Board

Martine Graf is a former Member of the Swiss Federal Parliament, former Minister of Finance and Education for the Canton of Geneva and the current President of the Swiss Commission against Racism.

Michael Kellett retired from the police service in the United Kingdom in 2006 on completion of thirty years service. During that time he carried out a variety of roles, mainly as a criminal investigator. He has extensive experience, both in his human rights role and as an operational police officer, of working in Europe, throughout the former Soviet Union, in the Balkans and in Asia and North America and since leaving the police has worked as a consultant on behalf of the FCO, OSCE, EU, Council of Europe, UNDP and the APT.

Dr. Erika Schläppi is an experienced consultant on human rights and governance issues, particularly in the context of development and peacebuilding. Her knowledge of human rights and governance issues has been gained from her professional experience, including academic research, international governmental policy, non-governmental advocacy, and many years of consultancy work. She lives in Bern.

Abdel Wahab Hani is a Tunisian humans right defender and former member of the United Nations Committee Against Torture. He previously worked as a consultant with the APT.

Cécilia Jiminez-Damary is a human rights lawyer specialised in forced displacement and migration. Originally from the Philipines, she has worked extensively with human rights NGOs in the Asia-Pacific region. Since November 2016, she has worked as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

Krassimir Kanev is a Bulgarian human rights activist and Professor of sociology. He is currently the Director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, an independent NGO for the protection of human rights.

Medical doctor

Juan Méndez is a Professor of Human Rights Law at the Washington College of Law and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. Born in Argentina, where he was subjected to reprisals for representing political prisoners under the military dictatorship, Mr Méndez dedicated his legal career to the defence of human rights. He regularly teaches International Human Rights Law and is the recipient of several human rights awards. Commissioner to the International Commission of Jurists.

Mervat Rishmawi is a Palestinian human rights activist. She worked with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International for approximately 12 years, most of which as the Legal Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA). Ms. Rishmawi is currently self-employed as a human rights consultant.

Magistrate, Former investigative magistrate at the Court of First Instance and deputy public prosecutor at the Court of Appeal of Lomé. Director General of the Training Centre for the Legal Professions of Togo.

Walter Suntinger is a human rights consultant, trainer and university lecturer, and a Managing Partner in HumanRightsConsulting Vienna. He previously worked at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights in Vienna, at UNHCR, at Amnesty International, and in an OSCE mission in Kosovo. He was a member of the Human Rights Advisory Board in Austria and is currently a member of a visiting commission of the Austrian Ombudsman Board.  He is a current/former lecturer at: University of Vienna, Summer School of  Johns Hopkins University – Bologna Center, University of Oregon (study abroad program in Vienna), the European Peace University in Stadschlaining; University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt.