Meet the Fellows

  • Alghiffari Aqsa

    • Alghiffari Aqsa

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: LBH Jakarta (Jakarta Legal Aid Institute)

    Alghiffari Aqsa is a staff lawyer in the community legal empowerment department of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) in Indonesia. His efforts there focus on training paralegals, who can undergo relatively short training programs to become qualified to provide direct legal services to clients in need, thus helping to close the gap between the high demand and low supply of legal practitioners in Indonesia. Alghiffari is also involved in community outreach programs, including advocacy campaigns, demonstrations, and workshops that encourage public discussion and participation. See Alghiffari's Full Bio »

  • Grace Ketefe

    Grace Ketefe is the director of gender and legal aid programs at the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) in Nigeria, where she is responsible for coordinating the women access to justice program and the women and peace building project. Her work involves providing legal counsel and pro bono services for women who have suffered human rights abuses. See Grace's Full Bio »

  • Jyoti Poudel

    • Jyoti Poudel

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Women's Rights
    • Organization: Consortium for Women's Rights

    Jyoti Poudel has nearly 20 years of experience protecting women’s rights in Nepal. Currently, she chairs the Consortium for Women’s Rights (CWR), an organization that provides direct legal services and builds the capacity of women to protect their own legal rights. Through her work with CWR, Jyoti provides professional development opportunities for female lawyers. Additionally, she advocates for policies that protect women’s rights and seeks to educate women about their legal rights and mechanisms for protecting them. See Jyoti's Full Bio »

  • Mariya Oborina

    • Mariya Oborina

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Perm, Russia
    • Area of Focus: Public Interest Law
    • Organization: Foundation “Center of Civil Analysis and Independent Research (Center GRANI)”

    Mariya Oborina is an expert with the Centre of Civic Analysis and Independent Research in Perm, Russia, where she researches and analyzes legislation and provides policy recommendations that center around the protection of human rights. Prior to this, she acted as a chief manager with the research and information department at the Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, also in Perm. See Mariya's Full Bio »

  • Raymond Salas

    • Raymond Salas

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Davao City, Philippines
    • Area of Focus: Business and Human Rights
    • Organization: Saligan (Alternative Legal Assistance Center)

    Raymond Salas is a lawyer with the Alternative Legal Assistance Center (SALIGAN) in the Philippines. He works with marginalized groups in Mindanao on community issues relating to job security, human rights, the environment, and tenurial land security. Through his work with SALIGAN, Raymond has spearheaded local peace initiatives and legal empowerment of the poor in Mindanao. See Raymond's Full Bio »

  • Su Wenying

    Su Wenying is a project manager with Save the Children’s China program. Her work involves creating child protection projects for marginalized youth, with an emphasis on setting up a comprehensive community-based child protection mechanism that can be replicated as a sustainable model. See Su's Full Bio »

  • Yara Jalajel

    • Yara Jalajel

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Ramallah, Palestine
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disabled
    • Organization: Adalah Advocates and Legal Studies

    Yara Jalajel is a project manager and legal staffer with Adalah Advocates and Legal Studies, an independent law firm in Ramallah, Palestine, that litigates and consults on policy reform issues in order to promote the public interest. See Yara's Full Bio »

  • Zheng Ruheng

    • Zheng Ruheng

    • Year: 2012
    • Location: Kunming, China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Legal Aid Center of Panlong District of Kunming

    Zheng Ruheng is the deputy director and a legal aid lawyer with the Legal Aid Center of the Panlong district of Kunming, Yunnan Province, in China. She coordinates the provision of legal aid across the district, supervises the center’s legal aid cases, and administers direct legal services to clients. See Zheng's Full Bio »

  • Bidhata Poudel

    Bidhata Poudel has devoted her legal career to confronting caste discrimination in Nepal. As a legal and policy officer at the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO), she provides legal services to victims of caste and gender discrimination with a focus on cases related to the Dalit community, a social group traditionally regarded as untouchable within Nepali society. See Bidhata's Full Bio »

  • Hala Deeb

    Hala Deeb is a practicing lawyer in Amman, Jordan, and a legal consultant for the Jordanian Women's Union, an NGO dedicated to the abolition of gender discrimination and the promotion of human rights. She provides legal advice for women and lectures on women’s rights issues. Hala also serves as the regional legal consultant on two projects fighting the exploitation and abuse of migrant workers and the trafficking of women. See Hala 's Full Bio »

  • Idayat Hassan

    Idayat Hassan is a senior program officer at the Centre for Democracy and Development West Africa (CDD), where she helps develop and implement projects promoting empowerment and democratization in West Africa. See Idayat's Full Bio »

  • Kseniya Kirichenko

    Kseniya Kirichenko is the legal assistance program coordinator at the Russian LGBT Network, an inter-regional human rights NGO working for equality of all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. She also serves on the organization's board, helping with stragegic planning and fundraising. As coordinator, Kseniya's activities include advocacy, lobbying, direct legal assistance, legal education and training, research, and litigation to advance gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights in Russia. See Kseniya's Full Bio »

