Chair of the Nomination Committee, Mrs. Lise Bergh
Lise Bergh has an extensive knowledge in Human Rights. She has a law degree and worked as legal advisor for the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, LO from 1976-1994 with a focus on workers’ and unions rights. From 1994 to 1999 she was the Deputy Ombudsman for Gender Equality working both in theory and at a very practical level with discrimination law and women’s rights. From 1999 to 2006 she was State Secretary for the Social Democratic Government, responsible specifically for human rights , national minorities ,democracy and discrimination law. From 2007 to 2014 Lise Bergh was the Director of Amnesty International, Sweden, one of the world’s foremost human rights organizations. Today Lise Bergh is the vice Chair of Save the Children, Sweden and Executive Adviser in Human Rights and Labour Standards for the Academy for Human Rights in Business where Executive Adviser , Human Rights and Labour Standards at the Academy for Human Rights in Busines where she is responsible for training in basic human rights and ILO core conventions.
Ambassador Bruno Stagno Ugarte
Bruno Stagno Ugarte is currently Deputy Executive Director for Advocacy and member of the Executive Management Team at Human Rights Watch since September 2014 and Associate Professor at Sciences Po-Paris. Before joining Human Rights Watch, he was Executive Director of Security Council Report from 2011-2014, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica from 2006-2010, Ambassador to the United Nations from 2002-2006 and Chief of Staff of the Foreign Ministry from 1998-2000, among other foreign service postings. He also served as the President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court from 2005-2008 and Co-President of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Article 14 Conferences from 2007-2009. He is a graduate of Georgetown University, the Sorbonne and Princeton University and author or editor of several books, chapters and articles, including The UN Security Council in the Age of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and The UN Security Council in the 21st Century (International Peace Institute, 2015). In 2011 he was made an Officier de la Légion d’Honneur. He is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Ambassador Emilio Barbarani
Ambassador Emilio Barbarani, born in Verona (Italy) in 1940, has undertaken courses in Law and Political Science, is married with three children, today he is a retired diplomat and a writer. Through the education he received as a child in his family and in school (Salesian) and through direct experiences in his life in Argentina during his youth, he has always expressed a particular sense of justice regarding human rights, the defense of the most weak, of a more balanced distribution in the world of wealth, the well-being and culture, and sometimes coming into conflict with the local situations in some countries during the course of his career.
This happened in Argentine, where he was stationed as Consul of Italy in the period that coincided when General Peron returned from Madrid (1973). The same happened in Chile, where he arrived a few months after General Pinochet’s coup d’etat, and at the same time of the expulsion of the Swedish Ambassador, Harald Edelstam being declared “persona non grata.” In Santiago, Barbarani was missioned to find out who had killed Lumi Videla, a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), as her corpse was thrown into the garden of the Italian Embassy during the night curfew, where at the time, hundred of political refugees lived.
Barbarani has described how much he witnessed and experienced during his time in Santiago, at times acting without instructions from Rome, and sometimes against them, in his book (“Who killed Lumi Videla?”), for which he gained three literary awards. Thereafter, he was recognized as a “Person of Just” in Gariwo (The Garden of Righteous in the World): Barbarani and his colleagues managed to save 750 refugees abroad during the military repression in Chile in the Italian Embassy. Human rights and humanity’s dignity – the book concludes – always have to be respected under all political systems, from the right, center and left!
Ms. Parul Sharma
Parul Sharma, Principal of The Academy for Human Rights in Business at CSR Sweden, a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in CSR issues in so-called high-risk countries. She also as of 1st of September the Head of CSR Compliance at the Vinge Law Firm. Human Rights Law Network India, Advisory to The European Public Law Center, Amnesty Business Group in Sweden, European Commission’s development cooperation in South Asia, and Sandvik AB are some examples where Parul has worked on issues of human rights, anti- corruption, supply chain, labour laws, and CSR perspectives.
Parul has written a great number of articles on human rights concerns, she has authored four books- and 2013 her first children’s book on right to water was published. Her fourth book on Human Rights in India was published in June 2015. She has conducted numerous workshops and trainings of multinationals, local, regional and international NGOs and governmental authorities on areas of women’s, child, minority rights and the full spectrum of Human Rights- and anti-corruption issues.
She is the President of FIAN Sweden an international Right to Food organisation. She is the Ambassador to various Human Rights organisations working against trafficking, and for child rights; RealStars EU, Trygga Barnen Sweden, Jamghat a group of street children India. She is running a people’s movement together with well-known PVCHR based in Varanasi/India. Parul Sharma is regarded as the most influential CSR expert in the Nordic region according to various regional rankings and one of the most influential environment activists in Sweden.
