OutSummit

WORKSHOPS

• Faith based organizing and fighting fundamentalisms
• UN – Domesticating International Norms and Recommendations of SOGII
• Human rights of LGBTIQ person in foreign policy

WORKSHOP

Domesticating International Developments

FERNANDO ANDRÉS MARANI (MODERATOR)

Fernando is a career diplomat graduated as lawyer with post degree studies in International Sociology. Currently Counselor for Human Right issues at the Permanente Mission of Argentina to the United Nations in New York, he has been working in international law since 2002. He served twice, 2005/2007 and 2013/2015, at the Office of the Legal Adviser Office of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs, being responsible, among others, for issues related to international fight against corruption, money laundering, transnational organized crime and foreign bribery. Among his diplomatic assignments, he has been member of several delegations in international conferences related to Public and Private International Law. He was legal advisor of the Argentine Delegation at the International Court of Justice in the Pulp Mill case (2006-2010). He was chosen chairman of the Special Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 2012 and appointed member of the Management Group of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in Paris in 2014. From 2007 to 2012, he was responsible for international legal cooperation at the Argentine Embassy at the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

GING CRISTOBAL

Ging Cristobal brings 12 years of LGBT activism in the Philippines and Asia to her position as Project Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific Islands at OutRight Action International. She co-founded Lesbian Advocates Philippines (LeAP), and has lobbied for laws to protect LGBT rights, researched and documented LGBT discrimination cases, and facilitated various local and regional groups and networks on LGBT sexual health and rights. She is currently an active member of Asia Pacific Rainbow, a regional LGBT organization and Ang Ladlad, a national organization for LGBT people in the Philippines. She is committed to addressing the intersections of violence and poverty in LBGT communities.

NATASHA JIMENEZ, COSTA RICA

Natasha Jiménez is a trans and intersex activist and author who is currently the General Coordinator for MULABI, Latin American Space for Sexualities and Rights, host of the Intersex Secretariat for ILGA. She is an advisory board member for the first intersex human rights fund and participated in the first intersex hearing on human rights before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. An intersex and trans activist for over 20 years, Jiménez started her activism in feminist and LGBT movements in Latin America, and speaks at a range of national and international human rights institutions. In 2015, Jiménez joined an international advisory board for a first philanthropic Intersex Human Rights Fund established by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

MICAH GRZYWNOWICZ

Micah Grzywnowicz is the international advocacy advisor at RFSL, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQ Rights. In 2011 Micah worked at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and assisted in preparing the groundbreaking report ‘Discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Europe’. In 2012-2013 zie was a member of the Advisory Council on Youth of the Council of Europe. In 2012 zie spent 9 months in Montréal as a Sauvé Fellow doing research on the forced sterilization of trans* people worldwide and participated in the consultation process on the thematic report on torture and healthcare of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Micah has a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the Central European University in Budapest.

CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD

Cynthia Rothschild is an independent activist, trainer and consultant with a focus on UN advocacy / policy, sexual rights, HIV/AIDS, and women human rights defenders. A human rights activist for over 20 years, she’s the author of Written Out: How Sexuality is Used to Attack Women’s Organizing, and most recently, the editor of “Gendering Documentation: A Manual for and about Women Human Rights Defenders.” For over two decades, she has worked with activist networks and NGOs within and outside the US, including LGBT, women’s and HIV/AIDS groups. In 2011 and in 2015, Cynthia consulted with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she made significant contributions to the UN’s two groundbreaking reports on discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. From the 1990s to the mid 2000s, she played a leading role in coordinating Amnesty International’s movement-wide international development on SOGI concerns.

LUCAS PAOLI ITABORAHY

Lucas has worked extensively on LGBT issues in Brazil and abroad. He has held positions at the Ministry for Human Rights (Brazil) and the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Lucas has also been an intern at the former International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights) and consulted for ARC International. He has published academic and legal works, including ILGA’s acclaimed report, State-Sponsored Homophobia, and is currently developing MRI’s operations in Rio de Janeiro. Lucas holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), a master’s degree in human rights practice from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), Roehampton University (UK) and University of Tromsø (Norway) as part of the Erasmus Programme, and a specialisation in Sexual Orientation Law (University of Barcelona). Lucas joined MRI in September 2012.

