STAFF
TEAM
A staff team of 11, including the Executive Director, takes care
of the coordination and implementation of all projects by IWRAW
Asia Pacific.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Sunila Abeysekera
took over the helm of IWRAW Asia Pacific in April 2008.
Actively involved in working for women’s rights and human
rights in the Asian region and globally over the last twenty five
years, the roles she has performed throughout her many years in
human rights activism have included being a resource person and
trainer on the issues of women’s rights and human rights,
conflict transformation and peace building, including working
as a researcher and writer of many publications on issues of women
and conflict, and on reproductive rights and sexual rights issues
as well as founding and helming various human rights organisations.
Sunila
is a part of many vibrant civil society organizations in Sri Lanka,
and is one of the founders of INFORM Human Rights Documentation
Centre and of the Women and Media Collective in Sri Lanka. She
has been a core national partner of IWRAW Asia Pacific for several
years.
Besides
her work at the national level and in previous partnership with
IWRAW Asia Pacific, Sunila is also closely associated with the
Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD), SANGAT
(the South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers), the
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), The
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights and is a key
partner in the Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders and
in the Feminist Dialogues process. She is a member of the global
Civil Society Organizations Committee of the UNDP Administrator
and was awarded the UN Human Rights Prize in 1998 for her work
on human rights in the Asia-Pacific region.
PROGRAMME OFFICERS
PROGRAMME: Enhancing the Realisation of Rights (ERR)
Lisa Ellen Pusey (ERR Focal
Point)
Lisa is a holder of a post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice,
College of Law, Sydney, Australia and Bachelor of Arts/Law BA/LLB,
University of New South Wales. Prior to joining us she was the
Programme Officer for the Violence Against Women (VAW) Programme
and Women’s Human Rights (WHR) Working Group at the Asia
Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD). Her work
involved a range of activities designed to strengthen the effectiveness
of existing human rights mechanisms to address VAW and build the
capacity of women’s groups to advocate for eliminating existing
and emerging forms of VAW. Lisa conceptualises, plans and implements
these activities. Training and enabling women from the region
to know their rights under CEDAW and the OP-CEDAW, and using these
in their advocacy (as well as other human rights instruments as
they apply to women) is also an integral part of her work.
Lee Wei San (Global to Local)
Bachelor of Law (Hons.) from the University of Sheffield , United
Kingdom (1999). Wei San was called to the Malaysian Bar in 2001
and practiced in the field of corporate and construction law.
Prior to joining IWRAW Asia Pacific as a full time programme officer,
she worked as project coordinator for the Global Consultation
on the OP-CEDAW held in August 2005. She also volunteers at the
Women’s Aid Organisation, Malaysia.
PROGRAMME: Building Capacity for Change (BCC)
Amy Locklear (BCC Focal Point
& South Asia)
B.A. Political Science, University of Michigan, J.D. (1992); University
of Arizona College of Law (1995); LL.M., Human Rights and Social
Justice, University of New South Wales (2007). Prior to joining
IWRAW Asia Pacific, and for approximately 10 years, Amy practiced
American Indian law at private law firms in the United States.
In 2007, Amy assisted in the development of a report on the status
of human rights and native land rights in Sarawak, Malaysia. Amy’s
areas of interest include indigenous women’s rights, collective
and individual human rights in the context of women’s human
rights and the impact of social, cultural and religious values
on women’s human rights.
Wathshlah
Naidu (South East Asia)
B.A Anthropology & Sociology/Literature, University of Malaya
(Malaysia). Wathshlah’s involvement in women’s human
rights began when she was employed as a Law Reform Officer at
Women’s Aid Organisation, Malaysia. Prior to joining IWRAW
Asia Pacific, she spent 3 1/2 years working with the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); both in Malaysia and Hong
Kong. Her focus has been primarily on law reform and advocacy
on the issue of women’s rights, violence against women and
children, Muslim women’s rights and foreign migrant workers
rights as well as international refugee law and protection, sexual
and gender based violence against asylum seekers/refugees and
torture survivors.
PROGRAMME: Information and Dissemination Exchange and
Application Strategy.
Audrey Lee (IDEAS Focal Point)
Audrey has a post graduate diploma in Communications University
of Leicester (2006) and a L.LB (Hons) from University of Nottingham
(1996). Prior to joining IWRAW Asia Pacific, she worked as a project
manager and (policy) researcher in the private education industry
and was also a researcher at the World Enterprise Institute, a
policy organ working on socio-economic issues.
