Edward Halpin (United Kingdom), Chair, is an expert consultant on the use of the Internet for human rights with experience over many years, having worked for the European Parliament’s Scientific and Technical Options Assessment (STOA) Unit. He is the Professor of Peace Education at Leeds Metropolitan University and a member of the research team in the Leeds Digital Institute, at Leeds Metropolitan University. In 2000, he co-published Human Rights and the Internet (Palgrave Macmillan) and is currently co-editing a new book on Human Rights and Information with his colleague Dr John Lannon, which will be published in early 2012.
Jean Enriquez (Philippines), Vice-Chair, is an expert in women’s issues as well as an active radio broadcaster. She has held a post as Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) since 2006. She has been an International Committee Member of the World March of Women since 2008 and Coordinator of their Violence Against Women Working Group since 2004. She has sat on the National Anti-Poverty Committee and on the Board of Advisors for the Buklod Center for Women-Olongapo since 2003. Jean has also been an Executive Committee Member of WomanHealth Philippines since 1998.
Hannah Forster (The Gambia), Treasurer, is a human rights activist with a background in information management. She has worked as the Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies since 2001, prior to which she headed the information department. She is currently actively engaged in the adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. She was a member of the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council from 1992-2009 and the first Gambian recipient of the US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award in 2007.
Frej Fenniche (Tunisia), is a long-time advocate of human rights in the Arab world. He is the current Coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa Unit of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Before this, he was the OHCHR Regional Representative for East Africa, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He also coordinated the Arab Region Team for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and served as the Executive Director at the Arab Institute for Human Rights. He has been a member of the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council since 1992.
Rosario Narvaez Vargas (Peru) is an expert in human rights documentation. She currently works as the Director of Coordination and Information at the Asociacion pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH), where she is also Head of the Documentation Department. She has coordinated the Red de Informatica y Documentación en Derechos Humanos de America Latina y el Caribe (RIDHUALC) since 1989 and served on the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council since 1992.
Agnethe Olesen (Denmark) is a professional librarian and documentalist by trade. She has been a member of the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council from 1992-1996 and the Continuation Committee since 1996, serving as the treasurer from 1999-2009. She is a trainer in UNESCO’s WinIsis software, information management and HURIDOCS tools. She headed the library at the Danish Centre for Human Rights from 1988-2005 and has authored and contributed to numerous publications on information management and human rights, including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Common Standard of Achievement.