WORKSHOP

Foreign Policy

MARIA SJÖDIN (MODERATOR)

Maria Sjödin joined OutRight Action International as Director of Development and External Relations in 2014 after being the Executive Director of RFSL, Sweden’s largest and oldest LGBT organization for 9 years. Maria led the expansion of RFSL’s international work from a single advocacy project to a number of projects with partner organizations in several countries and human rights and leadership training of hundreds of international LGBT activists. Maria serves on the board of ILGA (the global membership organiation for LGBT organizations) since 2008 and led the organizing of the largest ever ILGA World Conference hosted by RFSL in Stockholm in 2012.

RYAN V. SILVERIO, PHILIPINES

Ryan V. Silverio is the current Regional Coordinator of the ASEAN Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression (SOGIE) Caucus. He has been involved in LGBTIQ activism in the Philippines for more than a decade where he helped organized pride marches in Metro Manila and conducted human rights education with youth activists. He has worked with human rights organizations such as the Philippine Human Rights Information Center, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and Child Rights Coalition Asia. His activism extends into the academe in his capacity as Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Studies of Miriam College in the Philippines where he teaches courses on gender, human rights and social research. He has co-authored publications focusing on children’s right to participation in ASEAN, human rights education, and migration and ICT. Ryan holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights degree obtained from Mahidol University, Thailand.

JOYCE HAMILTON

As international advocacy officer at COC Netherlands, Joyce works in coalition with LGBTI activists from different regions and human rights organizations to advocate for issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity within international human rights mechanisms, such as the UN, EU, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. In this capacity, she is also a trainer for human rights defenders on topics related to international advocacy. Joyce holds a master’s degree in Political Science / International Relations, and worked at the European Parliament, a European social research network and the City of Amsterdam. She has been involved in activism for over 10 years for example revitalizing the lesbian movement in the Netherlands and currently as co-chair of ILGA-Europe.

MURAT KÖYLÜ, TURKEY

Graduated from architectural design, Murat Koylu has been serving for civil society organizations as a volunteer and a professional within their operational or governance mechanisms since 2008. Hrant Dink Foundation, Positive Living Association, Association for Social Change and Kaos GL has been among these CSOs. He has been working as the external affairs coordinator at Kaos GL since 2012. He is also member of the boards of Amnesty International Turkey, and Civil Society Development Center. His focus regarding human rights themes are hate speech, hate crimes, rights based media, anti-discrimination (LGBTIs, refugees, HIV/AIDS in particular); relations with intergovernmental organizations, awareness raising and advocacy activities to national legislative and executive mechanisms.

MARK BROMLEY

Mark Bromley helped launch the Council for Global Equality to encourage a clearer and stronger American voice on international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights concerns. Mr. Bromley previously worked for more than eleven years at Global Rights, where he served in various program management positions. During his tenure at Global Rights, he coordinated donor relations and helped open field offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Morocco, Nigeria and India. In 2005, he launched an organization-wide Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Initiative. Mr. Bromley has also regularly monitored developments within the U.N. human rights system. He conducted research on sexual violence in support of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia, and he reviewed international law standards in legal briefs filed by Global Rights, as amicus curiae, in human rights cases before U.S. and international courts. From 2001-2002, Mr. Bromley served as a Foreign Policy Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold. During that period, he staffed Senator Feingold’s work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including the Senator’s Chairmanship of the Africa Subcommittee. Mr. Bromley holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BSFS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has published on human rights and international law issues, and has served as an adjunct professor for the human rights clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law and at Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center. He lives in Washington with his husband, David Salie, and their children, Tallulah and Justice.

