer in the investigation of the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador. He exposed that the murders were committed by the U.S. – backed Salvadoran military, leading to a major shift in U.S. foreign policy. After Jim’s discovery, future military aid from the U.S. was contingent on improved human rights and a negotiated peace in El Salvador. It was while working in Moakley’s office that Jim met his wife, Lisa Murray McGovern, who was an aide to Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA). The McGoverns married in 1989 and have two children, Patrick and Molly.
Jim was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, and through his work in Washington and at home in Massachusetts, he has been a voice for the most vulnerable and a strong advocate for working families. In 2001, Jim was appointed to a seat on the powerful House Rules Committee, “the traffic cop of Congress” which sets the terms for debate on most legislation. Jim is now the Ranking Member of the Rules Committee.
During his time in Congress, Jim’s top priority has always been his constituents back home. He has been an advocate for making college more affordable, and authored a bill to increase Pell Grant funding. To protect open space for future generations to enjoy and enhance recreational community spaces in urban and suburban neighborhoods, Jim successfully fought to defend the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides grants to preserve open space.
Jim authored legislation to give tax credits to employers who pay the salaries of National Guard members and Reservists called to active duty. And when the Supreme Court handed down its flawed Citizen’s United decision to allow unlimited amounts of money in politics, Jim introduced several Constitutional Amendments to overturn the court’s decision.
Jim is co-chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which investigates international human rights abuses and recommends how the U.S. should foster respect for democratic values abroad. In this role, he has held a spotlight to egregious international human rights violations that would have otherwise have gone largely unnoticed.
In 2012, Jim authored the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, which allows the President to punish foreign officials who the U.S. identifies as corrupt or human rights abusers. The bill was passed by the Senate later that year and signed into law by President Obama.
As a leading advocate in Congress for peace, Jim has repeatedly called attention to the lack of Congressional oversight and approval of America’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Throughout his career, Jim has been a voice for reallocating defense spending towards domestic priorities like education, infrastructure, and supporting our veterans and seniors.
One of Jim’s greatest passions is ending hunger at home and abroad. He is the founder and co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus and Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on Nutrition, where he advocates tirelessly for funding programs that help working families, children, and the elderly put food on the table when times are tough. He also authored the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program to provide school-based meals for millions of children in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Jim’s work on behalf of Massachusetts and the nation has a proven record of success and he is proud to represent Massachusetts’ Second Congressional District in Washington, D.C.
Ryan Allman is a UN Officer and Digital Strategist at Independent Diplomat (ID), where her work focuses on Western Sahara. Ms. Allman joined ID after completing a Fulbright Fellowship in Bogota, Colombia, where she taught at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and conducted research for the Women and Children’s Rights department of Mercy Corps Colombia analyzing disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program for former child soldiers.
Ms. Allman previously worked at Mercy Corps, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the UN Foundation. Ms. Allman holds a B.A. from Occidental College in Diplomacy and World Affairs and Spanish Literary Studies.
Mutasim A. Ali is an LLM student at George Washington University, International & Comparative Law and a scholar of justice Thomas Buergenthal. He is currently working on a book together with Moriel Rothman-Zecher, the Author of Sadness Is a White Bird, about his life, activism in Sudan, and his experience seeking asylum in Israel, where he was the first Sudanese refugee to receive official status in 2016.”
Kale is a graduate of American University with a bachelor’s of arts in human rights and identity studies. She is a recipient of two prestigious scholarships: the David L. Boren Scholarship from the Department of Defense and the Critical Language Scholarship from the Department of
State. Her academic research primarily focuses on black identities and ] cultures in the Arab world and includes the legacies of Arabization and Islamization in Africa. Kale works as a Paralegal for a top Immigration Law Firm, Garfield Law Group, assisting Asylum seekers, refugees and torture survivors seeking legal status in the U.S. She will be joining the U.S. Foreign Service to serve abroad as a Consular Fellow.