  • Li Kefeng (Coco)

    • Li Kefeng (Coco)

    • Year: 2011
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Migrant Rights
    • Organization: Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers’ Legal Aid and Research Center (BZMW)

    Li Kefeng is a public interest lawyer and project manager at Beijing Zhicheng Migrant Workers’ Legal Aid and Research Center (BZMW). She provides migrant workers with free legal advice, representation, and legal education, and supports BZMW’s mission of enhancing legal aid for migrant workers, with the ultimate aim of establishing a national network for the protection of migrant workers’ rights. See Li's Full Bio »

  • Oanh Ngo

    Oanh Ngo teaches at the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice’s Judicial Academy, a mandatory training institution for anyone wishing to become a lawyer, judge, prosecutor, or other judicial official in Vietnam. She is also head of the School of Legal Consultancy's Lawyers Training Department and chairs a legal clinic providing legal assistance for indigent and child offenders. See Oanh 's Full Bio »

  • Rawan Mohammed

    • Rawan Mohammed

    • Year: 2011
    • Location: Ramallah, Palestine
    • Area of Focus: Women's Rights
    • Organization: Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Against Domestic Violence Against Women (Al Muntada)

    Rawan Mohammed is a coordinator for the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organization Against Domestic Violence Against Women (Al Muntada) where she works to raise public awareness of violence against women and their marginalization in the public sphere. See Rawan's Full Bio »

  • Siti Aminah

    Siti Aminah is a program officer at the Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC), where she implements a program aimed at legal aid reform, social justice, and human rights awareness in Indonesia. In this role, she supports legal clinics at law faculties across Indonesia in order to increase access to justice for marginalized groups. See Siti's Full Bio »

  • Song Jing (Lisa)

    Song Jing has focused her legal career on environmental rights and the promotion of environmental justice within China’s rapidly developing environmental public-interest litigation system. Prior to joining the PILnet Fellows program she was project officer with the Environmental Legal Service Center of the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF), an organization that protects public environmental rights through pro-bono legal aid. See Song's Full Bio »

  • Milena Banic

    • Milena Banic

    • Year: 2010
    • Location: Belgrade, Serbia
    • Area of Focus: Children's Rights
    • Organization: Child Rights Centre

    Milena Banic is Program Coordinator at the Child Rights Centre (CRC), a Serbian NGO, where she advocates for the protection of children's rights in family law and the criminal and legal protection of juvenile perpetrators. Her work at CRC also includes providing trainings on children's rights awareness to staff members of NGOs and various governmental ministries. Milena is also a lawyer at NGO Astra - Anti Trafficking Action, where she provides legal advice and represents victims of human trafficking in court. See Milena's Full Bio »

  • Pultoni

    Pultoni is Program Manager for the Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and a lecturer of citizenship and constitutional law at Attahiriyah Islamic University in Jakarta. With ILRC, Pultoni has helped promote human rights and social justice in Indonesia's legal education system. See Pultoni's Full Bio »

  • Shiva Prasad Paudel

    Shiva Prasad Paudel works as a staff attorney for Pro Public in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he litigates and researches on behalf of the public interest. In addition to this, he is a member and advisor for Forum for Justice, also in Kathmandu. As a legal expert and human rights advocate, Shiva is a critical player in promoting access to justice by lobbying and organizing with stakeholders on issues of judicial compliance and good governance. See Shiva's Full Bio »

  • Theresia Sri Endras Iswarini (Rini)

    Theresia (Rini) Sri Endras Iswarini is Programme Officer with the Rights and Citizens department of HIVOS' Southeast Asia Regional Office and is the board secretary for Kapal Perempuan (Circle of Women Alternative Education), where she previously worked as Program Coordinator for Advocacy Development on Women and Pluralism Issues. Rini has over twelve years of experience advocating for women's rights in Indonesia, starting her career in 1998 as a public interest lawyer for the South Sumatra Legal Aid Foundation, where she provided legal assistance to women and other marginalized groups. See Rini's Full Bio »

  • Vanessa Nwanguma

    Vanessa Nwanguma is Program Officer at the Center for the Right to Health's Legal Department in Lagos, Nigeria, where she also serves as a legal assistant. The Center for the Right to Health is a non-profit organization that advocates for the full realization of the right to health in Nigeria and promotes respect for ethics and human rights in healthcare policies and practices, especially for vulnerable groups. See Vanessa's Full Bio »

  • Yao Jun (Brian)

    • Yao Jun (Brian)

    • Year: 2010
    • Location: Guangzhou, China
    • Area of Focus: Pro Bono
    • Organization: Dacheng Law Office

    Yao Jun (Brian) recently joined China’s Dacheng Law Offices. Prior to this, he was a partner at the Zhong Lun Law Firm, where he established pro bono programs and public services through the Zhong Lun Charitable Foundation.  See Yao's Full Bio »

  • Zhang Zhongmin

    • Zhang Zhongmin

    • Year: 2010
    • Location: Wuhan, China
    • Area of Focus: Environmental Protection
    • Organization: Environmental and Resources Law Institute, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law

