Zoe Chan, originally born in Hong Kong, is a lawyer who is passionate about effective and innovative partnerships between pro bono and community lawyers that deliver legal help to people stuck in the legal system. While completing her bachelor’s and L.L.B degrees at the University of Queensland (UQ), Chan developed a keen interest in community law and was involved as a volunteer at the Refugee & Immigration Legal Service, the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House, and the University of Queenland’s Asylum & Refugee Law Project. In 2019, Chan became a graduate of the Australian National University, with a master’s degree in Legal Practice.

Since 2016, Chan has worked on diverse projects at Justice Connect, most recently focusing on mobilizing pro bono support to work with self-represented litigants and help them gain legal empowerment. Chan strongly believes in the power of effective partnerships to make the law a tool for public good, and is keen to develop such insights to explore and tackle obstacles that prevent people from using the law to access justice in diverse jurisdictions, most notably Hong Kong.

Ray-Yun Hong is a recent graduate of the LL.M. program in international human rights law at the University of Notre Dame (magna cum laude). At Notre Dame, she was particularly interested in gender studies and East Asian affairs. Hong’s research focuses on East Asian gender issues rooted in cultural norms and practice, attempting to indicate the inadequacy of the current international mechanisms as well as the national legal framework in dealing with these issues.

Hong earned her LL.B. and LL.M in legal history from the National Taiwan University in 2012 and 2018. In Taiwan, her academic profession focused on the legal history of East-Asian countries, especially Taiwan’s democratic development. With her passions towards feminism, she also participated in the exchange project with Hokkaido University to conduct research on gender issues in Japan. After the 2014 Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, she participated in the NGO, Civil Movement for Constitutional Reform, and assisted with a series of public forums, including managing grassroots forums for civilians and serving as grassroots-leader speaker in the national constitutional promotions’ forum.

Yukiko Kobayashi Lui received her bachelor’s degree in legal education at the University of Cambridge before returning to her native Hong Kong, where she completed an LL.M. at the University of Hong Kong. While there, she served as Senior Editor of the Hong Kong Journal of Legal Studies. At Cambridge, she was President of the Magdalene College Law Society and Editor in Chief of the University Law Society’s magazine.

Kobayashi Lui is particularly interested in family law, gender and children’s issues in the law, and has worked as a research assistant studying children’s rights in Hong Kong. She also has an interest in furthering feminist and postcolonial approaches to the study and practice of law.

Maria Vizdoaga is a graduate from Columbia Law School with an LL.M degree in international and humanitarian law. Previously, Vizdoaga conducted a one-year internship with the United Nations in New York in the Conduct and Discipline Unit, Management Evaluation Unit and the Office of Legal Affairs. At the UN, her work focused on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse committed by UN peacekeepers. She also supported the meetings of the International Law Commission focusing on the topic of responsibility of states in complying with international law.

Vizdoaga is a Rotary Peace Fellow and she recently completed a three-month fellowship in Bangkok, Thailand where she worked on conflict resolution, peace negotiations, the law of armed conflict, and the United Nations Security Council reform. Vizdoaga is the recipient of the Postgraduate Public Interest and Government Fellowship offered by Columbia Law School. She also has a master’s degree in European Union studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands and a bachelor’s degree in law from the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova.

Xin Yang recently graduated with an LL.M. from Harvard Law School focusing her study research on environmental law and regulation. Previously, she obtained both her doctorate and master’s of law degrees from Renmin University in China.

Yang was a visiting scholar in the East Asian Legal Studies program at Harvard Law School, where she researched regulations relating to green finance in China, and at Law School of Chicago University, where she undertook intensive training on the U.S. corporate laws and securities regulations. Yang has spent years doing comparative research on environmental regulation between the U.S. and China.

Anastassiya Miller is a Kazakh human rights lawyer with more than 10 years of experience in the human rights field, focusing on strategic litigation nationally and internationally. Miller is a human rights trainer and specialist in the area of public control of closed facilities (pre-detention centers, prisons, mental hospitals, etc.).

In 2015, she held an internship in Germany at the Institutfür Ostrecht, conducting research on various human rights issues in post-Soviet countries and drafting conclusions for the court. Miller graduated with an LL.M. degree in international human rights law from the University of Notre Dame in 2018.

Eva Edline Murungi is a Ugandan lawyer passionate about using transactional lawyering skills for the interest of the public. She is particularly interested in areas of responsible investment in project finance, corporate fraud and accountability, financial technology and its role in access to credit, and financial inclusion to achieve sustainable development.

After completing her LL.B. degree (magna cum laude) at Makerere University, Uganda, and the Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at the Law Development Centre, Edline practiced at commercial law firm Bowmans (A.F. Mpanga Advocates) in Uganda in 2016-2017. Edline recently graduated with an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School in May 2018. During her LL.M., she conducted research analyzing the role of litigation initiated by regulators in preventing corporate fraud in the financial sector, specifically the Crane Bank fraud case in Uganda. She has also delved into fintech and financial inclusion in Africa and its role in achieving sustainable development for people who have had challenges in accessing credit through traditional means.

Icarus Chan is a graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He worked in local and international law firms, barristers’ chambers, local judiciary, and is currently an editor of Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher.

His interests in law span from technology and space law to public and international criminal law, particularly historical war crimes trials. He was an avid mooter, having represented his university in several mooting competitions. He speaks fluent Chinese, Japanese and intermediate Spanish.

Sarah Yookyung Kim is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law with a Certificate of Specialization in International Law. At Berkeley Law, Sarah served on the Asian American Law Journal as a senior articles editor and the Women of Color Collective as a networking director.

In 2017, she received Herma Hill Kay Summer Fellowship, a fellowship named after UC Berkeley’s first female law school dean, which supports students who pursue public interest work that benefits women. As a summer intern, Sarah analyzed and wrote about parental leave policies and pregnancy discrimination cases at UC Hastings’ Center for WorkLife Law.
Sarah was born and, for the most part, raised in Seoul. She has also lived in Baltimore and Hong Kong. Sarah studied English literature and international studies at Ewha Womans University.

Shan Helen Jiang is a recent graduate from Harvard Law School. She previously worked at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes of the World Bank and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center, managing international arbitration cases.

She has also worked at private law firms in London and Hong Kong. When she was pursuing her first law degree at Peking University, she co-founded the Public Interest Law Foundation in China. Prior to law school, she has worked with NGOs in both China and the US pertaining to pro bono legal services.

Lara Maddah is a Lebanese human rights advocate. She is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (2016-2017), and recently gained an LL.M degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Notre Dame. She received a law degree and an advanced degree in Business Law from the Lebanese University in 2015.

From a young age Lara has been an active member of Lebanese civil society, coordinating campaigns to defend public spaces, advance participatory civic engagement, enhance accountability and transparency in municipal work, and promote youth empowerment.

Lubumba is a Zambia-born, South Africa-raised lawyer who is passionate about democracy and the rule of law. She is particularly interested in administrative justice, access to information, and electoral reform. After completing her LL. B degree (cum laude) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, Lubumba practiced at a leading corporate and commercial law firm. She then clerked for Justice Edwin Cameron of the Constitutional Court from 2015-2016.

Lubumba is a recipient of the Ismail Mahomed Fellowship (2016-2017), and graduated with an LL. M degree from Harvard Law School in May 2017. During her LL. M, she conducted research analyzing litigation’s role in achieving greater political funding transparency in South Africa.

Michelle Ha is Korean-American and a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was active in the Harvard Immigration Project, serving as its co-president and director of the Harvard chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project (then, the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project).

After graduating from law school, she spent a year in Madrid researching the Spanish legal aid system and legal assistance for asylum seekers in Spain as a Harvard Sinclair-Kennedy fellow. Upon completing her Fellowship, Michelle will be joining a law firm.

Racine Ramhurry is a South African attorney and a Franklin Thomas and Michigan Grotius Fellow who she recently graduated with an LL.M from the University of Michigan Law School. Racine previously worked as an attorney in South Africa where she provided assistance to asylum seekers, indigent communities faced with eviction, and victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and rape. She served as Law Clerk to Chief Justice Mogoeng at the Constitutional Court from 2015 – 2016.

Racine is passionate about defending the rights of women and children, particularly in the face of the increase in human trafficking, child abuse, violent rape and gender inequality in a globalized economy.

Siodhbhra is an Irish-American human rights advocate. A former Fellow at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center, Siodhbhra has an LL.M in Chinese Law from the Renmin University of China. She spent three years at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Beijing, where she worked with Chinese civil society groups, law schools, and legal professionals on a range of international legal development projects.

Siodhbhra is passionate about gender equality and eliminating violence against women and girls. She has worked on projects that promote LGBT rights and support survivors of domestic violence in China. She has advanced degrees from Harvard University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Antonio Tsui conducts human rights legal research with the Focus Group on Guardianship and Financial Management of Mentally Incapacitated Persons. In his work, he examines the legal framework of guardianship in different jurisdictions, the rights of mentally incapacitated persons, specifically surrounding financial management. He also organizes study groups centered on these legal issues.

As a PILnet Fellow, Antonio will develop a project that aims to enhance protections for mentally incapacitated persons through improving social services and legal reform.

Deyaa Alrwishdi is a lawyer and human rights activist currently working as a Human Rights Researcher for the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.  In this role, Deyaa documents human rights violations from the Syrian conflict and develops thematic reports on the trends and patterns of these violations.

As a PILnet Fellow, Deyaa will develop a project to create a Syrian center for legal support, which would train civil society actors, media and the general public on human rights, the rule of law, and justice mechanisms.

Dmitri Holtzman is the Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC). EELC is dedicated to advancing the right to basic education through strategic litigation and advocacy in South Africa. Prior to his work with EELC, Dmitri worked with Equal Education, a movement seeking to address poor quality and inequality in education.

As a PILnet Fellow, Dmitri will develop a project to provide paralegal training for community based activists and organizations, involving public interest lawyers and law organizations.

Gustavo Miranda Antonio was a lawyer with the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), focusing specifically on strategic litigation within the Inter-American System. In this role, Gustavo primarily litigated cases related to accountability for serious human rights abuses committed by state agents during the military regime in Brazil.

As a PILnet Fellow, Gustavo will develop a project addressing lack of accountability for human rights violations that took place during the military regime in Brazil, and specifically seeking to implement sentences issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Hoping is the founder and Vice President of LesGo, a nonprofit organization working on LGBTQI rights in China. LesGo advocates for recognition of and equality for the LGBTQI community in Suzhou and surrounding areas. In her role as Vice President, Hoping focuses on community research and rights advocacy.

As a PILnet Fellow, Hoping will develop a project around advocating for LGBTQI rights in China, and expanding LesGo’s work to include services to disadvantaged female LGBTQI workers.

Liu Jiajia was the Research and Advocacy Coordinator for Equity and Justice Initiative (EJI). EJI is a public interest law NGO dedicated to promoting human rights for persons with psychosocial disabilities in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). In her role with EJI, Jiajia has participated in legal research, case interventions, project implementation and has played a large role in connecting the organization with other civil society groups and individuals.

As a PILnet Fellow, Jiajia will develop a project challenging adult guardianship system in China in order to restore full legal personhood for persons with mental and intellectual disabilities.

Mahmoud Belal is the Vice President of the Criminal Justice Unit at the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR). In this role, Mahmoud defends protestors and works on cases related to freedom of expression, labor rights, refugee rights, and torture.

During the Fellowship, Mahmoud will develop a project related to the right to a fair trial, and specifically working to empower lawyers to help ensure this right in Egypt.

Samnang Meas is the Secretary General of the NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child (NGOCRC), an alliance of national and international NGOs advocating for child rights in Cambodia in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In his role as Secretary General, Samnang advocates for the creation of laws and policies to promote and protect the rights of the child at the national level.

During the Fellowship, Samnang will develop a project that seeks to encourage and promote civil society’s influence on public policy related to the rights of the child.

Valentina Frolova is an attorney with a focus on women’s rights and LGBTQI rights. She provides legal consultations, represents victims of gender-based violence in criminal proceedings, and organizes trainings on women’s rights issues for lawyers, social workers and psychologists.

As a PILnet Fellow, Valentina will develop a project on attaining legal protections for vulnerable individuals, particularly members of the LGBTQI community and women, from stalking as a form of unwanted behavior.

Jenny Yu-Ju Lin is a pro bono Legal Consultant for the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) and Research Assistant at the National Yang-Ming University, STS Institute. In her role with TFCF, Jenny focuses on legal and political advocacy around the rights of the child, as well as NGO partnership development for the organization.

During the Fellowship Program, Jenny will develop a project seeking to ensure children’s participatory rights as guaranteed under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Adel is a Senior Legal Officer with the Civil Liberties Unit of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an organization that uses research, advocacy and litigation to address rights violations in Egypt. In this role, Adel is involved in developing the strategic and action plans of the Unit, exploring areas for strategic litigation, conducting legal research and providing legal assistance to victims of violations.

Adel’s rule of law project aims to strengthen and protect the role of lawyers in promoting and protecting human rights in Egypt. Specifically, his project involves advocating for a law to protect the rights of the accused to fair trial and due process, and to enforce international and domestic judicial principles and standards in Egypt’s domestic courts.

Anietie is a Staff Attorney with the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC), a Lagos-based organization focused on the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in Nigeria. In her role with SERAC, Anietie conducts legal research, documents human rights violations and litigates cases on behalf of victims of human rights violations.

As a Fellow, Anietie will develop a project to create a legal framework that will regulate the practice of forced evictions in Lagos. Specifically, she aims to draft and advocate for the adoption of rights-based principles and guidelines on forced eviction. These principles and guidelines will be modeled on the United Nations Comprehensive Human Rights Guideline on Development-based Displacements.

Bunthea is the Human Rights Advisor to the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF), where he works on monitoring and fact-finding efforts, and has played a key role in designing many monitoring initiatives. He has also worked with a number of other Cambodian human rights organizations, including the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights and international organizations such as the International Labor Organizations and Intervida World Alliance. Bunthea’s work has also taken him outside Cambodia, working for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal and also the UN/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

As a PILnet Fellow, Bunthea will develop a project on the issue of land rights in Cambodia. Specifically, he will focus on international and national legal frameworks on compensation for victims of land grabbing and work to raise awareness of land rights issues among young lawyers and activists.

Eleonora is the head of the Memorial Human Rights Center project, “Legal Clinic for Applicants to the European Court of Human Rights”. In this role, she develops and leads seminars for lawyers and law students on the practice and procedures of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), teaches interns how to take cases to the ECtHR and develops strategies for broadening the scope of the project’s work.

As a Fellow, Eleonora will work to transform the Legal Clinic for Applicants to the ECtHR into a more independent and mobile organization. This clinic will be separate from, but continue close collaboration with, HRC Memorial. The clinic will grow its network of lawyers and organizations and will train lawyers to effectively apply to international mechanisms of human rights protection.

Lap is a business law lecturer and Senior Executive Partner at NH Quang & Associates, a commercial law firm in Hanoi with a strong dedication to the public interest. In this role he has worked on many activities and projects to promote human rights and the rule of law in Vietnam, including but not limited to, drafting policies and regulations on environmental protection.

Lap’s proposed rule of law project is the establishment of a Center for the Promotion and Protection of Environmental Rights. The Center will work on the grassroots level, combining local NGOs’ efforts to advocate for the improvement of existing laws governing environmental protection with pro bono legal services to disadvantaged people who are negatively impacted by industrialization.

Liu Wei is a lawyer at the Henan Boyang Law Firm and chief coordinator at the Public Interest Collaborative Network for Women Lawyers in China. Wei is one of the founders of the Collaborative Network.

Wei’s proposed rule of law project is to continue developing this network for women lawyers in China. Ultimately, their objective is to affect change on the issues of family planning, protection of young women and girls, employment discrimination, domestic violence and the rights of female lawyers.

Shankar is a human rights attorney with the Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) and a leader in his field. In his role with LAHURNIP, Shankar provides free legal aid services and works to promote, protect and defend the human rights of indigenous peoples in Nepal.

As a Fellow, Shankar will develop a project to promote the rights of indigenous peoples in the ongoing constitution making and law reform process in Nepal. The project aims to guarantee effective and meaningful participation by indigenous peoples in the constitution making process and to ensure their voices are heard. The project will include preparing research and advocacy materials on the rights of indigenous peoples, identifying problems or gaps in draft constitutions and building relationship with US-based development organizations working on government building and constitution making in Nepal.

Sima is a legal advisor with Al Mustakbal Foundation for Strategic and Policy Studies, an institution that addresses economic, legal and regulatory issues in Palestine. She provides pro bono services to individuals and charities as well as legal consultations to individuals and international organizations.

While on the Fellowship, Sima will develop a project to strengthen Palestinian women’s participation in political life. Her project seeks to combat limited participation of women in the political process, violence against women and traditional norms that subjugate and marginalize women. Sima’s project will involve awareness raising among women, men and youth, capacity development of women and working with lawyers and journalists to develop public interest strategies that advance women’s involvement in the public sphere.

Yu Fangqiang is the Founder and Executive Director of Justice for All (FJA), a policy advocacy NGO in China. Fangqiang has played a major role in advocating for government transparency and fighting discrimination in China. His primary focus is on food safety standards and discrimination against people living with disabilities or HIV/AIDS. Before founding JFA, Fangqiang effectively advocated for reform of discriminatory policies surrounding Hepatitis B, benefitting at least 100 million people and 30 million families in China.

As a Fellow, Fangqiang will develop a project to promote transparency in Chinese food safety. His project will raise awareness among the public and lead affected populations to promote food safety by pressuring the government to release information on the food industry through the Regulation on the Disclosure of Government Information Act.

Zhao Jingwei is the Director of the Environment, Energy and Nature Resources Department at the Beijing Yingke Law Firm, a commercial law firm well-known for its engagement in pro bono services. Jingwei is very passionate about environmental advocacy and has successfully litigated several pro bono environmental cases.

While on the Fellowship, Jingwei will develop a project to protect environmental advocates, specifically in central and rural regions of China, who have come under pressure from local governments. Specifically, Jingwei’s project will assemble volunteer lawyers to provide legal services such as advocacy and consultation, attract media attention to the issue and advocate for reform in the government’s response to environmental activism.

Adaobi Egboka is the executive programmes director of Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), an NGO engaged in the legal promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law, and good governance in Nigeria. She is responsible for organizational focus and growth, oversees LEDAP’s advocacy strategy, delivers pro bono legal services to survivors of human rights abuses, and manages all legal and program staff.