Donna Robinson is the Founder and Director of Robinson Law Office, LLC (RLO), a global law firm and consultancy that advises governments and business on corporate social responsibility. She holds a cum laude Juris Doctor from Florida A&M University College of Law and a Masters of Law in International Human Rights from American University Washington College of Law. Prior to launching RLO, Ms. Robinson worked for the World Bank International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ghana. She also established and led a Human Rights Law Practice with a law firm based in Baghdad, Iraq, where she worked on international development projects. Ms. Robinson has over thirteen years of experience in advocating for an end to genocide in Darfur and has worked with DWAG since 2011. While at the University of Central Florida, she founded the Darfur Awareness Organization to bring international attention to the genocide in Darfur. Ms. Robinson is licensed to practice law in Georgia and Florida, and she currently serves as Vice Chair of the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force.
Layla Talo Khuder Al Ali is a Yazidi human and woman rights activist. She was abducted by ISIS along with her family and her brother’s family, she remained captive for 3 years, she was finally freed with her two daughters in September 2017, unfortunately, her husband is still missing.
Her story of suffering, courage, and leadership was published in a book called “Layla and Layaly” in Arabic and in her ethnic language and it has been translated into English by Emma of Organization for Human Development 2018
Layla has numerous participations in regional and international conferences, including the conference on genocide and the cultural shock, the International Peace Conference in Mansel. Ms. Taalo has been recognized for her work by world organization for human rights and Heartland Alliance. She has been received at the Peace Place by the President of the Republic of Iraq.
Mike Brand is an advocacy and strategy consultant focused on human rights, atrocities prevention, and peacebuilding. Mike has over a decade of experience in advocacy, policy, organizing, and informal education. Throughout his career, Mike has worked for NGOs in the United States, Rwanda and South Sudan, and has done fieldwork in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Mike supports civil society organizations and diaspora networks in strategic planning, program development, and in achieving their advocacy and organizing objectives. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, publications like The Nation, The Hill, and IRIN News, and has been quoted in various news outlets as an expert in his field. Mike is the author of a forthcoming book that makes the case for a prevention-focused foreign policy. He holds a Master’s in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University, with a concentration in human rights and conflict prevention, and BA’s in History and Political Science from the University of Connecticut.
The first day of the symposium will include panel discussions by experts on genocide, women’s issues, and the gender dimensions of conflict; remarks and analyses from keynote speakers; and testimonies from witnesses and survivors, including women from Darfur and other areas of conflict.
Lobby Day (Optional)
The Georgetown University Law School
600 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001
Hart Auditorium
***special early pricing***
Standard: $50
Student Rate: $25
A light lunch will be served on both days
*Scholarships and group discounts are available upon request. For more information, email us at info@darfurwomenaction.org
**Volunteers will be granted free admission. Learn more about volunteering here
How long do you plan to stay in DC?
The main days of panel discussion are Saturday and Sunday (October 27 and 28) but we highly recommend that you also attend our optional lobby day on October 29th
Getting Here:
Train – our recommended method of travel from the northeast area
amtrak.com : The NE Regional and Acela trains offer regular service to DC
Plane – The fastest method of travel
We recommend using google flights to search all available options
Check student universe for cheaper fights as well!
Bus
The Greyhound, megabus, and ourbus offer service to New York and a few other cities
Staying Here:
Close to the conference:
Liason Washington Capitol Hill
Hampton Inn Washington – Downtown
Close to White House/National Mall
Close to Reagan Airport
Traveling Within DC
The DC Metro is a fast and reliable method of transit within the city. The train lines and directions may be confusing, however, so we recommend using apple maps to plan a trip. Uber and Lyft in DC are also available.
Our dinner recommendations!
In Penn Quarter (Close to conference center)
The Smith (American)
Jaleo (Spanish)
Rasika (Indian)
In Logan Circle
Lupo Verde (Italian)
El Centro (Mexican)
Barcelona Wine Bar (Tapas/ Late Night)
Le Diplomate (French)
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