    Zhang Zhongmin is an assistant professor of law and a research fellow of environmental and resource law at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China, where he researches and teaches environmental protection law. See Zhang's Full Bio »

  • Elena Romanyak

    • Elena Romanyak

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Voronezh, Russia
    • Area of Focus: Rights for People Living with HIV/AIDS
    • Organization: Anti-AIDS Center

    Elena Romanyak has been working as Project Coordinator at the Anti-AIDS Center in Voronezh where she focuses on addressing the legal challenges faced by those served by Center. Elena works in partnership with local governmental, non-governmental and human rights advocacy groups to advance the projects of the Anti-AIDS Center. See Elena's Full Bio »

  • Folusho Shado

    • Folusho Shado

      Folusho's Story
    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Lagos, Nigeria
    • Area of Focus: Economic, Social, Cultural Rights
    • Organization: Justice Research Institute, People's Advice Center

    Folusho De-Grata Shado has been Program Coordinator with the Justice Research Institute of Nigeria and Programs Manager at the People's Advice Center in Lagos, Nigeria. In 2005 she volunteered with the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London, where she focused on legal issues concerning violence against women. See Folusho's Full Bio »

  • Gambhir Singh Air

    • Gambhir Singh Air

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Dhanghadi, Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Justice for All - Dhangadhi

    Gambhir Singh Air recently established Justice for All along with PILnet International Fellow Sarmila Shrestha and six other public interest lawyers. Justice for All is currently providing legal aid to citizens in need in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Dhangadhi. Gambhir is currently based in Dhangadhi, where he provides legal aid to poor and marginalized women. See Gambhir's Full Bio »

  • Huang Xuetao

    • Huang Xuetao

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Shenzhen, China
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disabled
    • Organization: Equity and Justice Initiative

    Huang Xuetao is one of China's foremost advocates for reforming mental disability law and is president of the Equity and Justice Initiative (EJI), an organization in Shenzhen, China, that she founded immediately after returning from her PILnet Fellowship in 2010. The impact of advocacy by Ms. Huang and EJI is reflected in a national mental health law, passed in late 2012, that for the first time addresses the rights of the mentally disabled. See Huang's Full Bio »

  • Regina Shakirova

    • Regina Shakirova

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Kazan, Russia
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Kazan Human Rights Center

    Regina Shakirova is currently an attorney for the Kazan Human Rights Center (KHRC) in Kazan, Russia. Prior to joining KHRC in 2007, Regina worked at the Legal Clinic of the Academy of Management TISBI in Kazan, first as a trainee consultant and then as the clinic's manager. See Regina's Full Bio »

  • Sarmila Shrestha

    • Sarmila Shrestha

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Justice for All

    Sarmila Shrestha recently established Justice for All along with PILnet International Fellow Gambhir Singh Air and six other public interest lawyers. Justice for All is currently providing legal aid to citizens in need in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Dhangadhi; the organization plans to expand its work to include capacity building for public interest lawyers through legal education, and to include corporate social responsibility in its areas of focus.   See Sarmila's Full Bio »

  • Scholastica Anyingoh Fotabong

    • Scholastica Anyingoh Fotabong

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Southwest Province, Cameroon
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights, Women's and Children's Rights
    • Organization: Youth Human Rights Watch Committee (YHRWC)

    Since 2004, Scholastica Anyingoh Fotabong has worked as Litigation and Research Officer of the Youth Human Rights Watch Committee (YHRWC) and Legal Adviser of the Self-Empowerment Foundation (SEF) in Muyuka, Cameroon. She is also a partner in the public interest law firm Fotabonche - Nkodem. Both organizations focus on human rights protection and the collective rights of particular social groups, for example, women and children. See Scholastica's Full Bio »

  • Xia Hui

    • Xia Hui

    • Year: 2009
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Legal Aid Center, Ministry of Justice

    Xia Hui works at the Legal Aid Center of China's Ministry of Justice, where her work includes providing direct legal aid as well as conducting policy-oriented research. At present, she manages the cooperation between the Ministry and foreign organizations involved in legal aid and public interest affairs. See Xia's Full Bio »

  • Chen Dong

    • Chen Dong

      Chen's Story
    • Year: 2008
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: International Bridges to Justice

    Chen Dong is currently training coordinator for International Bridges to Justice in Beijing, China. Prior to this, he worked for most of his career in the city of Urumqi in northwestern China. First as a public servant in the Urumqi Department of Justice and then as the director of the Urumqi Legal Aid Center, Mr. Chen has been directly involved in enhancing the legal aid system in his adopted city. See Chen's Full Bio »

  • Kolawole Ogunbiyi (Kola)

    Kolawole Ogunbiyi is a Senior Lawyer with Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers Without Borders) - France in Abuja, Nigeria.  Prior to this, he was the Program Coordinator at the Legal Resources Consortium. See Kola's Full Bio »