Prior to her work with LEDAP, Adaobi provided research and administrative support to Hon. Justice Adefope-Okojie of the Lagos State Judiciary. Adaobi is a published writer who has argued for the abolition of the death penalty in Nigeria and analyzed state and national law governing the sexual abuse of children there. She has also participated in drafting several progressive bills, including the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, the Domestic Violence Bill, and a bill protecting the rights of persons living with disabilities. Adaobi earned an LL.B. from the University of Lagos and a barrister-at-law degree from the Nigerian Law School.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Adaobi will design a project to expand legal protections for people living with disabilities in Nigeria.

Anastasia Kumaritova is the legal work executive at the Russian branch of the Evolution and Philanthropy Company (U.K.). Anastasia conducts seminars and trainings for legal professionals working in both domestic and international NGOs in Russia. She analyzes current and proposed legislation regarding non-profit sector regulations for submission to relevant governing bodies, and provides legal counsel to the organization. She also works with the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, preparing legal advice and opinions for bills up for adoption by the legislature.

Prior to her work with the Evolution and Philanthropy Company, Anastasia was a lawyer with the Victoriya Children Foundation. She received an M.A. in jurisprudence and a Ph.D. in non-profit law from the All Russia State Tax Academy of the Russian Federation Ministry for Taxes and Dues.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Anastasia will develop a project to improve legislation governing the non-profit sector in Russia.

Azza Soliman co-founded and chairs the board of trustees for the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA) in Cairo. CEWLA provides free legal, social, and psychological services to women and marginalized groups, and advocates for improved protections of their rights. Azza, an acclaimed leader in her field, has worked with CEWLA for a decade and has more than 20 years of experience in the field of women’s rights in Egypt. Azza received degrees in human rights and civil society studies from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science and an LL.B. from Cairo University.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Azza is developing a project to expand access to legal services for marginalized communities in Egypt.

Bal Krishna Basnet is the documentation officer with the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) in Nepalgunj, Nepal. He is responsible for providing direct legal services to underserved communities and managing various aspects of the organization’s communications strategy. Prior to 2008, when he began work with INSEC, Bal Krishna was a human rights officer with the Kathmandu-based NGO INHURED International, which advocates on behalf of various marginalized communities in Nepal. He earned an LL.B. from Nepal Law Campus and bachelors and masters degrees in sociology from Tri-Chandra Multiple College.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Bal Krishna will be developing a project to expand legal protections related to the right to food in Nepal.

Bunthoeun Suon is the project coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders Project with the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) in Phnom Penh. As a project coordinator, Bunthoeun participates in the project’s strategic development and provides risk management plan development support to human rights defenders.

He also conducts legislative and media advocacy in order to improve legal protections for human rights defenders and raise awareness about the increasing restrictions of their rights by state authorities and the threats of incarceration and injury they face for carrying out their work. Bunthoeun is a qualified lawyer and received an LL.B. and LL.M. from the Royal University of Law and Economics in Cambodia.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Bunthoeun will develop a project to expand protections for human rights defenders in Cambodia.

Cheng Qian is a program director with the Wuhan University Public Interest and Development Law Institute (PIDLI) in China. In this role, Mr. Cheng has designed, coordinated, and otherwise contributed to the implementation of human rights and public interest law programs within Wuhan University and has been a contributing author and editor of various law journals. He has an LL.B. and LL.M. from Wuhan University, and received a graduate certificate from the Johns Hopkins University—Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Mr. Cheng will develop a project to promote business and human rights in China.

Lama Karame is a researcher and board member with Legal Agenda in Beirut. She conducts socio-legal research, the findings of which she presents in the organization’s journals, helps to lead a variety of legal seminars and workshops. Prior to this, Lama interned with the United Nations Development Programme, the Lebanese Parliament, and the Lebanese State Counsel. She received an LL.B. from Saint Joseph University’s program in public law and a bachelor’s of sociology from the Lebanese University.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Lama will incubate a project to establish a cause lawyering and strategic litigation center in Lebanon.

Meng Qihong is an associate professor, dean of the International Law Department, and the deputy executive director of the Legal Clinic Program at the Harbin University of Commerce School of Law in China. In these roles, Ms. Meng teaches legal courses and is involved in curriculum development for the law school’s clinical courses. In addition to her rich experience within academia, Ms. Meng also works as a part-time private lawyer with the Heilongjiang Far East Lawyer Group.

She received an LL.B. from the China University of Political Science and Law—Beijing and an LL.M. from the University of Helsinki Faculty of Law.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Ms. Meng will develop a project to establish the Heilongjiang Legal Service Collaborative, which will provide direct legal services to marginalized communities in Harbin.

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.

Prior to his current work, Alghiffari spent three years in LBH Jakarta’s case-handling department. He graduated with an LL.B. from the University of Indonesia. As a PILnet Fellow, he will develop a project to improve the provision of legal aid in Indonesia by equipping future generations of lawyers with the necessary tools to protect the rights of underserved populations.

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.

Prior to her work with WARDC, Grace was state counsel for the Osun State Ministry of Justice. She holds an LL.B. from Nigerian Law School. As a PILnet Fellow, she will be working on a comparative analysis of Nigeria’s Protection Against Domestic Violence Law and gender violence laws in the U.S., with the aim of improving the Nigerian law.

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.

Prior to joining CWR, Jyoti spent six years coordinating the advocacy program of the Women’s Rehabilitation Center in Lalitpur. Jyoti began her career at the Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre and also worked in many other law offices prior to joining WOREC. Jyoti received both an LL.B. and a master’s degree in sociology, with a focus on Nepalese abortion law, from Tribhuvan University. As a PILnet Fellow, she will be developing a policy reform project on protecting the rights of women living in rural areas of Nepal.

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.

Mariya holds a master’s degree in political science from the Science Research University Higher School of Economics with a specialization in political analysis and public policy from the perspective of human rights and democratic governance, and a specialist’s degree from Perm State University, where she focused on the legal and social support of individuals. As a PILnet Fellow, she will be developing a project that aims to improve the provision of reliable and transparent public services in Perm.

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.

Previously, he worked with the Environmental Legal Assistance Center, where he provided legal support to indigenous peoples. Raymond received a J.D. from the Ateneo de Manila University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of the Philippines. As a PILnet Fellow, he aims to develop a project on the involvement of local communities in monitoring human rights.

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.

Prior to her work with Save the Children, Ms. Su worked in corporate law as legal counsel to TBEA Stock Co., Ltd., and the Shanghai office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. Su holds a master’s degree in international law from Xiamen University. As a PILnet Fellow, she will develop a project focusing on juvenile justice and the empowerment of young Muslim women.

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.

In addition to her work with Adalah, Yara also works with Al-Haq, a leading human rights organization, as a United Nations advocacy officer. She represents Al-Haq at U.N. sessions, and at meetings with the Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations advocacy team, the Humanitarian Country Team protection cluster group, and other advocacy networks. Yara received a master’s degree in comparative law from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne. As a PILnet Fellow, she will be working on the access of persons with disabilities to key cultural sites in the West Bank.

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.

Ms. Zheng received her master’s degree in law from Yunnan University. As a PILnet Fellow, she will develop a project on the creation of a network of public interest lawyers throughout southwestern China.

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. Bidhata is also treasurer of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet.

Bidhata has been involved in ongoing fact-finding missions regarding gross violations of Dalit women’s human rights by state and non-state actors. Along with relevant policy analysis, this work has provided vital credibility for Bidhata’s lobbying efforts to improve protections for Dalit women.

Bidhata received her master’s degree from Kathmandu School of Law. She is a member of the Nepal Participatory Action Network, the Professional Development and Research Center, and Amnesty International. As a PILnet International Fellow, Bidhata developed a project on how best to advocate for Dalit women and promote programs that will help raise public awareness and address the plight of Dalit women.

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.

Previously, Hala worked as a legal advisor with the Jordanian National Committee for Women and the Sisterhood Is Global Institute. She currently serves on a number of reform-minded legal committees, including the regional coalition to amend personal status law, the Expert Committee Drafting Election Law, and the Women’s Committee of the Jordanian Bar Association. Her paper, “Women in Local Governance,’” was published in the 2008 book The Role of Women: The Jordanian Perspective.

Hala holds a master’s degree in law from the Amman Arab University in Jordan and is pursuing a Ph.D. in law and a second master’s in women’s studies. As a PILnet International Fellow, Hala is developing a project to help fight discrimination and violence against women in the socio-cultural environment in Arab countries.

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.

Prior to joining the CCD, Idayat was a deputy regional coordinator with the Movement Against Corruption in Nigeria, an organization that seeks to eradicate corruption and poverty in Nigeria. Idayat received her bachelor’s degree in law from the Lagos State University, Ojo, and holds an LL.M. in legal theory from the European Academy of Legal Theory, Brussels. Since her admission to the Nigerian bar, Idayat has focused on legislative advocacy, legal reform, transparency and accountability, and the rights of vulnerable groups. As a PILnet International Fellow, she is working on a project to bolster public-interest litigation in Nigeria.

Kseniya Kirichenko is legal assistance program coordinator and project coordinator, respectively, for the St. Petersburg-based LGBT organizations Coming Out and Rainbow. Prior to this, she was the legal assistance program coordinator at the Russian LGBT Network, an inter-regional human rights NGO working for equality for all people regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. Kseniya remains active with the Russian LGBT Network, serving on its board of directors and helping with strategic planning and fundraising.

