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Democratic Progressive Party
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H.E. Chen Shui-bian
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President, Taiwan, and Chairman of the DPP
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His Excellency President Chen Shui-bian was born into a
tenant farming family in Guantian, a remote area of Tainan
County on February 18th, 1951. He had the distinction of
being Taiwan’s youngest lawyer when he passed the bar
exams while he was still a student at National Taiwan
University. He graduated in 1974. Before entering
politics, President Chen was a senior partner at the
Formosan International Marine and Commercial Law Office.
After serving as part of the legal team defending
democracy activists involved in the Kaohsiung Incident,
President Chen became associated with the opposition
movement against the KMT authoritarian government. In
1981, he ran and accrued the highest number of votes for a
seat to the Taipei City Council. He was jailed for 8
months in 1986 for libel when he served as the Director of
Formosa, an opposition magazine. Immediately after his
release he joined the Democratic Progressive Party, and
actively campaigned for the democratization of Taiwan.
President Chen was elected to the Legislative Yuan in
1989, and served until 1994. He won the Taipei mayoral
election in 1994, and during his tenure received a
consistent approval rating of over 70 percent by Taipei
residents.
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In 2000, President Chen became the tenth-term president,
the first non-KMT candidate to serve in that office, thus
ending 55 years of KMT authoritarian rule. President Chen
and Vice President Lu Hsiu-lien were re-elected for a
second term with more than 6.4 million votes (50.12% of
total votes) in 2004. President Chen is also the current
chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party.
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H.E. Vice-President Lu Hsiu-lien A.
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Vice President, Taiwan
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H.E. Lu Hsiu-lien, the highest elected female official in
Taiwan, is also the first women to serve as Vice
President. She is the founder of Taiwan's feminist
movement and an internationally recognized democracy and
human rights activist. Vice President Lu attended Taiwan’s
top girls’ high school before graduating first in her
class from the National Taiwan University Law School. She
went on to earn advanced legal degrees from both the
University of Illinois and Harvard. She returned to
Taiwan in 1978 and emerged as an outspoken critic of the
KMT government. She was jailed in 1979 for her leading
role in the Formosa Incident, a peaceful rally celebrating
International Human Rights Day in 1978. Lu was released
in 1985 as a result of international pressures from human
rights organizations. She subsequently continued her
advocacy for political rights, travelling across the globe
and calling for greater democracy and international
recognition of Taiwan. In 1993, Lu was elected to the
Legislative Yuan as a Democratic Progressive Party
member. She served for three years, playing a prominent
role on the Foreign Relations Committee. She consequently
served as National Policy Advisor under President Lee
Teng-hui until asked to run for Taoyuan County Governor.
She was elected in 1997 and re-elected in 1998.
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On May 20, 2000, Lu became the first female Vice-President
of Taiwan, enabling her to devote even greater energy to
promoting her "soft power" ideals: human rights;
democracy; peace; love; and technological progress. She
also served concurrently as the chair of Presidential
Advisory Committee on Human Rights and Presidential
Advisory Committee on Technology. In recognition of her
dedication, she was awarded the 2001 World Peace Prize.
In 2005, she founded the Democratic Pacific Union (DPU),
an international organization that promotes democracy,
peace and prosperity to the region.
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Hon. Bi-khim Hsiao, MP
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Legislator and Director of the Department of International
Affairs
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The Hon. Bi-khim Hsiao is an elected Member of the
Legislative Yuan (LY) and co-chair of the Foreign
Relations Committee. She also serves as the Director of
the Department of International Affairs for the Democratic
Progressive Party as well as the Director of International
Affairs for the Frank Hsieh 2008 Presidential Campaign.
She served as the Secretary General of the Council of
Asian Liberals and Democrats from 2004 to 2005, and was
also elected Treasurer of Liberal International in 2003.
Ms. Hsiao is a Vice President of LI, a position she held
since being elected as the LI Bureau’s youngest and sole
Asian member at its 53rd Congress in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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Aside from founding the Taiwan Association for Women in
Sports (TAWS), the first Taiwanese NGO specializing in
women's rights in sports, she is also a Board Member of
the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and Vice Chairperson
of the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation. Ms. Hsiao
received her MA in Political Science from Columbia
University and a BA in East Asian Studies from Oberlin
College.
