Featured Speakers & Performers

Volker Türk

is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He took up his official functions as High Commissioner on 17 October 2022. He has devoted his long and distinguished career to advancing universal human rights, notably the international protection of some of the world's most vulnerable people - refugees and stateless persons.

Prior to this, Mr. Türk was the Under-Secretary-General for Policy in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General where he coordinated global policy work. He also ensured UN system-wide coordination in the follow-up to the Secretary-General’s “Call to Action for Human Rights” and his report, Our Common Agenda, which sets out a vision to tackle the world’s interconnected challenges on foundations of trust, solidarity and human rights. Learn more here.

Judge Hilary Charlesworth

is an Australian international lawyer. She has been a Judge of the International Court of Justice since 5 November 2021, and is Harrison Moore Professor of Law and Melbourne Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne, and Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. Her research includes the structure of the international legal system, peacebuilding, human rights law and international humanitarian law, international legal theory, particularly feminist approaches to international law, and the art of international law. Hilary received the American Society of International Law’s award for creative legal scholarship for her book, co-authored with Christine Chinkin, The Boundaries of International Law. Learn more here.

Patricia Gualinga

is the International Relations Director for the Kichwa First People of Sarayaku. She is a human rights and land rights defender from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Throughout her life, Patricia has dedicated herself to protecting her community from human rights violations caused primarily by oil exploration and militarization.

In 2012, she was a witness before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a landmark case filed in 2002 about the impacts of oil exploitation on her community, which concluded with the court ruling in favor of the Sarayaku people. In 2019, she received the Brote Activismo Medioambiental Award in Spain, in October 2021 the ALNOBA Courage and Leadership Award in the USA, December 2021 Al Moumin Human Rights Award and recently the Olof Palme Human Rights Award 2022 for her leadership in the struggle to improve indigenous living conditions. She currently supports and leads the Mujeres Amazónicas collective dedicated to the protection of the environment, indigenous peoples, women’s rights and land rights.

Maïmouna Jallow

is multidisciplinary artist and educator. She is a Writer, Performer, Film & Theatre Director. In 2021, Maïmouna released her debut film, Tales of the Accidental City, an experimental feature-length in which all the action takes place on Zoom. She is the author of the children’s book, I’m the Colour of Honey and in 2018, she edited an anthology of re-imagined African folktales entitled Story Story, Story Come (Pavaipo/Ouida Books).

Maïmouna is also a communications consultant for global human rights organisations and NGOs. Prior to that, she worked as a producer for the BBC World Service and as Regional Communications Officer for Medécins Sans Frontières (MSF) in the Horn of Africa region. She holds an MA in African Literature from SOAS, University of London.

Ivan Krastev

is the Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies and permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences, IWM Vienna. He is a founding board member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the Board of Trustees of The International Crisis Group and member of the Board of Directors of GLOBSEC. He was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times (2015-2021) and currently is a Financial Times contributing editor. Ivan Krastev is the author of "Is it Tomorrow, Yet? How the Pandemic Changes Europe" (Allen Lane, 2020); The Light that Failed: A Reckoning (Allen Lane, 2019), co-authored with Stephen Holmes - won the 30th Annual Lionel Gelber Prize; “After Europe” (UPenn Press, 2017); “Democracy Disrupted. The Global Politics on Protest” (UPenn Press, 2014) and “In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don't Trust Our Leaders?” (TED Books, 2013). Ivan Krastev is the winner of the Jean Améry Prize for European Essay Writing 2020.

Kevin A. Ormsby

Dancer, Choreographer and Artistic Director of KasheDance, Kevin A. Ormsby has performed in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean. Nominee for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize 2023 and finalist for the Arts Prize 2021, he is a recipient of Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch – Staunton Award, a Chalmers Fellowship, and was a Toronto Arts Council Cultural Leaders Fellow. He has been featured in works by Marie-Josée Chartier, Allison Cummings, Patrick Parson, Ronald Taylor, Ron K. Brown, Menaka Thakkar, Garth Fagan, Liz Lerman, Bageshree Vaze,  Lemi Ponifasio, Christopher Walker, Denise Fujiwara among others.  Faculty member of Centennial College’s Dance Performance Program, he has been a Guest Artist at Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts - University of the West Indies (Mona), University of Wisconsin – Madison, Northwestern University, and the University of Texas - Austin. His research and creative practice exist in constant interrogation and navigation of Caribbean and African Diasporic cultural practices towards a methodology of investigation in research, creation and presentation. 

Ricken Patel

is a Canadian–British activist and the founding President and CEO of Avaaz from 2006 until 2021. The Guardian called Avaaz "the globe's largest and most powerful online activist network" and called Patel "the global leader of online protest." Patel was voted "Ultimate Gamechanger in Politics" by the Huffington Post, and listed in the world's top 100 thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine. 

Patel studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford, where he helped organize against the 1998 introduction of tuition fees. He has a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where (mirroring his activism at Oxford) he helped lead the campus' highly publicized living wage campaign.