  • Magdalena Ustaborowicz

    • Magdalena Ustaborowicz

    • Year: 2008
    • Location: Lodz, Poland
    • Area of Focus: Clinical Legal Education
    • Organization: University of Lodz

    Magdalena Ustaborowicz is a PhD candidate at the University of Lodz in Poland. For the past six years, she has been involved in the university's legal clinics, and currently acts as the Supervisor of the Student Legal Information Center. See Magdalena's Full Bio »

  • Rabin Subedi

    • Rabin Subedi

    • Year: 2008
    • Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Water and Energy Users’ Federation of Nepal (WAFED)

    Rabin Subedi has been an active advocate in Nepal since he received his license in 1997. His areas of practice are very broad and he has had several cases heard before the Nepal Supreme Court. Recently, the Supreme Court of Nepal rendered a verdict over one of his cases that requires the government to respect the rights of transgendered people. See Rabin's Full Bio »

  • Sawsan Zaher

    • Sawsan Zaher

    • Year: 2008
    • Location: Haifa, Israel
    • Area of Focus: Minority Rights
    • Organization: Adalah The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel

    Sawsan Zaher is the director of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Unit at Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, specializing in social and economic rights and education for the Arab minority in Israel. A leading voice for the rights of Palestinian citizens in Israel, she has worked with Adalah since 2005. As a human rights lawyer, Sawsan has litigated precedent-setting constitutional law cases before Israel's Supreme Court. She has been named a 2013 Yale University World Fellow.See Sawsan's Full Bio »

  • Ye Xiaoqin

    • Ye Xiaoqin

    • Year: 2008
    • Location: Wuhan, China
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC), Wuhan University

    Ye Xiaoqin is a lecturer on Criminal Law and Criminology at Wuhan University School of Law and the Executive Head of Women's Rights Department of Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens of Wuhan University. Her academic research is focused on a variety of criminal law issues and frameworks, as well as women's rights law and theory. She also works part-time as a practicing attorney at a local law firm and is the Secretary General of the Ma Ke-chang Jurisprudence Foundation. See Ye's Full Bio »

    • Adel Badir

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Haifa, Israel
    • Area of Focus: Minority Rights
    • Organization: Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights

    Adel Badir is a staff attorney, specializing in citizenship rights, religious rights, and land and planning rights at Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.See Adel's Full Bio »

  • Chudamani Acharya

    • Chudamani Acharya

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Advocacy Forum Nepal

    Chudamani Acharya is an advocate with a long history of regular court practice in Nepal. He is a former Vice-President of the Nepal Bar Association, Central Committee (2000-2003). He also served as Chairman of Human Rights Alliance Nepal's Eastern Regional Committee and was President of Forum for Human Rights and Environment (FOHREn) Nepal. See Chudamani's Full Bio »

  • Daniel da Silva Bento Teixeira

    • Daniel da Silva Bento Teixeira

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
    • Area of Focus: Constitutional Law and Affirmative Action
    • Organization: Center for Studies of the Work Relations and Inequalities (CEERT)

    Daniel da Silva Bento Teixeira is a juridical consultant at the Center for Studies of the Work Relations and Inequalities (CEERT), in Sao Paulo. CEERT’s mission is to qualify knowledge production with intervention programs within racial and gender relations, creating equal opportunities and effectiveness in citizenship practices. See Daniel's Full Bio »

    • Gopal Nath Yogi

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Nepalganj, Nepal
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Bheri Environmental Excellence Group

    Gopal Nath Yogi is Executive Director of the Bheri Environmental Excellence Group (BEE-Group) in Nepal. His work with the BEE-Group includes fact-finding on gross violations of human rights, public advocacy and policy analysis on human rights and humanitarian issues and public interest litigation on human rights issues. See Gopal's Full Bio »

    • Li Xia

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Dongfang Public Interest and Legal Aid Law Firm

    Li Xia is a staff lawyer with the Dongfang Public Interest and Legal Aid Law Firm and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. See Li's Full Bio »

    • Rafal Golab

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Wroclaw, Poland
    • Area of Focus: Clinical Legal Education
    • Organization: Wroclaw University

    Rafal Golab is a postgraduate research scholar at the Faculty of Law, Administration and Economy at Wroclaw University, and also serves as Coordinator of the Wroclaw University Legal Clinic. See Rafal's Full Bio »

  • Szilvia Gyurko

    • Szilvia Gyurko

      Szilvia's Story
    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Budapest, Hungary
    • Area of Focus: Children's Rights, Clinical Legal Education
    • Organization: ELTE School of Law

    Szilvia Gyurko is director of UNICEF Hungary. She is also head of the Legal Clinic Program and works with the Center for Professional Practice of the Department of Legal Sociology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Law School in Budapest. See Szilvia's Full Bio »

  • Yao Yao

    • Yao Yao

    • Year: 2007
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Rights for People Living with HIV/AIDS, Environmental Protection
    • Organization: Civil Society Watch

    Yao Yao is Director of Law and Public Participation at Civil Society Watch in Beijing. Mr. Yao’s work includes advocacy for the rights of people suffering from AIDS and advocacy on environmental protection in China. He fulfils his mission through the development of public hearings, litigation and capacity building with other NGOs. See Yao's Full Bio »