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Liberal International-
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Lord John Thomas Alderdice
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President, Liberal International
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United Kingdom
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Lord Alderdice is the President of Liberal International
and a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Democrats. He
was born in Northern Ireland in 1955. He qualified in
medicine at Queen's University, Belfast in 1978 and
specialized in psychiatry. Lord Alderdice became a Member
of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1983. He was
Treasurer and later Vice-President of European Liberal
Democrats and Reform (ELDR), and in 1996 he became one of
the youngest life peers ever appointed to the House of
Lords. Lord Alderdice was a Vice-President of Liberal
International from 1992, Chairman of the Human Rights
Committee from 1996 to 2005, and Deputy President from
2000 to 2005. He became President of Liberal International
in May 2005.
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Council for Asian Liberals and Democrats-
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Hon. Senator Franklin Drilon
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Chairman, Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
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Philippines
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Chairman Franklin Drilon is the former President of the
Philippine Senate. His first stint in government service
was in 1986, and, under President Corazon Aquino’s
presidency, served as Deputy Minister of Labor, Secretary
of the Department of Labor and Employment, and later as
the Secretary of the Department of Justice in 1990.
Chairman Drilon was drafted to run in the 1995 senatorial
elections, in which he placed fourth in his first attempt
at a national election. At the start of the second half of
his six-year term, he assumed the post of Senate Majority
Leader and subsequently the Presidency of the Philippine
Senate. He has also served as Chairman and later President
of the Liberal Party between 2004 until 2007. He is
currently the Chairman of the Council of Asian Liberals
and Democrats.
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In 2005, Chairman Drilon was elected Chairman of the 112th
General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU),
the international organization of the parliamentarians of
sovereign states. He finished his Bachelor of Arts in
Political Science and his Bachelor of Law at the
University of the Philippines.
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Dr. J.R. Nereus O. Acosta
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Secretary General of the Council of Asian Liberals and
Democrats
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Dr. J.R. Nereus Acosta is the current Secretary General of
the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats and the former
Secretary General of the Liberal Party of the Philippines.
He was a third term representative of Bukidnon province in
Northern Mindanao to the House of Representatives, and was
the principal author of the groundbreaking Clean Air Act
that has become a model of environmental legislation in
Asia. Dr. Acosta recently served as Chairman of the
Committee on Ecology and Vice-Chairman of the Committees
on Science and Technology, Human Rights, and Foreign
Relations of the House of Representatives. He has
represented the Philippines in numerous international
forums, including the United Nations Special Assembly on
HIV/AIDS and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on
Population and Development, where he now serves as the
Deputy Secretary General.
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An academic and civil society stalwart, he earned his PhD
in Political Science from the University of Hawaii as an
East West Center Scholar. He received his MA in Public
Affairs (International Relations and Political Studies
concentration) from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania
and attended the special courses on Leaders in Development
Program, June 1999 and Environmental Economics, May 2002
at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University.
In 2004 he was awarded the prestigious World Fellows
Program of Yale University.
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Session Chairs-
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Hon. Johan Pehrson, MP
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Swedish Parliament
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Chairman of the Committee of Justice
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Mr. Pehrson is a member of the Swedish Parliament
representing Örebro County, and has served as the Chairman
of the Parliament’s Committee on Justice since 2002. He is
also the spokesperson of the Folkpartiet Liberalerna
(Liberal Party of Sweden) on justice policy and is the
Leader of the Liberal Group in the Swedish Parliament.
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Among his various past experiences include being the Party
Secretary of the Folkpartiet Liberalerna, political
advisor to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of
Finance, and a political commentator for the newspaper
Nerikes Allehanda. Mr. Pehrson has a degree in Economic
history from Uppsala University, where he also received a
Master of Law.
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Tan Sri Dr. Chin Fook Weng
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Senator
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Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
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Dr. Chin Fook Weng is a senator representing Penang and a
former Associate Professor of Universiti Sains Malaysia.
He is the national speaker for the national delegates
conference since 2000.
He was President of Kolej Disted-Stamford from January
2001 to October 2003. Up until December 1998, he was a
Penang Island Municipal Councilor for 23 years. From 1999
to 2002, he was a Central Committee Member of the Parti
Gerakan Rakyat. He has a Bachelor of Science First Class
Honors from the Strathclyde University, Scotland, where he
also received his Doctor of Philosophy degree.