During her tenure at the Russian LGBT Network, Kseniya was also a senior lecturer at Novosibirsk State University, where she taught law courses. She founded and was head of the board of Feminist and LGBT Human Rights Organization—Gender and Law, a Novosibirsk-based NGO advocating at the regional level for equal rights for LGBT people. Her activities included implementing a series of educational events and public awareness campaigns for the LGBT community, as well as organizing legal assistance for victims of discrimination and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Kseniya has made considerable contributions to advancing LGBT rights in Russia and has changed the lives of many transgender individuals in Russia through her advocacy. In 2010 Kseniya won the first court judgment granting a transgender person the right to change his legal documentation despite not having completed the required surgeries; she argued that refusing the applicant’s request to change his identification documents violated his human dignity and right to self-determination. Kseniya’s advocacy won the support and intervention of a regional ombudsman.

Kseniya holds a degree in law from Novosibirsk State University and completed her postgraduate studies in law at the Institute of Philosophy and Law at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science. As a PILnet International Fellow, Kseniya developed a project to to advance the socio-legal status of transgender people in Russia by removing financial barriers to their access to healthcare services and their general access to name-change documentation.

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.

Ms. Li supervises the lawyers in BZMW’s 24 branches outside of Beijing and assists with training workshops and clinical legal education programs provided by BZMW. She received her master’s degree in jurisprudence from East China University of Political Science and Law. As a PILnet International Fellow, she is working to establish protective legal mechanisms for NGOs in China designed to empower and inform women regarding their labor rights.

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.

In addition, Oanh has worked at the National University, the Diplomatic Institute of Vietnam, and Hanoi Law University, where she taught aspiring law students and prepared them for the Judicial Academy.

After earning a master’s degree in law from the State University of Moldova in 1994, Oanh spent a decade practicing law in Vietnam. In 2005, she received her Ph.D. in jurisprudence from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. Most recently, she spent a year at Harvard Law School as a Fulbright Scholar. As a PILnet International Fellow, Oanh is developing a project to establish a juvenile justice advocacy center at the Judicial Academy, dedicated to the study and protection of children’s rights in Vietnam.

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.

Rawan’s duties include managing the group’s media relations and writing a yearly report on honor killings. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bir Zeit University where she is currently studying for her master’s degree in law. She also worked as a researcher at the Institute of Law at Bir Zeit University and the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession–Musawa. As a PILnet International Fellow, Rawan is developing a project to reduce honor killings in Palestine.

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.

Siti has worked extensively with minority religious groups that have fallen foul of Indonesia’s religious blasphemy law, in particular the Ahmadiyya community, which has faced protests and violence from Islamic fundamentalists. To this end, she has represented victims, witnesses, and suspects from religious minority groups within the criminal justice system, and has called for judicial review of the country’s controversial blasphemy law in the Constitutional Court. She has also advocated in front of Indonesia’s Supreme Court for judicial review of policies that seek to ban the Ahmadiyya.

Siti received her bachelor’s degree in law from Diponegoro University, Central Java, Indonesia. As a PILnet International Fellow, she is working to promote access to justice for minorities in Indonesia by developing a workshop and guidebook to improve awareness of the issues facing religious groups. She will also develop a clinic to support religious minorities and their legal advocates.

Song Jing is the project coordinator for the World Resources Institute’s Climate and Energy Program. In this role, Ms. Song conducts research, focusing on public participation in environmental justice activism. Prior to this, she was a 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.

During her four years at ACEF, Song organized a number of forums and seminars on environmental issues targeting lawyers across China and drafted legal reports and proposals advocating for strengthened environmental legislation. She also organized annual or biennial volunteer law training clinics on the protection of environmental rights. Through this program she helped provide clinical education about environmental public interest law to hundreds of lawyers across China. She also established a public pollution complaints line, which provides callers with legal guidance about their cases from lawyers and environmental experts.

Song received a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from Beijing Forestry University and a master’s degree in economic law from Renmin University of China. As a PILnet International Fellow, she developed a project aimed at protecting environmental rights in China within the context of human rights, with a focus on creating codified mechanisms for public interest litigation in China.

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.

At Union University School of Law in Belgrade, Milena serves as a supervising attorney for the Family Law Clinic and leads several workshops and trainings on non-violent communication and conflict resolution for children and families. Milena graduated from the the University of Belgrade’s law school in 2002, and then received a master’s degree in children’s rights at the Union University Faculty of Law in cooperation with the European Network of Master’s Degrees in Children’s Rights. She is currently working on an additional master’s degree in European integration at the University Belgrade’s Faculty of Law. As a PILnet International Fellow, Milena developed a project to promote the enforcement of children’s rights legislation in Serbia.

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.

Pultoni started his career as a legal aid lawyer at Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), where he provided legal aid to the urban poor, protecting their rights against housing evictions, unlawful arrests, and domestic violence. He also has worked at the National Consortium for Legal Reform (KRHN) where he established a constitutional court by drafting legislation and creating a selection process for justices. With an Islamic education background in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools), Pultoni also advocates and promotes religious freedom and judicial review of blasphemy law. He received his bachelor’s in law from Attahiriyah Islamic University, Jakarta, and is currently working on a master’s degree at Jayabaya University Jakarta. As a PILnet International Fellow, Pultoni developed a project on how to establish clinical legal education programs in law schools to further legal education reform and the growth of legal aid for marginalized people in Indonesia.

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.

Shiva has provided an Expert Submission to the Constituent Assembly on children’s rights and environmental justice, and through the National Human Rights Commission, has participated in human rights enforcement mechanisms. Shiva was appointed by the Nepali Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare to the Juvenile Justice Strengthening Program from 2005-2007, where he drafted and enacted juvenile justice reform laws based on directives of the Supreme Court and international treaty bodies. Shiva received a law degree from the University of Delhi, in New Delhi, India and is currently pursuing a PhD at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, through which he is studying the enforcement of public interest law in Nepal. As a PILnet International Fellow, Shiva developed a project on strategies and programs to improve judicial compliance in Nepal.

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.

Rini has drafted several laws on domestic violence and anti-discrimination, and served on the Indonesian National Committee on Human Rights where she researched and published a policy paper on controversial aspects of Muslim law and women’s rights enforcement in Indonesia.  She received a bachelor’s degree in private law from the University of Atmajaya in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and later received a master’s degree in health and social science from Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. As a PILnet International Fellow, Rini formulated an advocacy toolkit for promoting women’s rights and minority group rights in Indonesia, focusing on how to promote rights for marginalized groups in a pluralistic society.

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.

As the program coordinator, Vanessa advocates and defends the rights of sexual minorities, women and children whose rights are violated as a result of their health status. Vanessa is very active in providing legal counseling, mediation and litigation support to people living with HIV/AIDS. She was on the legal team that prepared and litigated a landmark HIV/AIDS discrimination case, in which a woman living with HIV/AIDS sued a hospital for denying her treatment due to her health status. After winning this case, Vanessa helped establish the Legal Action Committee Initiative (LACI), which coordinates training and support to lawyers in Nigeria who provide pro bono services to people living with HIV/AIDS and others whose rights have been violated in the health care system as a result of their health conditions. Vanessa has also researched patients’ rights cases where privacy and confidentiality have been compromised. Vanessa received her barrister-at-law degree from the Nigerian Law School in Abuja, Nigeria. As a PILnet International Fellow, Vanessa developed a project to promote the right to reproductive health in Nigeria.

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.

In 2001-2002, Mr. Yao worked on high-profile cases involving the Chinese government and workers’ rights violations. He obtained compensation for more than seventy workers despite immense pressure from the local government and workers’ union. Yao established the first Administrative Law Committee (ALC) at the Guangzhou Bar Association in 2002, and later sat on the advisory committee for the first Public Law Firm offering free legal aid in Guangzhou. In 2009, Yao established the Constitutional Law and Human Rights Committee at the Guangzhou Bar Association and served as the first Executive Director. He received his law degree from Peking University Law School and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Wuhan University Politics and Public Administration School. As a PILnet International Fellow, Yao developed a partnership strategy between NGOs and pro bono lawyers in China.

Zhang Zhongmin is an assistant professor of law at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China, where he previously served as a research fellow of environmental and resource law. Mr. Zhang’s work has focused on environmental legal reforms and environmental public interest litigation.

Zhang has also worked within China’s judicial system. He investigated and published reports on water pollution along the Yangtze River for the Supreme People’s Court and National Congress and served as an assistant presiding judge at the Hanjian Intermediate People’s Court of Hubei Province, in Xiantao. In the latter role, Zhang researched the Chinese judicial system and trained judges in environmental pubic interest litigation. He is internationally recognized as an expert in this area and is a sought-after speaker on the subject.

Zhang has drafted pioneering legislation, including “Environmental Protection Regulations in Zhuhai,” which was the first Chinese law to recognize environmental rights. He also introduced the terms “ecological compensation” and “environmental insurance” into new pieces of Chinese law.

Zhang received his master’s degree in law and his doctorate in environmental and civil law from the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China. He completed a. LL.M. in environmental law at Vermont State University in 2012. As a PILnet International Fellow, Zhang researched American environmental public interest litigation and clinical legal training programs to create a best practices toolkit for Chinese litigators.

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.

Elena remains active in her community, serving as Chair of the Board to the Russian Harm Reduction Network – a non-profit partnership based in Moscow – and as Deputy Chair of the Board to the Public Chamber of the City of Voronezh, an entity that represents the public interest before local authorities. Elena has been an active participant in the development and monitoring of legislation and government actions that empower civil society in Voronezh and is a graduate of Voronezh State University Faculty of Law. As a PILnet International Fellow, Elena investigated best practices of HIV/AIDS advocacy and prevention organizations in the US that can be implemented by Russian organizations combating HIV/AIDS.

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.

