COPENHAGEN PEOPLE POWER CONFERENCE

Jamila Raqib is the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution (AEI), a leading organization promoting nonviolent action for political and social change. Born in Afghanistan, she fled Soviet oppression as a child and later became a key figure in nonviolent resistance. Jamila Raqib works globally to support pro-democracy movements and has advised activists from countries like Iran, Nicaragua, and Zimbabwe. She collaborated with AEI's founder, Gene Sharp, to produce the influential guide Self-Liberation. Through her leadership, Raqib continues to champion human rights, political freedom, and social justice worldwide, making her a prominent figure in global nonviolent resistance. 

Mary Lawlor is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, a position she has held since May 2020. In this role, she monitors and reports on the conditions affecting individuals who promote and protect human rights worldwide. Lawlor advocates for the safety and rights of human rights defenders, engaging with governments and non-state actors to implement effective protection strategies. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Social Innovation at Trinity College Dublin, focusing on Business and Human Rights. Prior to her current roles, she founded Front Line Defenders in 2001, an organization dedicated to protecting human rights defenders at risk. Lawlor's extensive career includes leadership positions in Amnesty International and numerous accolades for her human rights work.

Shreen Abdul Saroor is a Sri Lankan human rights activist and writer, born in 1969. In 1990, as a result of the civil war in northern Sri Lanka, she and her community were forcibly removed from their homes in Mannar Island by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and the entire Muslim community of the north was placed in refugee camps. After experiencing the tragedies of ethnic cleansing, Saroor was motivated to work for peace and women's rights. In 1999, she founded the Mannar Women's Development Federation to amplify the voices of war-affected women and promote their economic empowerment. In the aftermath of the civil war, she co-founded the Women's Action Network to address mass atrocities committed against ethnic minorities and improve victims' access to justice. 

Lailas Alboni is a human rights advocate with extensive experience in Syrian civil society, shaped by the Syrian revolution and the struggle against dictatorship. She has spent over a decade documenting human rights violations through open-source research and creating spaces for women affected by these abuses. Her work in documentation, research, and training has given her a deep understanding of the complexities of the Syrian context and the sensitivity required when working with victims. Guided by a feminist and victim-centered approach, she is committed to fighting oppression and pushing for justice and accountability as essential steps toward a better future.

Nada Al-Nashif was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 6 December 2019, assuming the position in 10 February 2020. She brings to the role close to 30 years of experience within the United Nations system around the world. As an economist and development practitioner, Ms. Al-Nashif has taken on increasingly complex management roles during her career within the United Nations, including leading strategic organisational transformation processes. From 2015-2020, Ms. Al-Nashif served as Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO in Paris, leading a portfolio that targets the mobilisation of knowledge for inclusive, just and sustainable societies. Prior to joining UNESCO, she also worked with ILO and UNDP in different countries. 

Anne-Sophie Schaeffer is the Programme Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Foundation of Support to Human Rights Defenders, a regional foundation that allocates flexible resources and accompanies civil society actors with care to catalyse the protection, emergence, innovation and sustainability of local human rights ecosystems in the southern Mediterranean region. Prior to joining EMHRF, she worked for EuroMed Rights and conducted research for Amnesty International as part of a global campaign to end violence against women. Ms Schaeffer was also a member of the Advisory Board of Mama Cash for the MENA region, and of the Board of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression.

Roselyn Akombe is Chief of the Peacebuilding Strategy and Partnerships Branch of PBSO. She has over twenty years of leadership experience at the national, regional and international levels. Prior to joining PBSO, she was working as the Regional Governance and Peacebuilding Coordinator, UNDP, based in Addis Ababa. Roselyn has also served as Deputy Director in the Policy and Mediation Division of DPPA. Her expertise cover conflict prevention, governance, peacebuilding, and economic issues. Roselyn has extensive knowledge of the African region, including serving as Commissioner with the IEBC of Kenya and as an Economist with the African Union. Roselyn also served as Senior Electoral Officer at the UN Election Observation Mission in Burundi. She holds a PhD in Global Affairs from Rutgers University, US.