    • Li Gang (Paul)

    • Year: 2006
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Public Interest Law
    • Organization: Beijing Impact Law Firm

    Li Gang (Paul) is founder and a board member of the Beijing Impact Law Firm, created in June 2006. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the “China Public Interest Litigation” website. See Li's Full Bio »

    • Marta Janina Skrodzka

    • Year: 2006
    • Location: Bialystok, Poland
    • Area of Focus: Clinical Legal Education
    • Organization: Bialystok University Law School

    Marta Janina Skrodzka is Coordinator of the Bialystok University Law School's Legal Clinic, as well as a legal professor at the law school. She teaches trade law and supervises the management and development of the law school’s legal clinic. She also opened a judicial practice center in the legal clinic that helps students to develop their legal skills in practice – through moot courts. See Marta's Full Bio »

    • Marwan Dalal

    • Year: 2006
    • Location: The Hague, The Netherlands
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights During Armed Conflict
    • Organization: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

    Marwan Dalal currently works with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. Prior to this, he was the legal director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.  In this position Marwan was responsible for supervising all of the legal work of Adalah, including litigation against Israeli authorities before local courts, as well as the Israeli Supreme Court. See Marwan's Full Bio »

  • Neeru Shrestha currently works as a legal officer with the UNDP's initiative to provide Support to the Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal (UNDP/SPCBN). Prior to this, she was conducting research on human rights and development with the Nepal Policy Institute, where she served as Co-Director. See Neeru's Full Bio »

  • Shree Krishna Subedi is Executive Director of INHURED International. He is also a member of the Nepal Bar Association, World Society of Victimology and a founding member of Young Lawyers for Human Rights in Nepal. See Shree's Full Bio »

    • Zhang Wenjuan (Wendy)

    • Year: 2006
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Children’s Rights
    • Organization: Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center

    Zhang Wenjuan (Wendy) is Deputy Director of the Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center. Prior to this, she served as legal staff at the Center with a specialization in child law. Ms. Zhang's duties in this capacity included providing direct free legal service to children and their families, conducting legal research on issues relating to children's rights and participating in legislation and policy-making concerning children.   See Zhang's Full Bio »

    • Aygul Saparova

    • Year: 2005
    • Location: Turkmenistan
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disadvantaged
    • Organization: Keik Okara

    Aygul Saparova currently works with Keik Okara, an NGO and  implementing partner of UNHCR in Turkmenistan. She received her degree in International Law from Turkmen State University in 1996. She also earned her LLM in International Law from London Metropolitan University in 2009. See Aygul's Full Bio »

  • Erinda Bllaca Ndroqi currently works with the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture in Tirana, Albania. Prior to this, she worked with the Albanian Center for Human Rights and also served as an advisor to the Albanian Parliament.  See Erinda's Full Bio »

  • Lasha Maghradze is head of the Bureau of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.  See Lasha's Full Bio »

    • Xiang Yan

    • Year: 2005
    • Location: Wuhan, China
    • Area of Focus: Clinical Legal Education
    • Organization: Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens, Wuhan University

    Xiang Yan works with the Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC) and is an associate professor of law, both at Wuhan University, where she has been teaching the history of foreign legal systems and western legal thought since 1996. She also teaches within the law school’s legal clinic.  See Xiang's Full Bio »

  • Zhang Jingjing

    • Zhang Jingjing

    • Year: 2005
    • Location: , China
    • Area of Focus: Public Interest Law
    • Organization: PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law - Beijing

    Zhang Jingjing is a Mason Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she is pursuing a master’s degree in public administration. See Zhang's Full Bio »

    • Alesya Vidruk

    • Year: 2004
    • Location: Minsk, Belarus
    • Area of Focus: Access to Justice
    • Organization: Foundation for Legal Technologies

    Alesya Vidruk has worked as a lawyer at the NGO Independent Society for Legal Research – presently, the Foundation for Legal Technologies, since 1998. See Alesya's Full Bio »

  • Dezideriu Gergely is the executive director of the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) in Budapest, Hungary. Prior to this, he was Secretary of State for the National Council for Combating Discrimination in Romania. See Gergely's Full Bio »

  • Diana Miladinovic

    • Diana Miladinovic

    • Year: 2004
    • Location: Belgrade, Serbia
    • Area of Focus: Women’s Rights
    • Organization: Labris

    Diana Miladinovic currently works as the sole legal practitioner with Labris, an NGO in Belgrade, Serbia. She completed law school in Belgrade in 1998 and later pursued post-graduate studies in International Public Law. She also holds a degree in gender studies from the Center for Gender Studies in Belgrade. See Diana's Full Bio »

    • Liana Haroyan

    • Year: 2004
    • Location: Yerevan, Armenia
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: ABA Rule of Law Initiative

    Liana Haroyan has worked with the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) since 2003. While there, she has worked with the Human Rights Commission attached to the president of Armenia. See Liana's Full Bio »

