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2009-10 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows
2009-10 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows
Riffat Inam Butt
PakistanMs. Butt is currently working as a civil/family court judge. She is a law graduate with a master’s degree in political science. Her area of interest is gender equality and human rights, focusing on improving the lives of women in Pakistan. She intends to study gender equality jurisprudence and the functioning of family courts in the U.S. Ms. Butt hopes to obtain an internship in the public or private sector with an organization that specializes in the enforcement of human rights, gender equality, and mainstreaming. She is especially interested in studying successful models for innovation and improvement in regard to gender-related issues in countries having a cultural background similar to that of Pakistan.
Uttam Kumar Das
Bangladesh
Dr. Das is a human rights lawyer and practitioner from Bangladesh. He has a Doctor of Philosophy in Law and Human Rights from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He holds an LL.M. with honors and a Master of Human Rights. Dr. Das worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as the National Protection (Legal) Officer in Bangladesh for four years. He has been instrumental in introducing the study of international refugee law in law schools in his country. He also worked for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for two years; he planned, coordinated, and directed training programs for lawyers, police, immigration officials, members of the armed forces, and law students on the issue of human trafficking. Dr. Das has taught in law schools and training institutes. His areas of interest include South Asian anti-human-trafficking laws and policies. Through the Humphrey Fellowship Program, Dr. Das wishes to learn about the anti-human-trafficking laws and policies in the U.S., especially strategies and mechanisms to prevent and prosecute cases of labor trafficking. He also intends to share his knowledge and experience with his counterparts in the U.S. and other countries.
Ibrahim El Ghazawi
Egypt
Dr. El Ghazawi is a colonel in the Ministry of the Interior. He heads the Legal Affairs & Human Rights Office in Qena Security HQ. He is also a lecturer in human rights and international law for police trainees in the Police Academy in Cairo. Dr. El Ghazawi hopes to do comparative study of the interplay between policing and human rights in the United States and Egypt, and to identify and analyze techniques for the domestic protection of human rights found in international treaties, with a special focus on the topics of children’s rights and gender balance.
Zhiyuan Guo
China
Dr. Guo is an attorney, chief arbitrator, professor, and director of the Center for Law Application of Anhui University. His main interest is in conducting comparative law research on the theory and practice of alternative dispute resolution, civil procedure, evidence, and human rights law. He has authored more than twenty publications in China on research in these fields. He is attempting to understand how China can learn and adopt beneficial systems from U.S. legal theory and practice. Dr. Guo hopes to be able to make a persuasive case in his own country for the importance of making improvements in alternative dispute resolution. At present, Chinese scholars are studying alternative dispute resolution, but it is not practiced in China. Dr. Guo hopes someday to establish a center for alternative dispute resolution in China. During his fellowship year, he hopes to communicate with U.S. researchers, educators, and practitioners in the fields of human rights and alternative dispute resolution.
Marie Chantal Koffi
Côte d’Ivoire
Ms. Koffi is a judge, with past experience as a prosecutor, and has been a deputy in the Youth Administration of the Department of Justice in Abidjan since 2001. She works with children who are in conflict with the law, authors reports for her Department, and is a human rights educator with a focus on children’s and women’s rights. She also coordinates work against child trafficking and is a frequent presenter on this topic. During the Ivorian Crisis, women and children were exposed to sexual violence and gender inequality, and children were jailed for almost anything. She hopes that her Humphrey experience will help her to resolve some of the many ongoing issues in the Ivory Coast. Gender equality and children’s rights are her main concerns and she hopes that working with human rights educators here in the U.S. will further her goals.
Grzegorz Lewocki
Poland
Mr. Lewocki holds degrees in law from the University of Białystok in Poland and in sociology from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and has worked in the field of human rights since 2002. He also holds advanced graduate certificates in foreign affairs service from Warsaw School of Economics in Poland and in human rights from Helsinki Foundation of Human Rights in Poland. Mr. Lewocki is a member of the Polish Legislative Association. As a lawyer in the Polish Ministry of Justice, he drafts government responses to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg. He served as an election observer on several missions organized by the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is currently completing his Human Rights Ph.D., focusing on the right to free and fair elections. During his fellowship year, his major areas of interest are international human rights, criminal law, the rights of incarcerated persons, crisis management, public security, and election rights. In addition, Mr. Lewocki hopes to improve his leadership and management skills.
Edmon Marukyan
Armenia
Mr. Marukyan has been a human rights NGO activist and now is a human rights attorney. Since 2001, he has specialized in the protection of human rights and has been considerably involved in the strengthening of democracy and civil society in Armenia. In 2005, as a human rights NGO representative, he became an observer at the Public Monitoring Group, observing the rights of persons taken into custody at criminal-executive institutions within Armenia. He has provided legal consultation to a number of projects, defended citizens in court hearings, and submitted applications to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. His work has been closely associated with: the construction of democratic society; the formation of civil society; the protection of human rights; the increase of civic participation, particularly as a mechanism for public monitoring; and, the designing of anticorruption initiatives in Armenia. He holds a master’s degree in jurisprudence from the Public Administration Academy of Armenia. During his year as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow, Mr. Marukyan will focus on international human rights mechanisms as well as the role of human rights attorneys in the formation of international case law.
Outeiba Ahmed Merhebi
Lebanon
Ms. Merhebi has been committed to public service since 1992, working as a lawyer. She is an active member of both the North Lebanon Bar Association and the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering. She is a founding member of the Arabic Women Lawyers’ Association. As an educator, she spreads human rights awareness in schools and universities. She hopes to expand her knowledge and experience during her fellowship year in order someday to improve the human rights climate of Lebanese society.
Carmen Elena Molina
El Salvador
Ms. Molina holds two bachelor’s degrees, in law and in psychology. She is a judge in Family Court in San Salvador. She also serves as consultant to the Congress in matters relating to women and family. She has worked with various organizations in her country, such as the Women Lawyers Association and the Salvadorian Judges Association. She is involved in the protection of children’s rights and serves on multidisciplinary teams in family court cases. She also conducts police department training to raise awareness with regard to family issues. Ms. Molina has collaborated with the Supreme Court of El Salvador as a contributor to its journals. She has presented at numerous law conferences in her country. Additionally she has taught civil and family law in various universities. She works with leaders of her community in order to prevent domestic violence and child abuse. She has made appearances on television and radio programs to discuss these issues. During her fellowship year, Ms. Molina would like to learn more about family services in the United States and volunteer work, in order to introduce new ideas and create community programs that will impact her community.
Suaad Salman Allami
Iraq
Ms. Allami is a lawyer and activist for women’s rights in Iraq. She operates Women for Progress, a Baghdad assistance center for women which offers free legal advocacy, medical care, literacy education, and vocational training. Since 2004, she has served as a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council. In 2008, she authored by-laws which were adopted by this Council, as well as by the District Council and the Qada Council. In March, 2009, she was one of eight women worldwide to receive the International Woman of Courage Award, which was presented to her by First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. During her fellowship year, she would like to explore women’s rights and human rights in general from a democratic perspective. She hopes that her experience here will help her to introduce to the men and women of Iraq a deeper sense of the importance of women’s rights and of their potential as partners in the future development of Iraqi society and government.