Folusho has also worked as a legal officer with the Nigerian Ministry of Justice at the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights, where she provided legal services to those served by the ministry. While at the Nigerian Ministry of Justice, Folusho served on the editorial board of the ministry’s newspaper, Justice Now, and revised and redrafted legislation for Lagos State. Folusho served as Secretary for the Prisons Welfare Group of the Lagos Corpers’ Legal Aid Volunteer Group, which monitored and reported human rights abuses and violations of persons in detention. Folusho earned her LLB from the Nigerian Law School in 2002 and her LLM from the University of Pretoria in 2004. As a PILnet International Fellow, Folusho developed a comprehensive toolkit for advocating and litigating issues of economic, social and cultural rights in Nigeria.

Gambhir Singh Air recently established Justice for All along with PILnet International Fellow Sarmila Shrestha and six other public interest lawyers. Justice for All provides legal aid to citizens in need in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Dhangadhi. Gambhir is based in Dhangadhi, where he provides legal aid to poor and marginalized women. In addition to his work with Justice for All, Gambhir is secretary of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet.

Prior to co-founding Justice for All, Gambhir served as a legal advisor for the Rastriya Dalits Network (RDC), an advocacy group committed to raising awareness among and for the plight of the Haliyas group in the Dalit community. He had a wide range of responsibilities at RDC that included advocacy and lobbying, legal representation and counseling, organizing educational sessions and trainings, and editorial work on RDC’s newsletter.

Gambhir began his legal career with the Legal Treatment Center in Dhangadi, where he managed cases and provided free legal advice to indigent clients, particularly women and children. While at the Legal Treatment Center, Gambhir was also involved in human rights education trainings and mission trips focused on human rights violations. Gambhir continues to support the Legal Treatment Center as a volunteer lawyer. Gambhir also worked with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), supporting its work protecting refugees and internally displaced persons in Nepal. As a local expert, he was actively involved in many legal and project management activities of NRC.

Gambhir graduated from the Nepal Law Campus of the Tribhuvan University in 1995 with a specialization in company law and holds a general law degree from the Kathmandu Campus of the Tribhuvan University. As a PILnet International Fellow, Gambhir focused his research on effectively advocating for the social inclusion of the historically disenfranchised Haliya communities in Nepal.

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.

Prior to her PILnet Fellowship, Huang practiced law at the Beijing Horizon Law Firm and was involved in numerous public interest cases, some of them highly publicized in China and abroad, including several involuntary commitment cases. Huang has provided pro bono services to Chinese dissident Liu Shui–related to his sentencing to three years in a labor camp for “re-education”–as well as to dissidents imprisoned in Guangdong and Shenzhen. She is also a community activist and author of the first Chinese blog on public and mental health issues.

Huang holds a master’s degree in law from Peking University and a bachelor’s degree in law from Shenzhen University. As a PILnet International Fellow, she focused on forced institutionalization, studying the American experience of deinstitutionalization of people with mental disabilities with the aim of constructing a critical analysis of the existing system in China.

Huang’s work was mentioned in a two-part The New York Times series by Sharon LaFraniere, “Life in Shadows for Mentally Ill in China” and “Assertive Chinese Held in Mental Wards” (November 10, 11, 2010). She is also featured in a video from Al Jazeera about the crisis of mental health treatment in China, “Slipping Through the Cracks” (February 2012).

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.

Regina has a strong interest in human rights and has attended a number of trainings and seminars in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. She has published several papers on the role of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Russia and on clinical legal education. Regina is a graduate of the Academy of Management TISBI in Tatarstan.  As a PILnet International Fellow, Regina developed advocacy strategies to ensure the effective implementation in Russia of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

Sarmila Shrestha recently established Justice for All along with PILnet International Fellow Gambhir Singh Air and six other public interest lawyers. Justice for All provides 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.  In addition to her work with Justice for All, Sarmila is also a member of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet.

Since 2004, Sarmila has also worked with the Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public) as a public interest lawyer in the field of protection and promotion of human rights and social justice. She has been involved with Pro Public’s advocacy work, including identifying issues for advocacy, preparing matters for litigation, and arguing cases before the Supreme Court of Nepal and other Nepali courts. At Pro Public, Sarmila has also coordinated national and regional training programs, and seminars and workshops on capacity building of law enforcement agencies. She currently works with Pro Public as a consultant developing its public interest litigation strategy.

Before beginning her work at Pro Public, Sarmila served as program coordinator at the Community Legal Consultancy Service Center in Kathmandu, where she provided free legal service and advice to women who have been victims of violence. Sarmila has long served on the executive board of the Constitutional Lawyers’ Forum in Kathmandu and is a member of the Nepal Bar; she also served on the board of the Men Engage Alliance National Core Group in Nepal until 2009. Sarmila earned her LL.M. in 2004 from the University of Pune and her bachelor’s degree in law from Tribhuvan University in 1999. As a PILnet International Fellow, Sarmila deepened her understanding of strategies to protect and promote human rights and social justice ideals through public interest litigation in Nepal.

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.

Scholastica works on human rights education projects of the YHRWC and manages legal cases for both organizations. She graduated from the Department of Law at the University of Buea in 1998 and was admitted to the Bar in Cameroon in 2000. Scholastica has authored several papers on women’s rights, specifically on desertion and widowhood, and the offense of rape in the Cameroonian Penal Code. She also wrote the handbook for paralegal officers on the rights of the child in Cameroon. As a PILnet International Fellow, Scholastica researched the opportunities to educate about collective human rights in Cameroon and designed advocacy strategies to help achieve this goal.

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.

Ms. Xia currently manages the Canada-China Legal Aid and Community Legal Services Project, which includes organizing legal aid workshops, training and education for participating Chinese lawyers. Her work is also focused on reform within the legal system and ensuring the quality of free legal services. Xia graduated with honors from the Yantai University Faculty of Law in 2001 and from the International Economic Law Institute of Nankai University in 2004. As a PILnet International Fellow, Xia focused on developing measurable indicators for the quality of legal aid in China by analyzing the American legal aid experience.

Chen Dong is a project officer with the Canadian Bar Association, where he works on the Legal Aid for Marginalized Groups in China project. Prior to this, he was the training coordinator for International Bridges to Justice in Beijing.

Before relocating to Beijing, Mr. Chen 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. Chen was directly involved in enhancing the city’s legal aid system.

Chen has also spent significant time volunteering in several legal and social services organizations, including as a council member of the All China Lawyers’ Association, the standing director of the Urumqi Lawyers’ Association, the commissioner of the Urumqi Youth Committee, and a counselor for the Urumqi Consumer Protection Council. He is a graduate of the Northwest University of Politics and Law in Xi’an and the Capital University of Economics and Trade in Beijing. As a PILnet International Fellow, Chen worked on a project related to strengthening the legal aid system in China.

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.

Before working with the Legal Resources Consortium, Kolawole was a Staff Attorney with the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) in Lagos, Nigeria. At CLO, he acted as the coordinator of a network of pro bono lawyers who provide free legal assistance. He is very involved in prison reform in Nigeria and has secured the release of more than 400 inmates held in pretrial detention. Kolawole received his LLB with honors from the University of Ilorin in Kwara State, Nigeria in 2003 and was licensed to practice law in 2004. As a PILnet International Fellow, Kolawole investigated the use of community service as an alternative to imprisonment in America and its potential as a practice in Nigeria.

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.

Magdalena previously worked as an administrator in the Children’s Rights Clinic, and in the future will be working on developing a Polish-language study of legal clinics to enhance the legal clinical movement in Poland. She participated in the PILnet fellowship through the support of the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Rabin Subedi is a national legal consultant with the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) Nepal office in Kathmandu and the general secretary of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet.

Rabin has been an active advocate in Nepal since he received his lawyer’s license in 1997. His areas of practice are very broad and he has argued several cases before the Supreme Court of Nepal. Recently, the Court rendered a favorable verdict on one of his cases that obligated the government to respect the rights of transgendered people.

Prior to joining JICA, Rabin served as legal director of the non-profit Water and Energy Users’ Federation of Nepal, where he filed a number of cases at the Supreme Court of Nepal pursuing people’s rights to natural resources, especially water. He received his LL.B. and LL.M. degrees, and more recently a master’s in political science from Tribhuvan University. Aside from his advocacy work, Rabin is also a faculty member at St. Xavier’s College and has been teaching paralegal studies, human rights, and labor legislation to students pursuing degrees in social work. As a PILnet International Fellow, Rabin created an advocacy strategy for promoting access to natural resources among rural and poor peoples in Nepal as well as informing them about their rights to such access.

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.

Prior to Adalah, Sawsan established and coordinated the Kayan Organization’s legal department, where she currently holds a position as a member of the board. She is an active member of numerous human rights and feminist organizations.

Sawsan received an LLM in International Legal Studies with an emphasis on international human rights law and gender from the Washington College of Law at American University. As a PILnet International Fellow, she conducted a research project on the theoretical legal background of indirect discrimination in the areas of social and economic rights to inform her work in Israel.

Ye Xiaoqin is a professor of constitutional law at Wuhan University School of Law. Ms. Ye 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. In the past, she served as the executive head of the Women’s Rights Department of the Center for Protection of the Rights of Disadvantaged Citizens of Wuhan University. There, her academic research focused on a variety of criminal law issues and frameworks, as well as women’s rights law and theory.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Ye developed a project on protection of human rights through public interest litigation and the criminal justice system.

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.

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.