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Hon. Sam Rainsy, MP
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President of Sam Rainsy Party
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Cambodia
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Hon. Sam Rainsy, MP, is the President of the Sam Rainsy
Party, Member of Parliament and Leader of the National
Opposition of Cambodia. His political career began with
Prince Ranariddh’s Funcinpec Party, becoming the Prince’s
European representative in 1989. He had previously served
as Minister of Finance in a coalition government that
emerged in Cambodia after the UN-supervised elections in
1993, and was a Member of the Supreme National Council of
Cambodia from 1992 to 1993. In 1995, he formed the Khmer
Nation Party, which became the current Sam Rainsy Party
when it was forced to change its name in order to contest
the 1998 elections, in which he was re-elected to the
Parliament. In the July 2003 elections, the Sam Rainsy
Party garnered the second largest number of votes. The
party became a member of CALD in 1999 and Sam Rainsy
served as Chairman of CALD from 2000 to 2002. Prior to his
entry to politics, he was a financial analyst and
investment manager with various banks and financial
institutions, positions which included Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer of DR Gestion, a Paris-based investment
company and Bank Director at Paluel-Marmont. Sam received
his MBA from INSEAD Paris.
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In 2006, Liberal International awarded him with the Prize
for Freedom honoring his dedication to championing human
rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
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Mr. Joseph Soler
Treasurer
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Liberal International
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Josep Soler is the Executive vice-president of the Catalan
group of the LI (Llibertat i Democràcia) and its
representative at LI Executive Committee meetings since
the early 80's. Born in Barcelona in 1965, he graduated in
Economics (University of Barcelona), in Business (ESADE)
and MBA (ESADE). He holds a Research Diploma in Accounting
and Finance (London School of Economics). He is at present
CEO of the Institut d'Estudis Financers (IEF) the leading
banking consulting and training institution in Spain, and
Chairman of the European Financial Planning Association (EFPA).
In the liberal arena, in addition to his long standing
active presence at LI meetings and events, he has been
Board Director of Llibertat i Democràcia for more than
twenty years, member of the executive board of EDC
(Professor Trias Fargas initial party), vice-president of
European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), founder of International
Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY), of Joventut
Nacionalista de Catalunya (JNC), the youth movement of
Convergència where he was member of the National Council
for six years, of Young Liberal Federalists (JEF) and UEF
Spain and Catalonia and Forum International. Josep Soler
was elected treasurer of Liberal International at the Marrakesh
Congress in 2006.
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Mrs. Silvia Flury Liechti
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Deputy Assistant and Acting Treasurer
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International Network of Liberal Women
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Silvia Flury Liechti was born in 1936 in Basle,
Switzerland. She was educated in Switzerland and the UK,
gaining several translation certifications. She began her
political career in 1983 as a member of a political youth
organization at the University of Zurich. She has been a
member of Convergència/CDC since 1983. After an 8 year
stint with the town council of Sant Cugat del Vallès
(1983-1991 – the latter half as the Executive of Public
Health and Welfare department), she served as the
Secretary of the ‘Women and Municipalities’ committee in
the Associació Catalana de Municipis/ACM 1991-1995. She
has been involved with numerous other organizations
including the Senior Citizens Organization of Sant Cugat
del Vallès and the INLW (as Deputy Assistant since March
2004 and Acting Treasurer from 2006-2007).
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Ms. Chee Siok Chin
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Central Executive Committee
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Singapore Democratic Party
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Ms. Chee Siok Chin is a member of the Singapore Democratic
Party Central Executive Committee. She has been a
democracy advocate for many years, and as a result she has
been targeted by the Singaporean government. Beside
arbitrary detention by the Singaporean police, she was
also forced into bankruptcy by the Attorney General in a
constitutional matter that she brought up to the Supreme
Court. Under Singaporean law, she will be unable to run
for parliament as a bankrupt person. Before entering
politics she was in the education field for 12 years and
was a Senior Education Officer. Out of her desire for
reforms in education, and her belief in justice and the
democratic system, she quit her job in 1999 and joined the
SDP. Ms. Chee has a Bachelor of Arts in Education Studies
from the University of Southern Queensland and is a
founding member of the Women Democrats, the women’s wing
of the SDP. Ms. Chee is also sister to Dr. Chee Soon Juan,
who she often represents in international conferences and
seminars as Dr. Chee is regularly prohibited from
traveling overseas by the government.