  • Sukhrob Ismoilov currently works with the NGO E’ZGULIK. Prior to this, he was Human Rights Officer with the Freedom House Uzbekistan Program. In this capacity he gained experience in providing consultations for human rights defenders and Uzbek citizens on legal and other issues, assisting human rights defenders and citizens to develop their communication and complaints to national and international bodies. See Sukhrob's Full Bio »

  • Tong Lihua

    • Tong Lihua

    • Year: 2004
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Children's Rights
    • Organization: Beijing Children's Legal Aid & Research Center

    Tong Lihua is Director of Beijing Zhicheng Law Firm and Beijing Child Legal Aid and Research Center. Mr. Tong founded the latter, which is the largest children's legal aid NGO in China. He also serves as Director of the Special Committee for Child Protection of the National Chinese Lawyers' Association. See Tong's Full Bio »

    • Zhang Wenguang

    • Year: 2004
    • Location: Beijing, China
    • Area of Focus: Public Interest Law
    • Organization: Landesa Rural Development Institute

    Zhang Wenguang works with Beijing office of Landesa Rural Development Institute and the Institute of International Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Prior to this, he worked as an attorney and the Chief of the Civil Project Department at the Dongfang Public Interest Litigation and Legal Aid Law Firm in Beijing, the first public interest law firm in China. See Zhang's Full Bio »

  • Balázs Dénes

    • Balázs Dénes

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: Budapest, Hungary
    • Area of Focus: Civil Liberties
    • Organization: Hungarian Civil Liberties Union

    Balázs Dénes is executive director of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), a nonprofit human rights organization founded in Budapest in 1994. Balázs received his law degree in 1998, from ELTE University, Budapest. See Balázs's Full Bio »

  • Dilyana Giteva works as an executive board member of the Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights. Prior to this, she was Legal Defense Program Director at the Human Rights Project in Sophia. See Dilyana's Full Bio »

    • Elvira Habibulina

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
    • Area of Focus: Prison Reform
    • Organization: Center for the Legal Assistance for Prisoners

    Elvira Habibulina is a member of the Kyrgyz Bar Association and Director of the Center for the Legal Assistance for Prisoners, a non-governmental organization devoted to active protection of prisoners rights, assistance in penal reform and reduction of incarceration, in accordance with international standards and principals. Activities of the organization include monitoring prisoners’ rights in the prisons, provision of legal and social aid to prisoners, former prisoners and their relatives, and liberalization of criminal legislation: with special emphasis on application of alternative measures of punishment. See Elvira's Full Bio »

    • Grigol Giorgadze

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: Tblisi, Georgia
    • Area of Focus: Psychiatric Patients’ Rights
    • Organization: Imedi Tv

    Grigol Giorgadze currently works with Imedi TV. Prior to this, he was a lawyer with the Center for the Protection of Constitutional Rights in Tbilisi. He was also director of the project Patients’ Legal Clinic at the Center. For many years, Grigol worked predominantly on patients’ rights, particularly psychiatric patients’ rights. See Grigol's Full Bio »

    • Gulzira Jumamuratova

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: Tashkent, Uzbekistan
    • Area of Focus: Rule of Law
    • Organization: ABA Rule of Law Initiative

    Gulzira Jumamuratova worked as a staff attorney in the American Bar Association/Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative’s, now the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), Judicial Reform Program before becoming an International PILnet Fellow in August of 2003. See Gulzira's Full Bio »

    • Lin Lihong

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: Wuhan, China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC)

    Lin Lihong is Deputy Director of the Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens (CPRDC), Wuhan University, China. She is also a professor at the university's law school. There she specializes in administrative law, including administrative reconsideration law, administrative litigation law and state compensation law. See Lin's Full Bio »

    • Xu Hui (Julia)

    • Year: 2003
    • Location: China
    • Area of Focus: Legal Aid
    • Organization: Public Interest Law Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

    Xu Hui (Julia) is a professor of law at the Public Interest Law Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where she teaches civil procedure and conducts and supervises research on legal aid. During this time, she has also acted as the Deputy Director of the Center for Legal Consultation and Legal Aid in Beijing. See Xu's Full Bio »

  • Agnieszka Wardak

    Agnieszka Wardak is a partner at Salans, a law firm in Warsaw, Poland. Prior to this, she worked with another law firm in Szczecin, Poland and volunteered with the family help organization ERKA, where she provided free legal services to abused women and children, mostly from families with alcoholism and drug abuse problems. See Agnieszka's Full Bio »

  • Giorgi Meladze

    • Giorgi Meladze

    • Year: 2002
    • Location: Tblisi, Georgia
    • Area of Focus: Civil Liberties
    • Organization: Liberty Institute

    Giorgi Meladze is the executive director of the Liberty Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia, a non-governmental organization devoted to protecting civil liberties of all citizens of Georgia. As a PILnet International Fellow, Giorgi worked on a project to address violations of religious freedom in Georgia by providing free legal aid to victims and enforcing legal guarantees in line with international conventions to which Georgia is a signatory.See Giorgi's Full Bio »