Currently, Chudamani is working in Advocacy Forum Nepal as Coordinator of the Eastern Regional Office, implementing the organization’s programs on legal aid, public interest litigation on human rights issues, and advocacy on transitional justice. As a PILnet International Fellow, Chudamani developed a project on transitional justice in the Nepali context.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Daniel developed a project on Constitutional Law and Affirmative Action in Brazil.

Gopal Nath Yogi is the executive director of the Bheri Environmental Excellence Group (BEE-Group) and the vice-president of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet. Gopal’s work with the BEE-Group includes fact-finding on violations of human rights, public advocacy and policy analysis on human rights and humanitarian issues, and public interest litigation on human rights issues.

In April 2011, Gopal obtained a court judgment halting the distribution of anti-elephantiasis drugs in Nepalgunj, Nepal, after the drugs resulted in nine deaths and 700 injuries around Nepal. Gopal was able to achieve this in part by gathering organizations such as the BEE-Group and the Dalit NGO Federation to support the claim.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Gopal developed a project on the human rights situation of internally displaced persons in Nepal.

Li Xia is a researcher with the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences, where she focuses on legal reform issues. Prior to this, Ms. Li served as  a staff lawyer with the Dongfang Public Interest and Legal Aid Law Firm.

As a PILnet Fellow, she developed a project on administrative public interest litigation in the U.S. and China.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Rafal developed a project on the creation of an independent sector “Clinical Education,” which would operate as part of the Institute of Civil Law at Wroclaw University.

Szilvia Gyurko is the director of UNICEF Hungary. She is also a clinical professor and the head of the Legal Clinic Program at the Center for Professional Practice—a program that addresses family and child advocacy, which she set up upon her return from her PILnet Fellowship—in the Department of Legal Sociology at Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE) School of Law in Budapest.

Prior to working with ELTE, Szilvia spent seven years as a researcher at the National Institute of Criminology, where she worked primarily on issues of children’s rights, domestic violence, and juvenile delinquency/restorative justice. She earned a M.Sc. in juvenile justice from ELTE School of Law. As a PILnet International Fellow Szilvia developed a project on reviving clinical legal education in Hungary.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Mr. Yao developed a project on the right to access clean water.

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.

Mr. Li received his bachelor’s degree in law from China’s Northwestern University of Political Science and Law in 1991, his master’s in law from the China University of Political Science and Law in 1999, and holds a PhD in law from the Law School of Tsinghua University. He is also a partner in private practice with the Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm. As a PILnet International Fellow, Li developed a project on managing a public interest law organization in China.

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.

Marta also received her master’s degree in law from Bialystok University, and is currently pursuing her PhD there in the field of comparative trade law.  As a PILnet International Fellow, Marta focused on research and practice in the management and development of clinical legal education in an effort to strengthen and expand the work of her own clinical legal education program at Bialystok Law School.

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.

Marwan successfully represented Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations before the Israeli Supreme Court against the military’s practice of using Palestinian civilians as “human shields” during its military operations in the West Bank. In addition, Marwan has taught on “The Arab Minority and Israeli Law” at Hebrew University. Marwan received his LLB in 1998 and also obtained an LLM in International Legal Studies from the Washington College of Law of American University in 1999.  As a PILnet International Fellow, Marwan conducted research on human rights law during armed conflict.

Neeru Shrestha is currently the Legal and Policy Adviser for the Epilepsy Centre in Adelaide, Australia. She is also independently working to develop a legal clinic service in Nepal and finalizing a paper on how pro bono legal service can expand the scope of public interest law in the Nepalese legal system.

Prior to her current work, Neeru was as a legal officer with the United Nations Development Programme’s initiative Support to the Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal. In addition to her work with the UNDP, Neeru is also a member of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet. Previously, Neeru conducted research on human rights and development with the Nepal Policy Institute, where she served as co-director.

Before joining the Nepal Policy Institute, Neeru was a practicing lawyer and co-partner at the Public Interest Law Firm. She was also founding executive director of the Campaign for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which monitors human rights in Nepal and conducts training and workshops for human rights advocates. Neeru holds an LL.M. from Tribhuvan University and an M.A. in Sociology from Purbanchal University. As a PILnet International Fellow, she conducted research on legal reform in the area of human rights and transitional justice in Nepal, including study of Nepal’s two human rights inquiry commissions and comparison to similar initiatives in other parts of the world.

Shree Krishna Subedi is the executive director of INHURED International and the president of Public Interest Law Advocacy and Litigation Nepal (PILAL). PILAL was established and is run by the PILnet International Fellows of Nepal; the organization aims to advance human rights in Nepal through litigation and advocacy and works in close partnership with PILnet. Shree 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.

Shree’s major responsibilities include litigation and advocacy on human rights defense and promotion at the national level; program implementation; project planning; and supervision of programs and staff. He has written or edited more than twenty books, such as the Human Rights Education Book, Legal Rights Education Book, Selected Truth and Reconciliation Regimes: A Case Study of Nepal, and An Assessment Report on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, among others.  Shree completed post-graduate studies in the Victimology and Victim Assistance program at Tokiwa University (Japan). As a PILnet International Fellow, Shree developed a project on transitional justice in Nepal.

Zhang Wenjuan (Wendy) is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean for International Collaborations of Jindal Global Law School in India.  She is also leading the Center for India-China Studies of the Jindal Global University.  Before joining the Jindal Global Law School, Zhang worked as a public interest lawyer in China for over nine years.  She served as Vice Director of Zhicheng Public Interest Lawyers, the biggest public interest law organization in China, and Deputy Director of Beijing Children’s Legal Aid and Research Center.

Zhang obtained her law degree in 2004 from Perking University Law School and subsequently an LL.M. from Columbia Law School in 2014. She was a visiting scholar at Yale and Columbia Law Schools. Currently, Zhang  is a Marc Haas Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Her research focus is child law, lawyering for change and collaborative governance.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Zhang developed a project related to the promotion of children’s rights in China

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.

Aygul has conducted extensive training on Refugee Law and the experience of dealing with refugees through her work with the UNHCR. As a PILnet International Fellow, Aygul developed a project on the legal empowerment of the citizens of Turkmenistan. This involved educating the local population, especially the poor, of their legal rights and responsibilities.

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.

Erinda received her degree in law in 1997 and an MA in European Studies in 2004, both from the University of Tirana. She has been working as a human rights activist and educator since 1999. Her activities have included lobbying and counseling the Parliament of Albania for legislative change, through which more than twenty-four new draft laws were developed, work to abolish the death penalty in Albania and work on Roma and minority rights.  As a PILnet International Fellow, Erinda developed a concept paper for creating a legal clinic on human rights to offer free legal services to the citizens of Albania.

Lasha Magradze heads the Bureau of the Chairman of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary Working Group at the Criminal Justice Reform Council in Georgia. Prior to this, he served as coordinator of the Penitentiary System Monitoring Group at the largest NGO in Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA).

Lasha’s duties at GYLA included analyzing information and reporting on financial and human rights violations within the Georgian penitentiary system and communicating results with other NGOs and public councils. He also supervised the process of accumulating information by the GYLA program staff, planned and arranged media coverage and public campaigns on violations, and provided the prison administration with recommendations. Lasha received his law degree from Tbilisi State University Law School in 2002, specializing in criminal law and criminal procedure. As a PILnet International Fellow, he developed a concept paper on reform of the Georgian penitentiary system.

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.

CPRDC is the first non-governmental, non-profit legal aid organization in all of China, and has been in operation for over 20 years. At CPRDC, Ms. Xiang presides over the Minors Department which deals with cases concerning children. Xiang graduated from the Law School of Wuhan University in June 2004 with a Ph.D. in Constitutional and Administrative Law. As a PILnet International Fellow, she developed a concept paper concerning the relationship between clinical legal education, legal aid provision and public interest law, which she will use to unite the three fields and thereby strengthen the legal clinic at her law school and the work of CPRDC in general.

Alesya Vidruk has worked as a lawyer at the NGO Independent Society for Legal Research – presently, the Foundation for Legal Technologies, since 1998.

Alesya’s major duties at the organization have included: consulting individuals on issues of creation and activities of public associations, representing individuals in courts, organizing and holding educational and analytical seminars on human rights matters. Since 2000 Alesya has assumed the role of a trustee at the organization. She was selected to be the head of the Access to Justice Department in 2003. Alesya graduated from the Belarussian State University law faculty in 1999. As a PILnet International Fellow, Alesya developed a project devoted to the promotion of access to justice in Belarus.

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.

Previously, Dezideriu also served as a private lawyer and member of the Bucharest Bar Association, and was the head of the Human Rights Department of the non-governmental organization Romani CRISS – Roma Centre for Social Intervention and Studies in Bucharest, where he was involved in a number of projects focusing on Roma rights, both in Romania as well as in other European countries. He also worked as a trainer on human rights issues for police officers and NGO activists in Romania. Before joining CRISS, Dezideriu was Local Monitor in Romania for the ERRC.

Among others, Dezideriu has authored the following publications: “Good Practices: Compilation of Court Cases of Discrimination against Roma in Access to Public Places,” “Roma and the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the protection of National Minorities,” and “Good Practices: Specialized Mechanisms for Combating Discrimination: United Kingdom and Romania.” As a PILnet International Fellow, Dezideriu developed a project entitled “Combating discrimination against Roma through strategic advocacy – The case of Roma from Romania.” Dezideriu has a BA in law from the Babes Bolyai University – Cluj Napoca in Romania.