Darmawan Triwibowo is the Executive Director of Kurawal Foundation, an Indonesia-based intermediary agency that works to support civil society and movement actors in strengthening democracy in Southeast Asia. He is an organizational development specialist with twenty years of experience working in various issues from poverty reduction to protection of human rights defenders at risk. In 2004, Darmawan co-founded The Prakarsa, a think tank that supports movements to promote social welfare reform in Indonesia. He is serving as a panel member for the Collective Action Assistance Fund (CAAF) that provides funding and support to nonviolent social movements through a participatory grant making mechanism.

Yomna Ahmed is a community organizer dedicated to empowering communities. After learning Community Organizing and Public Narrative at Harvard Kennedy School, she has worked to develop leadership and solidarity among activists. Her journey began with public health campaigns and organizing university students, leading her to co-build and lead the Athar Network - a coalition of activists and organizers from seven Arab countries. Over four years, she helped bring together 200 members, fostering leadership development, cross-movement support, and collective action for freedom and justice. Yomna now teaches and coaches organizers and movements globally. Her work spans elections, cooperative social movements, and pressure campaigns targeting governments and institutions, helping activists harness storytelling to drive meaningful change.

Diana Quirschfeld is a Slovak feminist currently based in The Netherlands. Through her work as a Regional Coordinator Eastern Europe/Central Asia at Het Actiefonds she supports activists and social movements with emergency funding. She focuses specifically on radical direct actions, social movements, civil disobedience, and civil resistance. In line with her work, she is working towards power shifts in grantmaking through applying participatory and trust-based principles that challenge traditional philanthropy processes. Furthermore, Diana is the Founder of the Iron Sky Film Festival which focused on the corruption and misuse of political power in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Mohammed Al-Maskati is the Digital Security Helpline Director at Access Now and the founder and former president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR). Before joining Access Now, he was a Digital protection coordinator at Front Line Defenders, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, and he was shortlisted in Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2019 and Security Serious Unsung Heroes Awards 2020. He was a member of the panel of experts for the Dutch Government Tulip Prize for Human Rights 2021, and he discovered phone hacking of human rights defenders and journalists in Palestine, Bahrain and Jordan.

Ben Naimark-Rowse most recently served as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID’s) Social Movements Advisor, the first such position anywhere in the U.S. government. Ben’s expertise in social movements and resourcing of movements draws on two decades of work in the donor, NGO, and academic worlds. His publications include “Nonviolent Collective Action in Democratic Development,” “Dollars and Dissent,” and “The Founding Myth of the United States.” He is a Ph.D. candidate at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, a Term Member in the Council on Foreign Relations, a Truman National Security Fellow, and a U.S. Board Member of Peace Direct.

Juan Garrigues is a member of the United Nations Standby Team of Senior Mediation Advisors, where he has provided support in Libya, Guatemala, Haiti etc. He was previously the Deputy Director of the Dialogue Advisory Group (DAG), where he facilitated political dialogues in contexts of armed conflict and political transition including in the DRC, Libya, Venezuela and the Basque Country. From 2008 to 2011, he served as a foreign policy advisor in the Spanish Prime Minister’s office. Amongst other positions, he has also served as a UN Volunteer in Niger and worked in ACTED Afghanistan.

Hamzah Al-Kmali was a prominent leader in the Yemen 2011 uprising. He is a Hubert Humphrey Fellow and currently serves as the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, where he is responsible for formulating policies aimed at empowering youth and women, particularly in post-conflict settings. His work focuses on key themes such as deradicalisation, demilitarisation, and reintegration. Additionally, he was a delegate to the United Nations-sponsored National Dialogue Conference in Yemen and has actively participated in Yemen’s peace-talks in the recent years.