    • Lucie Ripova

    • Year: 2002
    • Location: Prague, Czech Republic
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Secretariat of the Government Council for Human Rights

    Lucie Ripova currently works with the Secretariat of the Czech Government Council for Human Rights as CPT Liaison Officer of the Czech Republic and Secretary to the Committee Against Torture and the Committee of Biomedicine. Prior to this, she was Vice President and Director of the Czech Association for Mental Health in Prague, an organization that supports the development of modern, humane, and community-oriented approaches to caring for the mentally disabled in the country. See Lucie's Full Bio »

    • Nebojsa Vlajic

    • Year: 2002
    • Location: Mitrovica, Kosovo
    • Area of Focus: Minority Rights
    • Organization: Nebojsa Vlajic Law Office

    Nebojsa Vlajic works in Mitrovica, Kosovo at the Nebojsa Vlajic Law Office. Prior to this, he was a legal advisor in the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Civil Rights Project, which offers free legal aid and information to refugees, internally displaced persons, and minorities. See Nebojsa's Full Bio »

    • Tatiana Pataraia

    • Year: 2002
    • Location: Tblisi, Georgia
    • Area of Focus: Disabled Children’s Rights
    • Organization: Norwegian Mission of Rule of Law Advisers to Georgia (NORLAG)

    Tatiana Pataraia currently works with the Norwegian Mission of Rule of Law Advisors to Georgia (NORLAG). Prior to this, she co-founded the NGO High Risk Rids - Kidobani in Tbilisi, Georgia, an organization that protects the rights of mentally disabled children living in institutions in Georgia. Her work there included linking these children to vital social services and facilitating legal adoption and foster care for them. See Tatiana's Full Bio »

    • Theodora Krumova

    • Year: 2002
    • Location: Prishtina, Kosovo
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – Kosovo

    Theodora Krumova currently serves as Human Rights Officer with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - Kosovo. Prior to this, she was a Policy and Legal Advisor at the National Council on Ethnic and Demographic Issues at the Bulgarian Council of Ministers in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she worked on drafting anti-discrimination legislation in compliance with EU Directives. See Theodora's Full Bio »

  • Anton Burkov is currently the Deputy Director of Management Systems International. In this capacity, he manages the Mainstreaming Human, Social and Civil Rights Program's I've Got Rights project, which seeks to create and support the conditions and political will to sustain the observance of human, social and civil rights in Russia. The project operates in Voronezh, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk and Perm. See Anton's Full Bio »

    • Bunafsha Gulakova

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Vienna, Austria
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Institute for Justice Sector Development (IJSD)

    Bunafsha Gulakova currently works as a legal advisor with the Institute for Justice Sector Development (IJSD) in Vienna, Austria. Prior to this, she was the head of the NGO Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, which renders free legal help to vulnerable groups in the country. She was also an attorney with the international law firm Contract where she represented clients in civil and criminal cases. See Bunafsha's Full Bio »

    • Dovile Juodkaite

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disabled
    • Organization: Global Initiative on Psychiatry, Vilnius Regional Office

    Dovile Juodkaite currently works with the Global Initiative on Psychiatry's Vilnius Regional Office. Prior to this, he was an attorney with the Lithuanian Welfare Society for Persons with Mental Disabilities, Viltis, which helps people with mental disabilities, their families, and their supporters deal with various social, medical, environmental, and legal problems. See Dovile's Full Bio »

  • Mihaljo Colak

    • Mihaljo Colak

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Belgrade, Serbia
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Open Society Fund for Serbia

    Mihaljo Colak currently works as Program Coordinator for the Open Society Fund for Serbia. Prior to this, he was a lawyer with the Serbian Helsinki Committee in Belgrade, Serbia, which works to promote the idea of the rule of law and the protection of human rights in the country. In this capacity, Mihaljo worked primarily on a refugee repatriation program entitled "I Want to Go Home," which offers legal and other assistance to Serbian refugees from Croatia. See Mihaljo's Full Bio »

  • Monika Ladmanova

    • Monika Ladmanova

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Prague, Czech Republic
    • Area of Focus: Women’s Rights
    • Organization: IBM Czech Republic

    Monika Ladmanova currently works with IBM Czech Republic. Prior to this, she was a founding member of Athena Association of Women Lawyers in the Czech Republic, an organization that aims to coordinate legal services to victims of discrimination in the workplace, domestic violence, and trafficking. See Monika's Full Bio »

    • Roman Javoronkov

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Moscow, Russia
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disabled
    • Organization: Moscow City University of Psychology and Education

    Roman Javoronkov currently works with Moscow City University of Psychology and Education. Prior to this, he was an attorney with Charities Aid Foundation in Moscow, Russia, an organization that promotes the development and activities of the charitable sector in Russia. There, Roman advised clients with disabilities and assisted in the development of legislation in this area. See Roman's Full Bio »

    • Sanja Milivojevic

    • Year: 2001
    • Location: Sydney, Australia
    • Area of Focus: Women’s Rights
    • Organization: University of Western Sydney