Diana Miladinovic has more than ten years of experience protecting human rights, women’s rights, and combating discrimination. She has been deeply rooted in this work in Belgrade, where her professional and academic career has been based. Diana is currently completing a master’s degree in international humanitarian law and human rights at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Political Science, where she focuses on European Court of Human Rights standards for protecting LGBT rights.

Prior to her master’s-level studies, Diana worked with the Ombudsman’s Office as a project manager on a pilot project entitled On-line Ombudsman, which included collaboration with ten local authorities and libraries around Serbia in order to increase the visibility of the Ombudsman’s Office and improve citizens’ access to the Ombudsman through video software. She also served as the sole legal practitioner with Labris, a feminist and lesbian rights organization, and worked for nine years with the Autonomous Women’s Center (AWC), where she was one of the co-founders and the coordinator of a legal group inside AWC, Justicia. In this role, Diana managed the group’s provision of pro bono legal aid for women victims of gender violence—including legal advice and counseling and the representation of victims in court—as well as the maintenance of a statistical database on Justicia’s clients and cases.

Diana has a law degree from the University of Belgrade and a degree in gender studies from the Center for Gender Studies, also in Belgrade. As a PILnet International Fellow, she developed a project to promote collaboration between NGOs and the relevant state institutions dealing with violence against women, including the courts, the prosecutor’s office, the police, social workers, and medical institutions.

Liana Haroyan works with Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she supports the development of the organization’s clinical education programs. Prior to this, she worked with the ABA Rule of Law Initiative in Yerevan, Armenia, beginning in 2003. While there, she worked with the Human Rights Commission in the office of the Armenian president.

Originally from Armenia, Liana also worked with the Media Law Institute (MLI) there. She was the senior legal counselor, managed MLI’s strategic litigation project, and served as the board director. While at MLI, Liana provided legal expertise and aid to media, and protected the legitimate interests of individuals from false and libeling publications and from intrusion into their private life. After Liana graduated from law school in 1998 she served as a legal assistant and then legal advisor at the Free Legal Aid Center of the Bar Association of the Republic of Armenia. As a PILnet International Fellow, Liana developed a project to improve the provision of legal aid services for members of the media and reform the legislative framework regarding freedom of information and freedom of expression to increase protections of journalists.

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.

Sukhrob has also designed and implemented human rights training events, and has experience in grants program management and coordination. Finally, his work has also included coordinating the Emergency Response Program for human rights activists, assessing needs of the human rights defenders’ community in Uzbekistan and designing capacity building programs for them. Sukhrob received his bachelor’s degree in international public law at Tashkent University of World Economy and Diplomacy in 2001. His studies focused on the Uzbek national legal system, international public law and human rights law. As a PILnet International Fellow, Sukhrob developed a project on freedom of religion and conscience in Uzbekistan.

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.

Among his accomplishments, Tong initiated the most encompassing cigarette suit in China, set up the children’s rights protection lawyer network across China and is the first lawyer to promote Chinese corporate lawyers to participate in public interest law. He also participates in the development of legislation on the provincial, as well as the national level, playing an important role in each area. Tong has authored and edited twenty-eight legal publications, and graduated from the Chinese University of Political Science and Law with a Bachelor’s of Arts in 1995. As a PILnet International Fellow, Tong developed a project on promoting children’s rights in China.

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.

From 1998-2001, Balázs worked as the HCLU’s Drug Policy Program and in the law office of Andrea Pelle, known in Hungary as the the most highly experienced advocate on the drug issue. From the fall of 2001, he was for many years a full-time lawyer at the HCLU and the head of the HCLU’s Drug Policy Project. The goals and services of the Drug Policy Project include the promotion of harm reduction policies, criticism of prohibitionist drug policy, and provision of legal aid services. Balázs is the author of several studies, mass-media articles, and informational booklets, and serves as the editor of the HCLU’s Drug Political Booklets series, focusing on harm reduction drug policy. As a PILnet International Fellow, Balázs developed an advocacy strategy for harm reduction and drug policy in Hungary.

Just a week after attending a presentation by representatives of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) at his law school in Budapest, Balázs Dénes found himself at the HCLU’s offices, looking for ways to participate in their work. He was attracted by the intellectual energy he found there, and, after graduation split his time working for both the HCLU and a lawyer in private practice.

Soon, though, Balázs realized, “if I wanted to work for the well-being of society, I could do much more as a public interest attorney at an NGO.” He left the private firm job and became a full-time public interest lawyer for the HCLU. Now executive director of the HCLU, Balázs is committed to building a new model of public interest advocacy in Hungary.

The HCLU–also known by its Hungarian name, Társaság a Szabadságjogokért, or TASZ– serves as a watchdog organization, monitoring the observance of civil rights by the state. In this work, Balázs sees the HCLU’s independence as its central asset. “The HCLU accepts no state funding, which is unique for a Hungarian NGO,” Balázs points out. “In order to fully exercise its function as a watchdog group and to demonstrate to the public that the HCLU is free from government pressure, the HCLU has to be financially independent.”

To build support among the public for its work, the HCLU relies on a strong media advocacy strategy, issuing statements to members of Parliament and to the media when new laws are issued, for example, and responding to media inquiries on current issues. Over the last few years, the HCLU has been fortunate to develop a strong presence in the media, becoming a well-known NGO and earning a reputation for reliably acting in the public interest. Media coverage also helps to highlight the HCLU’s policy-related casework. Cases are selected based on the HCLU’s policy priorities and the potential for public interest advocacy. “A good public interest advocacy case – one that can affect decision makers’ opinions or change practice – is one that allows us to show the human being behind the lawsuit,” he noted. People can tune out abstract policy arguments, Balázs explains. “But when you can show them that this particular individual was harmed, and that it could happen to someone else, then you can make an impact.”

Balázs’s primary goal for the HCLU is to continue to maintain its sustainability without support from the state. While Hungary’s entrance into the European Union in 2004 brought substantial benefits, accession has also presented a challenge for civil society as the priorities of large foreign donor organizations have shifted eastward, away from Hungary and other new member states. “It’s true there is more work to be done further east, more serious human rights abuses,” notd Balázs. “However, the funding needs are not yet being made up for here by contributions from individuals, private organizations, or the corporate sector.”

Though it is difficult to adjust to the decline of major international funding, at the same time, Balázs asks, “Why, so many years after the fall of communism, should we still be relying on the large internationals to provide all the resources? We should be asking Hungarians now: ‘If you find this work important, then contribute money to help support it.’” Under his direction, the HCLU has begun a membership campaign modeled on that of the American Civil Liberties Union in the U.S.,  which encourages individuals to support theits mission by becoming “card-carrying members” through a modest annual donation. Balázs believes strongly that the membership campaign can accomplish a great deal through small individual contributions. “It doesn’t need to be a mass movement. All we need is enough people to understand that a certain degree of civil control is necessary for an open society to thrive. If we can accomplish this – if we can demonstrate that this kind of NGO can thrive and be effective – it will have a positive effect on civil society as a whole, by providing a model for how NGOs can do business.”

In his work with the HCLU, Balázs draws on his experiences as a PILnet International Fellow in the U.S. in 2003, where he sought to learn more about methods and practices from the private sector that could be applied in public interest advocacy. “In Eastern Europe, human rights and public interest practitioners often think of themselves as wholly removed from the private sector. But I think that to be a good public interest lawyer, you have to be able to take the best models from every area,” Balázs said. “There are business management tools that public interest law practitioners can borrow from the big law firm models such as advertising, marketing, and using public relations to help reach an advocacy goal.”

Balázs notes that the PILnet fellowship also provides an excellent opportunity to contact other human rights and public interest lawyers in the region through its network of former and current fellows. “PILnet’s idea of investing in young, committed human rights advocates is just excellent,” he says. “This program incorporates everything needed to make people’s perspectives broader and increase their knowledge. It is great theoretical and practical training, and, just as importantly, simply helps to connect people with similar interests.”

“When I first began practicing as a lawyer,” says Balázs, “Hungary was in the middle of the post-communist transition. I felt then – and still do – that it is a great time to be a public interest lawyer in Hungary, when relatively small changes can have an enormous effect, to the benefit of society.”

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.

The Human Rights Project, established in 1992, monitors Roma rights in Bulgaria and provides legal defense for Roma victims of human rights violations, including ethnically motivated violence, police brutality and discriminatory treatment. As a lawyer, Dilyana assisted the legal defense in numerous such cases. She was also a member of the working group on drafting the Bulgarian anti-discrimination act. As a PILnet International Fellow, Dilyana worked on the development of a litigation strategy to address the issue of ethnic discrimination in education. Upon returning to Bulgaria, Dilyana worked on cases to address the issue of race/ethnic discrimination in education and other areas of social life.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Elvira worked on a project to develop free legal and social services for protecting prisoners’ rights and to introduce alternative sentencing provisions to the Kyrgyz criminal legislation. Upon returning to Kyrgyzstan, Elvira continued her work protecting prisoners’ rights both within her NGO and as a practicing lawyer.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Grigol focused his research on the issue of guardianship, a particularly problematic area of patients’ rights in Georgia. Upon returning to Georgia, Grigol continued his work with CPCR on Mental Disability Advocacy projects to further protect and advocate for the rights and wellbeing of this vulnerable sector of the population.

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.

Upon returning to Tashkent, Gulzira started her work as a staff attorney with the Youth Informational Center where she planned to launch a training program for law enforcement and legal professionals to identify, investigate and prosecute human trafficking violations in Uzbekistan. Part of her project was also to develop separate training modules on human trafficking and the related laws for the militia, border guards, advocates, judges, and religious and community leaders.  Gulzira’s ultimate goal was to achieve a decrease in the number of Uzbek women victimized by human trafficking through the combined strategies of training, awareness raising and prosecution.