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Speakers-
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Mr. Hubertus von Welck
Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia of the
Friedrich Naumann Foundation
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Mr. Hubertus von Welck is the Regional Director for East
and Southeast Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation
based in Bangkok, Thailand. From 1998 to 2005 he was the
FNF Regional Director for South Asia based in Delhi,
India. He has worked in the FNF head office in Germany as
Head of the Human Resources, Assistant to the Deputy
Chairman and Head of the International Affairs Program. He
has also worked as FNF Project Director in Zimbabwe and
South Africa, and Program Officer of the Africa Project.
He received his Master in Public Administration at the
University of Konstanz, Germany.
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Hon. Saumura Tioulong, MP
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Sam Rainsy Party, Cambodia
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Madam Tioulong obtained her MBA as well as her Bachelor’s
Degree in Political Science from the University of Paris.
She later started her successful business career in Paris.
From 1993 to 1995, she became the Deputy Governor of the
National Bank of Cambodia. Madam Tioulong has been
supporting the democratic development in Cambodia since
she was in Paris. She is an opposition parliamentarian of
the Sam Rainsy Party, representing the capital city of
Phnom Penh since 1998. She is a signatory of the Win with
Women Global Initiative and has been actively involved in
CALD Women’s Caucus projects.
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Kishwer Baroness Falkner of Margravine
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Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs
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Liberal Democrat Peer, House of Lords
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United Kingdom
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Kishwer Falkner was born in Pakistan and naturalized as a
UK citizen in 1983. After schooling in Pakistan, Baroness
Falkner read International Relations at the London School
of Economics and gained an M.A. in European Studies at the
University of Kent. She joined the Liberal Democrats in
the mid 1980s and worked for the party in several posts
until 1999. Baroness Falkner stood as prospective
parliamentary candidate in Kensington and Chelsea 2001,
gaining the highest ethnic minority vote for Liberal
Democrats in London. She was elevated to the House of
Lords in 2004. In the House of Lords, Baroness Falkner has
concentrated on civil liberties, international terrorism
and human rights. In 2005, she was appointed to the Prime
Minister's Taskforce on Tackling Muslim Extremism. She is
currently Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs.
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Hon. Andrej Zernovski, MP
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Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party,
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Macedonia
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Hon. Anders Zernovski was born on the 26th of November,
1968 in Macedonia. He attended the University of St. Cyril
and Methodious, Skopje, where he studied civil
engineering. In 2003 he became a member of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. From 2004
to 2006 he served on the joint parliamentary committee of
the Macedonian Assembly in the European Parliament’s
Inter-parliamentary committee. He also served as the
co-chairman of the Macedonian delegation. Previously he
served in the Macedonian parliament with the Liberal
Democratic Party of Macedonia, of which he has been a
member since 1993, serving as the president of the party’s
youth wing from 1994-1997. Mr. Zernovski is an active
participant to a large number of national and
international seminars, panels and training conferences
dealing with various social, economic and political
issues.
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Ambassador Mohamed Nagui ElGhatrifi
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Network of Arab Liberals
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Egypt
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Ambassador Mohamed Nagui ElGhatrifi joined the Egyptian
Foreign Service in 1969 and worked at Egyptian embassies
in Libya, the Netherlands and Jordan. He was part of the
Egyptian delegation to the United Nations in New York,
Geneva and Vienna. Later, he held the post of Vice Foreign
Affairs Minister and Egyptian Ambassador in Thailand and
Switzerland. Ambassador ElGhatrifi joined the ElGhad
Liberal Party upon its foundation in 2004. He was elected
as first deputy to the party leader and headed the
national campaign of the party presidential candidate Dr.
Ayman Nour in September 2005. He then presided over the
party after its original leader was arrested and sentenced
to five years in prison. Ambassador ElGhatrifi was then
elected the new leader of ElGhad. He resigned in 2007 and
called for a multi-candidate election for a new leader. He
has written many articles for the newspaper, Al Ahram and
for other publications such as Al Ghad and Al Masry Al
Yom. Ambassador ElGhatrifi is currently an executive
member of Network of Arab Liberals.
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Roger Mancienne
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Secretary General of Seychelles National Party
African Liberal Network
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Roger Mancienne was born in the Seychelles in 1947. He was
educated at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in English
and Education (B.A.). He later attended Moray House
College of Education in Edinburgh, Scotland for a diploma
in linguistics. With a varied career in both linguistics
and journalism, he went on to become a founding member of
the Seychelles National Party in 1990. He served as the
English language curriculum development officer with the
Seychelles Ministry of Education (1976-1979) and served as
a linguistic consultant from 1982-1990. He was elected to
the national assembly in 1998 after founding the Regar
newspaper (where he also served as managing editor) in
1992. He has served as Secretary-General of the Seychelles
National Party since 1993. Mr. Mancienne currently lives
in La Misere, Mahe, Seychelles.