    Sanja Milivojevic is currently a lecturer at the University of Western Sydney. Prior to this, she worked with the Victimology Society of Serbia in Belgrade, an organization that promotes the rights of victims of crime, war, and human rights violations regardless of their gender, age, religion, ethnic origin, or any other feature. See Sanja's Full Bio »

    • Bayartsetseg Jigmeddash

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
    • Area of Focus: Women’s Rights
    • Organization: Office of the President of Mongolia

    Bayartsetseg Jigmeddash currently works as Legal Officer, Office of the President of Mongolia. Before being appointed to this position, she also spent time working with Mongolia's ABA Rule of Law Initiative and the National CEDAW Watch Center, an NGO that monitors and evaluates the performance of the government in fulfilling its obligations under the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). See Bayartsetseg's Full Bio »

    • Marija Lukic

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Belgrade, Serbia
    • Area of Focus: Women’s Rights
    • Organization: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

    Marija Lukic currently works with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Prior to this, she was a staff attorney with the Women's Action Center, a non-governmental organization in Belgrade, Serbia, that promotes and develops the political, social, legal and economic status of women in Serbia by forming coalitions of like-minded organizations and improving mutual support on strategic projects. See Marija's Full Bio »

  • Olga Sergeevna Shepeleva

    • Olga Sergeevna Shepeleva

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Moscow, Russia
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law - Moscow

    Olga Sergeevna Shepeleva currently works as Legal Officer in PILnet's Moscow office. Prior to this, she was a staff attorney with the Nizhny Novgorod Society for Human Rights in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, an organization that protects and promotes human rights and freedoms by providing legal assistance to victims of human rights violations, carrying out educational activities, and organizing public activities. See Olga's Full Bio »

    • Tatjana Evas

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Bremen, Germany
    • Area of Focus: Minority Rights
    • Organization: Bremen University

    Tatjana Evas currently works with Bremen University in Germany. Prior to this, she was a lawyer with the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights in Tallinn, Estonia, a non-governmental organization established to combat ethnic tension in Estonia by monitoring and protecting human rights, in particular the rights of minorities and stateless people. See Tatjana's Full Bio »

    • Vitaliy Gromov

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan
    • Area of Focus: Rights for the Disabled
    • Organization: Special Olympics Kazakhstan (SOK)

    Vitaliy Gromov is a staff attorney with Special Olympics Kazakhstan (SOK), a non-governmental organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan, that assists people with developmental disabilities in adapting to everyday life through participation in sports and physical education. At SOK, Vitaliy specializes in representing mentally disabled people in court proceedings and advocating for their rights in the society. See Vitaliy's Full Bio »

    • Yury Shentsov

    • Year: 2000
    • Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Legal Forum

    Yury Shentsov is currently Executive Director of Legal Forum in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Prior to this he was Chief Legal Expert at the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR), a non-governmental organization in Kyrgyzstan dedicated to human rights protection. There, he advocated for victims of human rights abuses, particularly within judicial and law enforcement arenas. See Yury's Full Bio »

    • Dana Marekova

    • Year: 1999
    • Location: Pezinok, Slovakia
    • Area of Focus: Environmental Protection
    • Organization: Via Iuris

    Dana Marekova currently works with Via Iuris in Pezinok, Slovakia. See Dana's Full Bio »

  • Ivan Ivanov is executive director of the European Roma Information Office. Prior to this, he worked with the European Roma Rights Center in Bulgaria. See Ivan's Full Bio »

  • Romanita Iordache

    • Romanita Iordache

    • Year: 1999
    • Location: Bucharest, Romania
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Legal Non-Discrimination Network of the European Commission

    Romanita Iordache currently works as Romanian Independent Expert with the Legal Non-Discrimination Network of the European Commission and Senior Independent Expert for Romania for the Fundamental Rights Agency - FRALEX. See Romanita's Full Bio »

  • Barbora Bukovska

    • Barbora Bukovska

      Barbora's Story
    • Year: 1998
    • Location: London, UK
    • Area of Focus: Roma Rights, Public Interest Law
    • Organization: ARTICLE 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression

    Barbora Bukovska is the senior director of Law and Policy at London’s Article 19: Global Campaign for Free Expression, a freedom of expression organization credited with standardizing the rights to information and national security. She was one of PILnet’s inaugural International Fellows, beginning her two-year fellowship in 1997. See Barbora's Full Bio »

    • Daniela Mihaylova

    • Year: 1998
    • Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
    • Area of Focus: Roma Rights
    • Organization: Romani Baht Foundation

    Daniela Mihaylova currently works with the Romani Baht Foundation in Sofia, Bulgaria.See Daniela's Full Bio »

    • Iryna Tustanovska

    • Year: 1998
    • Location: Lviv, Ukraine
    • Area of Focus: Human Rights
    • Organization: Eco Pravo

    Iryna Tustanovska is a lawyer with Eco Pravo in Lviv, Ukraine.See Iryna's Full Bio »