Yasmin
Masidi (Research Officer)
Yasmin holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne,
Australia, where she majored in History. She previously worked
as a research editor in a publishing company and was involved
with a number of non-governmental organisations in Malaysia, notably
as the Media Officer of All Women’s Action Society (AWAM).
Currently, she also volunteers for several non-profit projects.
ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE TEAM
Azlini
Abdul Ghani (Administration & Logistics Officer)
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (majoring in Accountancy).
Worked for ten years in the accounts and administration departments
of several firms. Was also with the Asia Pacific Forum for Women,
Law and Development (APWLD) previously, as an accounts and administrative
officer. This is Azlini's second involvement with IWRAW Asia Pacific,
having been employed as a Programme Assistant in February 1998
before leaving in November 2000 to practice homeopathy on a full-time
basis. She rejoined the organisation in December 2003.
Liew
Siew Yan (Administration and Finance Officer)
B.A. Anthropology and Sociology, University Malaya (Malaysia);
and London Chamber of Commerce Certificate (L.C.C. Intermediate).
Siew Yan has worked as a human resources and accounts assistant
in various companies before joining IWRAW Asia Pacific. This is
her first experience working with an NGO.
Rafidah
Sahmer (Administration and Finance Officer)
Rafidah has an Adv. Diploma in Financial Accounting (IFA,UK),
Executive Diploma in Corporate Administration (UMCCed, Malaysia).
She has seven years of working experience with several local and
multi-national companies in finance and administration and a year
of teaching experience in a public school.
Rosfaizai
(Ezza) Che Ramli (Admin / Information Communication Officer)
Ezza has a Diploma in Information Technology, Kolej Agama Sultan
Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia). Prior to IWRAW Asia
Pacific, Ezza worked as an IT Officer in Kolej Uniti Port Dickson.
INTERN
Current
Intern (June 2008-August 2008)
Connie
Tse
Bachelor of Arts in History, Yale University, 2002. Currently
a law student at New York University, she is at IWRAW Asia Pacific
from June – August 2008 as part of the NYU Center for Human
Rights and Global Justice summer fellowship programme, where she
is working on a paper on CEDAW and women's disability rights and
monitoring the use of CEDAW in the UN Universal Periodic Review
process. Between college and law school, Connie worked as an advocate
for domestic violence survivors in New York and on development
programs in South Asia and Africa at Oxfam Hong Kong. At NYU,
she is a board member of the Asia Law Society and Asian Pacific
American Law Students Association.
Past
Interns (2002-2008)
Meredith
Kennedy
Meredith is
currently completing her Bachelor of Arts, with History major
and French minor, and Bachelor of Laws at Monash University, Melbourne,
Australia. She volunteers at the Women’s Legal Service,
Victoria. Meredith is a Castan Centre for Human Rights intern
who joined IWRAW-AP from December 2007 to February 2008. During
her time at IWRAW-AP she has focused on re-drafting the Lawyers
Training Manual. She has also worked on a paper concerning Australia’s
family law reforms and their compliance with CEDAW.
Julia
Barry
Graduated summa cum laude from New York University in 2006 with
a B.A. in International Relations, where she wrote her senior
honors thesis on the empirical efficacy of the CEDAW treaty. Currently
a law student at New York University, Julia has joined IWRAW Asia
Pacific for the summer of 2007 as an International Law and Human
Rights Student Fellow through NYU’s Center for Human Rights
and Global Justice. As an IWRAW intern, she is re-drafting the
Global to Local Training Programme to aid NGOs in the UN reporting
process. At NYU, Julia is an active member of Law Students for
Human Rights, the International Law Society, and the Battered
Women’s Project.
Rachael
Hopkins
Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Women’s Studies at Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia. Rachael is currently completing
her Bachelor of Laws at Monash University, and volunteers at the
Women’s Legal Service, Victoria. Rachael was an intern at
IWRAW Asia Pacific from December 2006 to February 2007 as part
of the Castan Centre for Human Rights internship programme at
Monash University. During her time at IWRAW Asia Pacific, she
completed a paper on reservations to CEDAW, and religion, culture
and tradition. The paper focuses on how religion, culture and
tradition can significantly impede a women's ability to enjoy
and exercise fundamental rights, and how to effect positive change.