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Marcela Prieto Botero
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Executive Director
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Political Science Institute of Colombia
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RELIAL Representative
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Marcela Prieto Botero received a BS in Political Science
and Business Administration from Los Andes University in
Bogotá, Columbia and an MSc in Public Policy at St.
Antony’s College (Oxford, UK). Throughout her career she
has served as a political advisor, editor, professor and
consultant. From February 2006 to the present, she has
served as the Executive Director of the Political Science
Institute in Bogotá, Columbia. From January 2004 to
January 2007, she held the chair of ‘Compared Public
Policy’ at El Rosario University in Bogotá. She also
served as the co-manager of Jaime Castro’s campaign to
become Mayor of Bogotá. She has also previously worked as
a consultant with the Organization of American States in
Washington D.C. Currently she writes an opinion column in
La Republica and is also a frequent contributor to
Portafolio newspaper.
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Ambassador Kasit Piromya
Director of International Affairs
Democrat Party of Thailand
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Ambassador Kasit Piromya is the Director of International
Affairs of the Democrat Party of Thailand and advisor to
the party leader, Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva. He was the former
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to the United States
of America from 2004 to 2005. He obtained his Bachelor’s
degree in the School of Foreign Service in Georgetown
University in 1968 and a Diploma in International
Relations at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague,
Netherlands in 1971. His previous postings as Thai
Ambassador include the following countries: Russian
Federation, People’s Republic of Mongolia, Republic of
Papua New Guinea, Federation Republic of Germany, and
Japan.
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Hon. Lorenzo Tañada III, MP
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Chairman, Human Rights Committee,
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Philippine House of Representatives
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Hon. Lorenzo Tañada III is a Member of the Philippine
House of Representatives and is Chairman of the Committee
on Human Rights. He is a member of the Integrated Bar
Association of the Philippines and previously practiced as
a lawyer. He completed his law course at the Manual L.
Quezon University and finished college at the Ateneo de
Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Political Science.
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During his law school days, Hon. Tañada became a paralegal
volunteer at the Paralegal Training Services Center (PTSC)
for workers. He was a regular visitor at several picket
lines and even volunteered as a part of the Public
Information Desk of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) during his
college days. He is a consistent defender of human rights,
especially for the basic masses. His dedication for the
promotion of the rights and welfare of the workers
eventually led him to be a lawyer for workers,
relentlessly defending worker’s rights.
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Hon. Son Chhay, MP
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Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee
National Assembly of Cambodia
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Sam Rainsy Party
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Hon. Son Chhay has been a Member of Parliament
representing Siem Reap province in Cambodia since 1993. He
is currently chairperson of the Committee on Foreign
Affairs, International Cooperation and Media of the
National Assembly. Previously he served as Chairman of the
Parliamentary Committee on Public Works, Transport,
Telecommunications, Post, Industry, Energy, Mines, and
Commerce and Secretary of the Committee on Education,
Culture, Tourism, and Religious Affairs. He is a member
of the Sam Rainsy Party and is actively involved in
promoting democracy, human rights, equal opportunity, and
good governance. Son Chhay is also an Executive Member of
the Global Network for Parliamentarians Against Corruption
(GOPAC) and a founding member of the Coalition for
Transparency Cambodia, as well as a member of the
executive committee of the Council of Asian Liberals and
Democrats. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in
mathematical science from Flinders University and his
diploma in education from Adelaide University in
Australia. He also completed a course in business
management at TAFE College in Australia. He has been
working tirelessly to reach his goal of seeing an ASEAN
network of MPs to work effectively on the issues of
corruption, democracy, human rights, social justice and
eradication of poverty
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Lord Russell Johnston
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Honorable President, ALDE Group in the Parliamentary
Assembly of Council of Europe
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United Kingdom
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Lord Russell Johnston is the Former President of the
Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe. Lord
Johnston was educated at Edinburgh University where he
obtained an MA in history. Actively involved in politics
from a young age, he was elected in 1964 to the Scottish
Parliament and served in the Commons until 1997 having
held two seats during his career (Inverness and then
Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber). Having stood for election
twice for the European Parliament, Lord Johnston’s keen
interest in European politics led him to Membership of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1984
to 1986 and from 1987 onwards. His special interests are
foreign affairs, the Commonwealth, the EU, east-west
relations, Scottish affairs, human rights and the welfare
of the blind. He was knighted in 1985 and made a life peer
in 1997 as Baron Russell-Johnston of Minginish in
Highland. Lord Johnston is also the current Honorable
President of the ALDE group in the Parliamentary Assembly.