Jonathan Rowson 

is the co-founder and Chief Executive of Perspectiva. A London-based charity that describes itself as "A collective of expert generalists working on an urgent one-hundred-year project to understand the relationship between systems, souls, and society in theory and practice". He was Director of the Social Brain Centre at the Royal Society of Arts from 2009-2016, where he authored a range of influential research reports on behaviour change, climate change, and spirituality, and curated and chaired public events. In 2018 he was awarded an Open Society Fellowship to apply his philosophical and strategic approach to challenges faced by the human rights movement. Jonathan holds a first-class degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University and did his post-graduate work in theoretical psychology at Harvard and Bristol Universities, including a Ph.D. on what it means to become wiser. He is also a chess Grandmaster and was the British Chess Champion for three consecutive years from 2004-2006 and worked as part of former World Champion Viswanathan Anand's analytical team in 2008. He is the author of five books, including most recently The Moves that Matter – A Grandmaster on the Game of Life which was published by Bloomsbury in 2019. You can find Jonathan on his website or his Substack, or on Twitter.

Ayisha Siddiqa 

is a Pakistani American human rights and land defender serving as a Youth Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary General. In 2020, she co-founded Polluters Out, a global youth activist coalition, and helped launch the Fossil Free University, an activism training course. As part of her activism, Ayisha has helped organize multiple school strikes for climate action and is working to help set up a Youth Climate Justice Fund. As a research scholar at the New York University School of Law, Ayisha is studying cases at the intersection of human rights and environmental law. Ayisha was recently named one of TIME magazine’s Women of the Year 2023.

Kathryn Sikkink

is the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. Sikkink works on international norms and institutions, transnational advocacy networks, the impact of human rights law and policies, and transitional justice. In 2017, Sikkink released the essay Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century. Her publications include The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics,  Mixed Signals: U.S. Human Rights Policy and Latin America,  Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, and The Persistent Power of Human Rights: From Commitment to Compliance. She holds an MA and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Siva Thambisetty

 is an Associate Professor of Law at the London School of Economics, where she teaches and researches on the legal protection of inventions, patents and innovation in emerging technologies, international patent law, cultural property and the use and circulation of genetic resources. Her writing and international policy work is informed by interdisciplinary and critical approaches to law and development. Dr Thambisetty attended intergovernmental negotiations on the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty, first as an advisor to the Pacific Small Island Developing States (IGC2, IGC3) and second, as an expert on the G77 Chair’s Team in 2022 (IGC5) and 2023 (Resumed IGC5). She currently leads a project on BBNJ Treaty interpretation and implementation, funded by an LSE Knowledge Exchange and Impact grant.

Chris Walker 

is the Director of the Division of the Arts at University of Wisconsin Madison, Professor in the Dance Department and founding artistic director the the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Program at UW-Madison. Walker is a multi-hyphenate contemporary dance and performance artist from Jamaica who’s creative research reengages the technology at the core of the traditional and urban ritual practices across the African diaspora. His research intersects dance choreography for the concert stage, movement as dramaturgy for theatre as well as devised movement collaborations with visual and performance artists for museum, alternate spaces, and video/film.

Meet the Curators

  • César Rodríguez-Garavito

    is Professor of Clinical Law and Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. He is the founding director of the FORGE Program, the Earth Rights Advocacy Clinic, and the More Than Human Rights (MOTH) project at NYU Law. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Open Global Rights. Professor Rodríguez-Garavito is a human rights and environmental justice scholar and practitioner whose work focuses on global governance, climate change, socioeconomic rights, business and human rights, Indigenous peoples' rights, and the human rights movement.

  • Ariel Sim

    is the Human Rights & Regenerative Design Fellow with NYU’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ). As a fellow, Ariel works closely with members of the CHRGJ team on its various human rights law and practice initiatives, including Open Global Rights, FORGE, and the More Than Human Rights (MOTH) Project. Ariel is a facilitator, anthropologist, designer, and artist.

  • Youssef Farhat

    is the Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law. He brings over ten years of human rights experience and leadership to the CHRGJ and champions this role alongside a talented team of scholars and advocates, and the interdisciplinary direction of four faculty directors renowned in their fields.

Support Facilitators

  • Hyun-Duck (HD) McKay

    Lecturer and Librarian for Business, Vanderbilt University
    HD McKay is a systemic design strategist and facilitator with professional experience in research, design, health and tech. She works with small and big 'L' leaders to engage in bold conversations across difference, harness interpersonal tension for constructive conflict, and achieve creative outcomes. Her practice blends professional training in information studies and instructional design; field experience in applying ethnographic methods for co-design, and artistic practices in visualization of complex systems. She has facilitated cross-sector convenings that bring together government, corporate, non-profit, ventures and civic organizations to build ecosystems for change using innovation methods. Most recently she has begun incorporating restorative practices, Narrative4 facilitation and is a qualified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory.