SHEHNILLA MOHAMED (MODERATOR)

Shehnilla Mohamed is the Regional Program Coordinator for Africa for OutRight Action International. During her over 25 years experience in media and development, Shehnilla has always maintained a strong focus on human rights including LGBTI rights violations. She previously worked as South Africa Director for Oxfam GB, Deputy Director of BBC Trust African Media Initiative based in Kenya, and Principal Advisor for the Hivos-IMS Program in Zimbabwe among others. She spent six years working in The Gulf as Bureau Chief, Northern Emirates for the daily, Gulf News. Shehnilla is presently completing her Masters and has a BA honors in Journalism and Media Studies. She is a certified work place coach and can speak English, Urdu, Shona and basic French.

LISA AVIS

Lisa Davis is the Clinical Professor of Law for the International Women’s Human Rights (IWHR) Clinic and leads the Gender Law and Policy Project (GLPP) at the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice. For over fifteen years she has worked as an advocate for gender and human rights. She has written and reported extensively on human rights and gender issues, including on women’s rights and LGBT rights, with a focus on peace-building and security issues in conflict and disaster settings. She has also testified before various international human rights bodies and Congress. Lisa is a Board Member of the LGBT Social Science and Public Policy Center at Roosevelt House and a member of the Circle of Health International Middle East Delegation.

WORKSHOP

Faith-based Organizing and Fighting Fundamentalisms

GRAEME REID, (MODERATOR)

Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, is an expert on LGBT rights. He has conducted research, taught and published extensively on gender, sexuality, LGBT issues, and HIV/AIDS. Before joining HRW in 2011, Reid was the founding director of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa, a researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research and a lecturer in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies at Yale University. An anthropologist by training, Reid received an master’s from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a PhD from the University of Amsterdam.

REVEREND MACDONALD SEMBEREKA, MALAWI

Rev. MacDonald is an ordained priest of the Anglican/Episcopal church of more than 20 years. He has among other things been a renowned human rights activist both at home and beyond, and an advocate of inclusion in both the church and society in general. He has also served in various capacities both in the church and civil society. He also served as an advisor to the former president Joyce Banda for NGO’s and civil society. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Global Interfaith Network for people of all sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions.

OMAIR PAUL

Omair is a Pakistani American born and raised in New York City. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo, having majored in Social and Cultural Anthropology with a minor in South Asian studies. He is currently a Human Rights M.A. candidate in the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University in New York.

He assumed the positions of United Nations Representative for Muslims for Progressive Values and United States Representative for the Youth Advocacy Network of Pakistan in 2014. His focal areas of work and research pertain to gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia, LGBTQ rights and non-discrimination on the basis of SOGI, defusing radical and fundamentalist cultural and/or theological ideologies, and youth empowerment and engagement. He is currently engaged in affirming the human rights approach to policy-level advocacy for the aforementioned subjects.

THE REV. PATRICIA ACKERMAN

The Rev. Patricia Ackerman is senior trainer of Gender-Sensitive Active Non-Violence & Masculinities for the Women Peacemakers Program in the Netherlands, a former program of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). She is an accredited U.N. representative for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (USA) and IFOR. Patricia is also director of women’s studies at The City College of New York (CUNY), located in Harlem, Manhattan. An Episcopal priest, her other work experience includes serving as director of environmental programs at the Garrison Institute. She is currently completing a doctorate in political science/ international relations at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York City.

MIKEE NUNEZ INTON, PHILIPPINES

Mikee Inton is a third year postgraduate student at the Department of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, where she is completing her Ph.D. She is also a board member of The Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) and ILGA World (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, and Intersex Association), where she works as the representative of the Trans* Secretariat.

MONICA TANUHANDARU, INDONESIA

Monica became the Executive Director of Kemitraan in October 2014. She was previously Officer in Charge – Country Manager of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Indonesia (UNODC). At the same institution, she served as Program Coordinator for the Project Support Indonesia’s Fights against Corruption. She was a Consultant to Indonesian National Police and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, on the improvement of police integrity, accountability, transparency and oversight mechanism in 2010, and Program Coordinator, in a six-year police reform and security sector reform program of International Office for Migration (IOM) and Indonesian National Police, a nation-wide program funded by the Dutch Government and the European Commission.