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Hon. Tina Acketoft MP
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Folkpartiet liberalerna
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Sweden
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Tina Acketoft was born in Kareby, Finland in 1966 and was
educated at Växjö University/London College from 1989-1992
where she studied communications, marketing and behavioral
studies. She worked in advertising until she began her
political career. She served as a member of the Municipal
Council, Höganäs for the Folkpartiet liberalerna (Liberal
Party of Sweden). She also served as a member of the
Swedish parliament, where she served as a deputy on the
Standing Committee of Labor market questions. In 2006 she
was elected as a Deputy for the Parliamentary Assembly
Council of Europe. Ms. Acketoft is a member of the ALDE
group in the Parliamentary Assembly, and Deputy Leader of
the Swedish Delegation. She currently lives in Arild on
the south-west coast of Sweden.
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Hon. Henedina Razon-Abad
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Chair, CALD Women’s Caucus
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Hon. Henedina Razon-Abad is the Chair of the CALD Women’s
Caucus. She was the Congressional Representative of the
lone district of Batanes in the Philippines, Vice
Chairperson of the Committee on Good Government
Reorganization and Vice President for Sectors of the
Liberal Party. She has been actively involved in Metro
Manila public affairs for many years.
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Previous to her post in government, she served as the
Professor and Dean of the Ateneo School of Government. At
the Ateneo she has held various senior administrative and
teaching posts. She has served many local NGOs in various
capacities including Chairperson of the Transparency and
Accountability Network, Executive Director of the
Philippines-Canada Human Resource Development Committee,
Inc. and Coordinator of the Congress for a People’s
Agrarian Reform. She finished her economics degree from
the Ateneo de Manila University and her Master of Public
Administration degree from the Harvard School of
Government. She also participated in various courses
focusing on participatory development and leadership in
transition economies of the Harvard Institute for
International Development.
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Mr. Ajeet Singh
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Founder
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GURIA India
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Ajeet Singh, founder and president of Guria, began the
fight against trafficking and forced prostitution with the
adoption of three children of a victim of sexual
exploitation. His crusade against slavery has focused on
second generation prostitution, child prostitution,
trafficking & re-trafficking, and re-victimization of
women & children. Through civil society participation,
GURIA has rescued over 50 trafficked girls, including
minors, from brothels and has filed 60 criminal cases
against 173 traffickers and brothel keepers.
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Under his leadership Guria organized an 800km march to
demonstrate against human trafficking. His initiatives
have been captured by film makers in films like “Guria,
Gossip and Globalization”, “War and Peace” and “Unheard
Voices of India”. Ajeet has been nominated as a member of
the Central Advisory Committee on combating child
prostitution (Ministry of Women & Child Development, Govt.
of India), acts as a resource person for the UN Global
Initiative to Fight Trafficking program, and also serves
as the vice president of the UP chapter of the People’s
Union for Civil Liberties. Mr. Singh has also been invited
for suggestions by the Indian Parliament’s standing
committee on the immoral trafficking prevention amendment
bill of 2006. By involving celebrities and by staging
large-scale concerts, Mr. Singh has managed to convert his
campaign into a movement. Mr. Singh has been awarded the
Deshsnehi award and the Prembhai award for his work.
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Dr. Sandy Yu Lan Yeh
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President
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Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation
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Dr. Sandy Yu Lan Yeh is the President of the Taipei
Women’s Rescue Foundation, a foundation that has helped
over 20,000 victims and families of domestic violence. An
expert on the issue of human trafficking and human rights,
she regularly campaigns against the exploitation of human
beings through her work with the Foundation as well as her
participation in various international seminars, lectures,
and conferences. She has also used her expertise to act as
consultant for the mayors of Taipei and Taoyuan as well as
served in various committees working towards issues of
equality between the sexes as well as the protection
against sexual harassment and exploitation.