  • Shawn Fleek

    Summon Monster, Northern Arapaho
    Shawn Fleek, Northern Arapaho, (he / they) is an activist facilitator who specializes in developing structures, networks and narratives that win and preserve justice. Shawn has developed comprehensive strategies for Fortune 500 corporations and international nonprofits, reaching billions of people with bold and challenging ideas. His perspective has been featured in academic research and news media on three continents, and he has provided strategy, coaching and education to US Senators and Governors, as well as public officials and organizations from South Korea, South Africa, and spanning Europe and the United States. Shawn combines a relational worldview, revolutionary futurism, and a commitment to popular education, challenging groups to answer: what are we building to ensure that our values live on in others?

  • Victoria Adelmant

    Director Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project, NYU Law CHRGJ
    Victoria Adelmant is the Director of the Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, and leads the Center's work on technology and human rights. She oversees a team working at the intersection of technology, inequalities, and human rights law, investigating how governments' uses of digital technologies and automated decision-making impact marginalised groups. Her research has been covered in WIRED and Slate, and published in the Journal of Human Rights Practice and Public Law. Victoria is an Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School and holds law degrees from Oxford, the London School of Economics, and NYU.

All Participants

  • Sarah Mendelson

  • Fernando Shecaira

  • Yi Liu

  • Elaine Webster

  • Mastewal Tefere

  • Eliza Campbell

  • Chanu Peiris

  • Kizito Byenkya

  • Greg Regaignon

  • Jeremy Ng

  • Abhay Shukla

  • Anthony Chase

  • Angela Hefti

  • Akriti Gaur

  • Anne-Marie Brook

  • Amanda Klasing

  • Amrit Singh

  • Angel Cabrera Silva

  • Anita Teekah

  • Anjli Parrin

  • Annabel Short

  • Anupriya Dhonchak

  • Eugene Sensenig

  • Arielle Stambler

  • Salil Shetty

  • Brian Gran

  • Gisela Hurtado-Barboza

  • Asaf Lubin

  • Jeremy Perelman

  • Denique Soutar

  • Deus Valentine

  • Amrekha Sharma

  • Cassondra Warney

  • Ezio Costa

  • Emily Martinez

  • Chris Fariss

  • Fernanda Doz Costa

  • Laurel Emilie Fletcher

  • Alia Al Ghussain

  • Mauricio Albarracin

  • Tatiana Andia

  • Diana Rodríguez

  • Julia de Moraes Almeida

  • Antonio Junião

  • Juan Ortiz Freuler

  • Jackson Gandour

  • Gaurav Mukherjee

  • Geoff Dancy

  • Gabrielle Apollon

  • Gulika Reddy

  • Mauricio Salgado

  • Ropafadzo Maphosa

  • Sofie Rudin

  • James Goldston

  • Vickey Murillo

  • Katalin Feher

  • Eli Rose

  • Fei Mofor

  • Camilo Sánchez

  • Jayne Huckerby

  • Una Chaudhuri

  • Bassam Khawaja

  • Tracy Robinson

  • Nakul Nayak

  • Andrew Fagan

  • Wolfgang Kaleck

  • Diana Labschies

  • Eleanor Kennedy

  • Manisha Desai

  • Brian Gorlick

  • Mirko Dukovic

  • Saneliswa Magagula

  • Maria Varaki

  • Mara Ntona

  • Reynolds Taylor

  • Daniel Cooper

  • Johnny Marques de Jesus

  • Ignacio Saíz

  • Jocelyn Getgen

  • Kathryn Libal

  • Jeff Sebo

  • Juha Tuovinen

  • Jorge Peniche

  • Katelyn Cioffi

  • Keith Jones

  • Katharine Young

  • Francisco Lara García

  • Rouba El Helou

  • Louis Bickford

  • Lauren Kitz

  • Matthew McNaughton

  • Petra Molnar

  • Nora Markard

  • Naina Agrawal-Hardin

  • Ninaj Raoul

  • Nahal Zamani

  • Paola Bergallo

  • Poorvi Chitalkar

  • Victoria Adelmant

  • Cristina Terezo

  • Joyce Coninck

  • Morgan Hargrave

  • A. Ahmed Kayum

  • Raul Santiago da Silva

  • Rebecca Riddell

  • Sam Gregory

  • Sarah Knuckey

  • Sarah Saadoun

  • Sandra Sirota

  • Seongkyul Park

  • Jackie Smith

  • Isadora Amaral

  • Mateo Merchán Duque

  • Abraham Paulos

  • Steven Jensen

  • Tine Destrooper

  • Valentina Gurney

  • Borislav Petranov

  • Nika Kovač

  • Nektarios Kikonyogo

  • Wilmien Wicomb

With deep gratitude to our team and partners.
_____

Branding, Art & Design
Elena Landinez
Tegwen McKenzie
Ariel Sim
Bryan Gasaway & Matchbox Creative

Operations
Uma Natarajan
Henessa Gumiran
Diana Rangel
Bella Fortenberry
Bruna Araujo Pereira
NYU Law Students and Volunteers
NYU Events, Facilities, AV, Catering