Deputy Tucapel Jiménez, Member of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies’ Commission for Human Rights
Mr. Tucapel Jiménez is an electrical engineer running the Chilean political ties to the Party for Democracy (PPD). Mr. Tucapel Jiménez has been member of parliament since 2005.Mr. Tucapel Jiménez currently serves as deputy (Independent pro-PPD) in the period between the years 2006-2010 parliamentary and electoral district No. 27 for the El Bosque, La Cisterna and San Ramon The first year he was Chairman of the Committee DD.HH. Mr. Tucapel Jimenez is the son of a union leader murdered by the Pinochet dictatorship. Mr.Tucapel Jimenez Alfaro is a famous defender of human rights in Chile, through the trial in court for the murder of his father and active contributor to other causes. Mr.Tucapel Jimenez Alfaro is a sponsor for the Patio 29 general cemetery which was declared a national monument; there they found remains of the disappeared bodies. In 1997 Mr.Tucapel Jiménez formed (in honor of deceased father) Tucapel Jiménez Alfaro Foundation, which provides training to union leaders in Chile. Mr. Tucapel Jiménez was born on September 1st, 1962.
Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, United Nations former Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn is a professor at the Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn is the former executive director of Child Rights ASIANET, a regional network for the protection of children, established by UNICEF, the International Law Association of Thailand, and the Faculty of Law at Chulalongkorn University. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn has taught at a variety of institutions, including the Faculty of Law at Reading University in the United Kingdom, and at the Canadian Human Rights Foundation. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn established child/youth legal literacy projects to educate children about their basic rights, and produced a variety of educational materials, such as cartoons and games on child prostitution, child labor and consumer rights. In 1992 Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn was the spokesman for the Campaign for Popular Democracy, Thailand. From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn also served as United Nations special rapporteur under the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Geneva, with a global mandate on the sale of children. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn was a faculty member for Salzburg Seminar Session 320 on Beyond Child Survival: Promoting the Well-being of Young Children. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn is a graduate of Oxford University and the Free University of Brussels, and is a barrister at the Middle Temple in London. Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography from 1990-1994. In 2004 he was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education.
Lee Cheuk-yan, General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan is the member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong representing the New Territories West constituency. Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan is also General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, and the chairman of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan emigrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong in 1959. Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor degree in civil engineering. Since Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan university days, Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan has been a labour and pro-democracy activist. During the student-led Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan collected donations from Hong Kong and travelled to Beijing to hand-over the funds to student protesters at Tiananmen Square. He was detained by the authorities there and made to sign a confession letter before being allowed to return to Hong Kong. Since the events of 1989, Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan has remained a standing committee member of the pro-democracy group, The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China. In 1995, he was elected unopposed in a by election of the Legislative Council. Lee Cheuk-yan won and was re-elected four times since then. Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan has been a lawmaker for more than a decade, except a brief period during 1997 and 1998, when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People’s Republic of China, and the Legislative Council temporarily became a Provisional Legislative Council, which was filled with people indirectly hand-picked by Beijing. Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan was born 12 February 1957 in Chaoyang, Guangdong.
Mr. Stuart Russell
Mr. Stuart Russell was a human rights lawyer in Montréal during the 1980s. He then moved to Australia where he was a law professor at Macquarie University in Sydney and an administrative judge at the Refugee Review Tribunal.
In 2006, he moved to France and since 2014 he has been the Co-chair of the Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers of the International Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL). He has conducted research and published widely on attacks against lawyers around the world.
Mr. Thomas Hammarberg
Thomas Hammarberg is a Swedish diplomat and human rights expert. From 1980 to 1986, he served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International, during which the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for its efforts to secure the release of prisoners of conscience. He then led Save the Children Sweden from 1986 to 1992, focusing on children’s rights and welfare.
Between 1996 and 2000, Mr. Hammarberg was the UN Secretary-General’s representative for human rights in Cambodia. He also participated in the work of the Refugee Working Group of the multilateral Middle East Peace Process. From 2001 to 2003, he served as the Regional Adviser for Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Additionally, he acted as the Swedish Prime Minister’s Personal Representative for the UN Special Session on Children and was the Convener of the Aspen Institute Roundtables on “Human Rights in Peace Missions.”
From 2006 to 2012, Thomas Hammarberg was the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, where he addressed and resolved critical human rights issues across Europe, including the treatment of migrants and the rights of the Roma community. In addition to his extensive international roles, he today serves as a member of the Swedish Parliament.