WORKSHOP

Shaping Narratives and the Role of the Media on LGBTIQ Issues

MARÍA MERCEDES

María Mercedes is the Latin America and Caribbean program coordinator for OutRights, a Colombian academic and human rights activist whose work has focused on exploring the challenges of understanding, preventing, and reducing violence based on sexual prejudices in the US and Latin America. María holds a Ph.D. in Political Science, as well as a M.A. in Gender Studies and Feminist Theory from the New School for Social Research. She taught for many years at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia as well as in universities in Canada. María has also served on the legal team and the Board of Directors of Proyecto Colombia Diversa, an NGO dedicated to promoting human rights of LGBTI communities in Colombia. Through her writings on violence based on prejudice and training workshops, María has promoted awareness of LGBTI violence among law professors, law enforcement agents, and representatives from the criminal justice system in Latin America.

DIANA MIALOSI, ZIMBABWE

Diana is a human rights activist concerned with LGBTI rights and the abuse and violations of these rights in Zimbabwe. She is responsible for raising awareness and visibility of lesbian, bisexual and transgendered women in Zimbabwe and engages various women’s groups and civic society organizations and advocacy initiatives nationally. Among other things, she has campaigned for improved service delivery and government’s increased accountability to people living with HIV&AIDS [PLHIV]. She has pushed and strived to realise a just society that treats everyone, including the LGBT community as equal citizens of Zimbabwe, having an equal opportunity to having a fulfilled and free life. Because of the nature of her work and the current political terrain, Diana has been subjected to harassment, discrimination and in some instances arrest. Diana has volunteered with a number of women’s groups and is currently the Programs Officer at GALZ offices in Harare, Zimbabwe.

YULI RUSTINAWATI, INDONESIA

Yuli has worked on human rights issues for 15 years, since she joined the students’ movement in 1998. In 2006, together with other friends, Yuli established the organization Arus Pelangi, where she still works in her current role as Chairperson. Arus Pelangi advocates for LGBTI rights in Indonesia. Yuli is also one of the national coordinators for Forum LGBTIQ Indonesia, a network of LGBTIQ organizations in Indonesia.

MALIKA ZOUHALI-WORRAL

Malika Zouhali-Worrall is a journalist and documentarian of British and Moroccan descent, best known as the producer and one of the directors, with Katherine Fairfax Wright, of the 2012 award-winning film Call Me Kuchu. Malika is currently collaborating with David Osit on a second documentary “Thank You For Playing”, an Independent Television Service co-production, about the making of the art house video game “That Dragon, Cancer”. The film is set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015, and will broadcast in Summer 2016. She studied English literature at Cambridge University and International Affairs at Sciences Po, and later became a reporter and videographer for CNN International and cnn.com.

MIRIAM VAN DER HAVE

Miriam is the co-chair of Organization Intersex International Europe (OII Europe) and chair of the Dutch intersex NGO NNID Foundation. She has 14 years experience in intersex activism. Miriam is also a photographer and documentary film maker and recently made a documentary on four intersex women. She has worked as a journalist and a publisher, and has extensive experience working with the media as a human rights defender. Miriam lives with her partner Saskia and their two daughters of 19 and 22 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

JAEVION NELSON, MSC., BSC.

Jaevion is a development and human rights practitioner with over seven years experience in governance, advocacy, communication and project management on issues related to sexual reproductive health, HIV, human rights, and social development.

He holds an MSc in Social Development and Communication from the University of Wales, Swansea where he was a Chevening Scholar and a BSc. in Management Studies (Marketing) from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus.

Jaevion is the Director of Projects & Strategy at J-FLAG where he has worked for five years. He is also a Columnist with the Jamaica Gleaner.