Lin Lihong is 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.

Ms. Lin also worked as a volunteer at CPRDC for many years, supervising the law school’s students in answering inquiries, writing legal documents, representing litigation and non-litigation cases and defending the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. As a PILnet International Fellow, Lin worked on a project concerning the role of NGOs in the provision of legal aid. Upon returning to China, she continued her work with CPRDC, in cooperation with relevant local and international NGOs, to further protect the rights of disadvantaged groups and to promote the construction of a Chinese legal aid system.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Ms. Xu developed a legal aid program focusing on impact litigation to be used by the Center for Legal Consultation and Legal Aid upon her return to Beijing.

Agnieszka Wardak is a partner at the law firm Dentons, working out of the Warsaw, Poland office where she heads the criminal litigation practice. 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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Agnieszka worked on a project to introduce legal guaranties for victims of domestic violence into the legal system in Poland.

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.

Lucie Ripova works in the Social Inclusion and Policy Unit of the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affiars. Prior to this, she was CPT liaison officer and secretary to both the Committee Against Torture and the Committee of Biomedicine with the Secretariat of the Czech Government Council for Human Rights.

Lucie has also served as 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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Lucie worked on a project to systemically address the human rights of the mentally disabled through public education, legislative reform, and legal advocacy. Upon returning to Prague, she joined the Centre for Mental Health Care to advocate for and advise the mentally disabled, as well as head up a project to develop a network of service providers that is specially trained in mental health issues.

Nebojsa Vlajic is based in Mitrovica, Kosovo, where he leads the Nebojsa Vlajic Law Office and is a senior lecturer at the International College of Mitrovica. 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.

Nebojsa also served as a staff attorney with the Center for Democracy and Law, an indigenous organization that promotes democracy, rule of law, and civil society values. After completing his official tenure there, he continued being engaged with the Center as a volunteer counselor. As a PILnet International Fellow, Nebojsa worked on a project to establish a mobile legal aid clinic in Kosovo to serve minority enclaves in the province of Mitrovica.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Theodora worked on a project to develop strategic litigation in the field of discrimination against women to secure compliance with existing rules and standards in Bulgaria.  Upon returning to Bulgaria, Theodora joined the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee where she worked to initiate a gender program that supports anti-discrimination lawsuits and other test litigation in promoting women’s rights.

Anton Burkov is 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. Anton also chairs the European and Comparative Law Department of the Russian State University for the Humanities and serves as a legal representative in numerous cases before national courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

Prior to his work with Management Systems International, Anton worked with the Russian State University for the Humanities. He also served as a staff attorney with Public Association Sutyajnik, in Yekaterinburg, an organization that promotes the protection of human rights in Russia, particularly in the area of labor rights.

As a member of NGO Urals Center for Constitutional and International Human Rights Protection of the NGO Sutyajnik, Anton received the highest legal prize in Russia, the FEMIDA Award, “for contributions toward the creation of a democratic society and the development of state legal institutions.” As an expert on the Russian legal system, he has authored numerous publications, including: Konventsiia o Zashchite Prav Cheloveka v Sudakh Rossii (The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in Russian Courts) (2010), “The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Russian Legal System” in Leonard Hammer and Frank Emmert (eds.), The European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Central and Eastern Europe (2012), and The Impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on Russian Law (2007). Anton received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, an LL.M. from the University of Essex, a candidate of science degree from Tiumen’ State University, and a law degree from the Urals State Law Academy.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Anton worked on a project to establish a human rights NGO in Russia to litigate cases focusing on minority issues with the goal of bringing domestic legislation up to international human rights standards.

Bunafsha Gulakova is based in Vienna, Austria, where she promotes the legal protection of human rights as a freelance expert for the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Open Society Justice Initiative, the European Commission, and the United Nations Development Programme. Her work addresses rights issues in Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.

Previously Bunafsha was a legal advisor with the Institute for Justice Sector Development, also in Vienna. In her native Tajikistan, she was a co-founder and director of the NGO Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law in Dushanbe, which renders free legal help to vulnerable groups in the country. Under her supervision the Bureau became a prominent non-profit legal defense organization, which succeeded in applying international mechanisms of human rights on a national level. Bunafsha was also an attorney with the international law firm Contract, where she represented clients in civil and criminal cases. She received a master’s degree in international human rights law from the University of Oxford and a law degree from Tajik State National University.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Bunafsha actively engaged in the legal protection of human rights by joining forces for international law development worldwide.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Dovile developed a program to promote the protection of human rights of various social groups in Lithuania, particularly children with mental disabilities.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Mihajlo developed a project that would provide education and training to lawyers in Serbia on how to bring domestic cases before international and regional human rights bodies.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Monika worked on designing a strategic litigation strategy to address the issue of the inequality of women in the Czech Republic, specifically in the context of the labor market.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Roman conducted comparative research on the legal status of disabled people in the U.S. and in Russia in order to formulate a plan to address the defects of the Russian system.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Sanja worked on a project to formulate a legislative strategy to better promote women’s rights in Serbia and to increase public awareness on domestic violence issues.

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).

As a PILnet International Fellow, Bayartsetseg surveyed national legislative strategies for protecting women’s rights in the U.S. and other countries in relation to CEDAW. Upon returning to Mongolia, she developed a gender studies program for universities and professional institutions, worked with other NGOs and governmental bodies on developing laws relating to sexual discrimination and harassment, and monitored relevant legislation in human rights and gender equality.

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.

As a PILnet Interantional Fellow, Marija evaluated relevant legislation and monitored the impact of state policies on women with an aim to create/strengthen institutional mechanisms to advance the status of women in Yugoslavia. Upon her return to Serbia, Marija planned to create an independent organization that would monitor state policies with regard to gender issues and advocate for relevant legislative change.

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.

Olga’s area of specialization is international human rights protection and promoting freedom of conscience. As a PILnet International Fellow, Olga designed a strategic litigation strategy that would apply international human rights standards in Russian courts. Upon her return to Russia, Olga worked on issues related to freedom of conscience (specifically freedom of religion), prevention of torture, and the use of international human rights protection mechanisms within the domestic courts in Russia.

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.

Tatjana’s focus at the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights was promoting and protecting the human rights of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia. As a PILnet International Fellow, Tatjana drafted a model law on citizenship aimed at dealing with citizenship law reform in Estonia. Upon her return to Estonia, Tatjana focused on issues related to Estonia’s compliance with domestic and international obligations relating to treatment of minorities and adherence to human rights principles, including monitoring and analyzing legislation, preparing reports and publications, and providing legal services and litigating cases.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Vitaliy analyzed the comparative rights and privileges of disabled people in the U.S. and in Kazakhstan, and planned to develop a legislative database in this area. Upon his return to Kazakhstan, he continued to monitor legislative developments in disability rights and protections, provide legal representation to disabled people, and educate the public about developments in the area of disability law.

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.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Yury conducted comparative research on the functioning of judicial systems within well-developed democracies with the aim of reforming the judicial system of the post-totalitarian regime in Kyrgyzstan. Upon his return to Kyrgyzstan, Yury continued to work on a project that monitors human rights abuses in law enforcement and judicial institutions, and produces regular reports on this issue that are distributed to human rights groups throughout the country.

Dana Marekova currently works with Via Iuris in Pezinok, Slovakia.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Dana developed a project on access to justice in Slovakia

Ivan Ivanov is executive director of the European Roma Information Office. Prior to this, he worked with the European Roma Rights Center in Bulgaria.

During his five years as an attorney for the ERRC he helped bring numerous civil rights cases before the European Court of Human Rights and domestic courts in several Central and Eastern European countries. He also spent two years as a legal advisor for the Human Rights Project in Sofia, Bulgaria. As a PILnet International Fellow, Ivan developed a project on racial discrimination in education.

Romanita Iordache chairs the board of the Romanian Helsinki Committee, is a committee board member for Accept, and consults for several human rights organizations, as among them the Legal Non-Discrimination Network of the European Commission and the Fundamental Rights Agency—FRALEX.

As a PILnet International Fellow, Romanita developed a project to establish a human rights legal clinic at the University of Bucharest in her native Romania.

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.

Afterward she worked with the Center for Citizenship, Civil, and Human Rights spearheading strategic litigation to advance human rights in the Czech Republic, later she replicated this work in Slovakia, where she set up the Center for Civil and Human Rights. She also oversaw human rights monitoring in the Czech Republic’s psychiatric hospitals and developed the first legal clinic in the country. In 2011, she successfully argued a landmark case before the European Court of Human Rights in support of a Roma woman who was forcibly sterlized by a Slovak state hospital.

Daniela Mihaylova is legal director of the Bulgaria-based organization Equal Opportunities Initiative Association, where she works on programs related to Roma rights, equal access to justice and public services, and the prevention of rights abuses.

Daniela has fifteen years of professional legal experience in the field of Roma rights and equal opportunity, with particular expertise on anti-discrimination and human rights law at the national and international levels. She has extensive experience litigating cases related to rights protections that are mandated by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Bulgarian Protection Against Discrimination Act, conducting policy research, and participating in cross-border exchanges concerning the Roma in Bulgaria and in Europe. She received her law degree from Sofia University. As a PILnet International Fellow, Daniela developed a project to develop a street law clinic in law schools that would educate non-lawyers about their legal rights.