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Additionally Dr. Yeh also teaches as an Associate
Professor of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Central
Police University of Taiwan, where she has served as the
department chair, Curator of the World Police Museum, and
the Director of continuing Education Center. .
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Dr. Yeh received her Masters from the Department of Law
Enforcement and Justice Administration, Western Illinois
University, and her PH.D on Public Policy Analysis from
University of Illinois at Chicago.
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Ms. Galina Michaleva
Director of Political Department and Gender Issues
Yabloko, Russia
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Galina Michaleva (née Luchterhandt) was born in
Ekaterinburg, Russia. She studied Philosophy and Sociology
at Ural State University (1974-1980), followed by a Ph.D.
in which her dissertation theme was ‘TV and its role in
the development of culture’ (1982-1985). From 1992-1995
she studied for a second Ph.D. at the University of Bremen
in which her dissertation focused on ‘Political parties
and organizations in the context of the political
development of Russian provinces’. After working for
several years at Ural State University, she moved to
Moscow where she was Deputy Director for Higher
Sociological Courses at the Academy of Sciences of the
USSR (1989-1991). From 1996-2001 she was the Deputy
Director of the International Institute for Political and
Humanitarian Studies, Moscow. From 2001 to the present she
has worked for Russia’s Yabloko party (the Russian United
Democratic Party), most recently as Head of the Political
Department, member of the Bureau and Chairperson of the
women’s organization of Yabloko.
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Mr. Ismail Jussa
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Spokesperson
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Civil United Front, Tanzania
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Mr. Ismail Jussa Ladhu is the current spokesperson for the
Civil United Front (CUF) of Tanzania. He has served in
various positions with the CUF, including Private
Secretary to the Secretary General and Head of foreign
affairs and international relations.
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Mr. Ladhu has also actively campaigned for human rights
issue in Tanzania for many years. He was also a member of
the Presidential Commission for overseeing the
implementation of the CCM/CUF Accord, an accord signed in
2001 between the CUF and Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama
Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), to try to end the conflict between
the two parties.
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Ms. Maria Pakpahan
Chair of the Central Board
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Nation Awakening Party
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Indonesia
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Ms. Maria Pakpahan serves as Chairperson of the National
Executive Board for the Nation Awakening Party (DPP PKB).
She is also co-founder of the Human Rights Defender
Association of Indonesia (PBHI). She is actively involved
in the Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Democracy and
Justice and the Southeast Asia NGO Capacity Alliance (SEACA).
She has a postgraduate diploma from the Regional School in
Asia of Forced Migration at Oxford University in the
United Kingdom and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
She received her MSc in Enlightenment Studies from the
University of Edinburgh, and a MA in Development Studies
from the Institute of Social Studies in the Netherlands.
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Ms. Pakpahan has attended a variety of seminars and
workshops including the National Conference on Protection
of Domestic Workers, an International Labor Organization (ILO)
professional workshop on forced labor and trafficking, and
a special training workshop on International Human Rights
Procedures. She also served as the ILO National Project
Coordinator in Jakarta for a project regarding the
protection of domestic workers from trafficking and forced
labor. She is currently active as a member of the Steering
Committee of the National Alliance of Bhineka Tunggal Ika
(Unity in Diversity).
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Mr. Nyo Ohn Myint
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Foreign Affairs Committee Member
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National Council of the Union of Burma
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Mr. Nyo Ohn Myint is the Chair of the Foreign Relations
Committee of the National League for Democracy (Liberated
Area) and a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
National Council of the Union of Burma. He grew up in
Rangoon, Burma, and received his BA (Honors) in History
from Rangoon University where he also served as a history
tutor from 1985 to 1988. He actively participated in the
1988 popular democratic uprising and later served as Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi’s press official and personal bodyguard
before the National League for Democracy was formed. He
co-formed its youth wing, became its central youth leader
and was later promoted to the NLD Central Committee.
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Since his exile, he had been a visiting researcher at the
Harvard Institute for International Development from
1995-1996 and earned his second Bachelor’s Degree in Asian
Studies and Economics at the University of Texas in 1997.
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Mr. Asif Khan
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Chairperson
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Liberal Forum Pakistan
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Mr. Asif Khan is the Chairman of the Liberal Forum
Pakistan. He was, among others, District President
Pakistan People’s Party Sargodha, Vice President
Cantonment Board Sargodha, and Chairman People’s Program
Sargodha, Member of the District Assembly. A political
detainee for six years, he has authored two books.
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