Jennifer
S. Hainsfurther
B.A. Political Science and Women's Studies from Duke University,
with honours. Currently an Institute of International Law and
Justice Scholar at NYU, where she will get her Juris Doctor and
LLM in international law. She is at IWRAW Asia Pacific from June-August
2006 as part of the NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
summer fellowship programme and will work on a paper on the strengthening
of rights in the areas of globalisation, trade and migration.
At NYU, she is a board member of Law Women and the Unemployment
Action Center
Rubiahna
Vaughn
Bachelors from Stanford University in Human Biology, with Interdisciplinary
Honors in Latin American Studies and a minor in African and African
American Studies. Rubiahna was a 2005-2006 Henry Luce Scholar
in Malaysia with special attachment to the Health Research Development
Unit of Universiti Malaya. She is currently working on a paper
on CEDAW and women’s right to health at IWRAW Asia Pacific.
Upon her return to the United States, she will begin her Masters
in Public Health at Columbia University with a concentration in
Sociomedical Sciences.
Jaime
Kelly
Joint B.A. in Anthropology and Political Science, a minor in International
Development Studies, and graduated with honours from McGill University
in 2000. Currently, Jaime is finishing a Master's in Public Administration
and a Master’s in International Relations while pursuing
a certificate in Advanced Studies in Conflict Resolution at the
Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She focuses on non-profit
management, intercultural communication and negotiation, and applied
dispute resolution and conflict management with a regional focus
on East Asia. She is also Associate Coordinator of the Syracuse
University Conflict Management Center (2004-5).
Elizabeth
Sepper
B.A. from Boston University in history, summa cum laude, with
minors in French and Italian in 2002. A second year law student
at New York University School of Law, Liz is a junior fellow in
the Institute of International Law and Justice at NYU where she
will work on a LLM. in international law after receiving her Juris
Doctor. She plans to focus on immigration and human rights on
an international as well as domestic basis. At NYU, she is also
involved with Law Students for Human Rights and the Mediation
Organization
Mante
Molepo
B.A. Honours, Law and Political Science, concentration in International
Relations, Carleton University. Currently enrolled at McGill University
Faculty of Law completing a BCL/LLB. Her area of interest is in
international trade and development. Mante worked for four years
with the federal government of Canada. She is a member of the
McGill Faculty of Law Human Rights Working Group and chair of
the AIDS Charity Ball Committee which is raising funds to provide
treatment drugs to HIV/AIDS patients in South Africa.
Esther
Farkas
B.A. History, Minor in Political Science, Duke University. Currently
enrolled in University of Michigan Law School. Esther has worked
for White and Case LLP and the European Roma Rights Center, an
international human rights law firm in Budapest, Hungary. She
is a board member of the University of Michigan Law School's International
Law Society and associate editor for the University of Michigan
Law Review. She assisted IWRAW Asia Pacific in the drafting of
our organisational position paper for the Open-Ended Working Group
on the OP-ICESCR (July-August 2003)
Lauren
Weisskirk
Lauren is in her final year of undergraduate studies in political
science and literature at Claremont McKenna College, where she
is a former board member of the Claremont Women's Forum and a
McKenna Scholar. During her one month (July) in Malaysia, she
interned at both Women's Aid Organisation and IWRAW Asia Pacific
Cathy
Corbett
B.A. in Historical Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University
(England); and M.A. Understanding and Securing Human Rights, Institute
of Commonwealth Studies, University of London (England). Cathy
has worked as a volunteer with the Catholic Development NGO, CAFOD
in London and interned with IWRAW Asia Pacific from October 2002
to April 2003.
Stephanie
Barker
Student from the University of Michigan Law School. Served as
president of the University of Michigan Women Law Students' Association.
Interned with IWRAW Asia Pacific in July 2002 and assisted in
research and preparatory work for the South Asia Regional Consultation
on CEDAW, held in Sri Lanka in September 2002
Brenda
M. Campbell
1998, LLB Common and Civil Law with French, Queen's University,
Belfast. 2002, Graduate of the Inns of Court, School of Law, Gray's
Inn, London. Called to the Bar of England and Wales, July 2002.
Called to the Bar of Northern Ireland, November 2002. Member of
the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. She undertook an
internship with IWRAW Asia Pacific between June and October 2002.
She is currently practicing at the Northern Irish Bar.
