She was born in Ankara in 1942. After her graduation from the Istanbul University Faculty of Law, she studied Constitutional Law at the London School of Economics for five years. In 1976 she returned to Turkey and opened a law firm. In the 1980s, she got involved in the women’s movement which was becoming vibrant again. She offered pro bono services to women who needed legal aid in violence against women and divorce cases. In 1990, along with thirteen other women, she co-founded the Purple Roof Women’s Shelter Foundation (Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı) to combat violence against women and strengthen solidarity and assistance among women. In 1997, she took part in the founding of the Association for Supporting and Training of Women Candidates (KA.DER), campaigning for greater participation and representation of women in politics. She has been one of the founders of the Istanbul Bar Association Women Rights’ Enforcement Centre. She organised numerous training seminars for lawyers taking up cases of violence against women in an effort to inform them about the male violence against women and how they should communicate with women throughout the proceedings. In the early 1990s, when she was in the US, inspired by the UN designation of November 25th as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, she paved the way for and led the efforts of holding meetings on this very date in Turkey, first at Mor Çatı and later across the country.
She draws attention to the fact that the judicial system’s violation of women’s rights is one of the reasons for increasing violence against women in Turkey. She continues her struggle objectively and with perseverance, independent of the political polarisation, by preparing reports based on scientific studies and data, and within the legal domain. She spares no efforts in speaking up how the governments, through their policies, have curtailed and limited women’s rights over the years. She firmly believes that the hard-won rights claimed so far will only be safeguarded thanks to the courage and resolve of women, stressing on every occasion that she sees the hope in the women’s struggle.
She draws attention to the fact that the judicial system’s violation of women’s rights is one of the reasons for increasing violence against women in Turkey. She continues her struggle objectively and with perseverance, independent of the political polarisation, by preparing reports based on scientific studies and data, and within the legal domain. She spares no efforts in speaking up how the governments, through their policies, have curtailed and limited women’s rights over the years. She firmly believes that the hard-won rights claimed so far will only be safeguarded thanks to the courage and resolve of women, stressing on every occasion that she sees the hope in the women’s struggle.
She was born in 1963 in Manila. She lost her father when she was one year old. At the age of 10, she moved to the United States with her family. She obtained her undergraduate degree in molecular biology and theatre, and her Bachelor of Arts in English from the Princeton University. In 1986, following the ousting of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, she returned to the Philippines and researched about political theatre at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
In 1987, she started working as a journalist at the state-run television; soon after, she co-founded an independent production company. She worked for CNN as an investigative reporter for 18 years, focusing on terrorism in Southeast Asia. As bureau chief, she opened CNN’s Manila bureau and later its Jakarta bureau. She came home to the Philippines in 2005, to lead its largest news group, which she did for 6 years.
In 2012, along with three women journalists, she co-founded Rappler, the top digital only news site in the country currently employing about 100 journalists. In 2015, in her interview with Rodrigo Duterte during the presidential election campaign, she made him confess his killing of three people in the 1980s in Davao while he was the mayor of the city. Together with her colleagues at Rappler, she exposed the extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in Duterte’s “war on corruption”. She came under government pressure, while investigating the “troll army” mobilised after Duterte’s election as the president in 2016.
She faced a number of lawsuits and stood trial on charges of tax evasion and foreign ownership violations in media among others, all requiring prison sentence. During these proceedings, the court issued 10 detention orders, in eight of which she was released on bail. In February 2019 she was detained on charges of “cyber libel”, which was seen by the international community as a politically-motivated act. Most recently, in August 2021, the charges brought against her due to her news coverage of Duterte was dismissed by the court. Numerous lawsuits against her are still pending. As a leading journalist of the Philippines, her struggle against disinformation, fake news, and silencing of the independent media also received international acclaim.
In 1987, she started working as a journalist at the state-run television; soon after, she co-founded an independent production company. She worked for CNN as an investigative reporter for 18 years, focusing on terrorism in Southeast Asia. As bureau chief, she opened CNN’s Manila bureau and later its Jakarta bureau. She came home to the Philippines in 2005, to lead its largest news group, which she did for 6 years.
In 2012, along with three women journalists, she co-founded Rappler, the top digital only news site in the country currently employing about 100 journalists. In 2015, in her interview with Rodrigo Duterte during the presidential election campaign, she made him confess his killing of three people in the 1980s in Davao while he was the mayor of the city. Together with her colleagues at Rappler, she exposed the extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in Duterte’s “war on corruption”. She came under government pressure, while investigating the “troll army” mobilised after Duterte’s election as the president in 2016.
She faced a number of lawsuits and stood trial on charges of tax evasion and foreign ownership violations in media among others, all requiring prison sentence. During these proceedings, the court issued 10 detention orders, in eight of which she was released on bail. In February 2019 she was detained on charges of “cyber libel”, which was seen by the international community as a politically-motivated act. Most recently, in August 2021, the charges brought against her due to her news coverage of Duterte was dismissed by the court. Numerous lawsuits against her are still pending. As a leading journalist of the Philippines, her struggle against disinformation, fake news, and silencing of the independent media also received international acclaim.
Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018 and National Geographic Explorer at Large, Shahidul Alam is a photographer, writer, human rights activist and institution builder. He received the Shilpakala Padak, the highest national award given to Bangladeshi artists. Alam’s recent book, ‘The Tide Will Turn’ was listed in New York Time’s ‘Best Art Books of 2020’. His previous book ‘My Journey as a Witness’ has been described as “The most important book ever written by a photographer” by John Morris of Life Magazine. Amnesty International has described Alam, who has been jailed and tortured for his outspoken journalism, as a ‘Prisoner of Conscience’.
Published globally, Alam’s work has been exhibited in leading galleries like MOMA and Tate Modern. A recognised public speaker he has spoken at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford Universities. He is a professor at Sunderland University in the UK and RMIT in Australia. He lives and works in Bangladesh in institutions he founded, Drik Picture Library and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.
Published globally, Alam’s work has been exhibited in leading galleries like MOMA and Tate Modern. A recognised public speaker he has spoken at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford Universities. He is a professor at Sunderland University in the UK and RMIT in Australia. He lives and works in Bangladesh in institutions he founded, Drik Picture Library and Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.
Ishtar was born in the midst of Apartheid South Africa to parents that used their passion for the arts to resist the injustices of the Apartheid government. Growing up in this environment she became a feminist, activist in the field of human rights advocacy. She received a Masters Degree in Anthropology but more importantly a desire to try and struggle with the patriarchy wherever she could. Her career has ranged from coordinating a feminist advocacy campaign for suvivors of sexual violence to revolutionary sandwich-making in the founding of an activist bookstore, sandwich shop and community space, to advocating for the human rights of sex workers in South Africa. Currently, Ishtar is a Free(lance) Radical who collaborates with a range of social justice organisations, movements and networks globally, providing support to strengthen their approaches to strategic human rights advocacy. In 2020 she was named in the BBC’s “Top 100 Women of 2020”. Her true passion lies in creative activism and the experimental melding of fantasy and reality, of art and activism, in an attempt to imagine and enact what a more just world might look like.
Burhan Sönmez is the author of five novels and president of PEN International. His novels have been translated into forty two languages. He worked as a lawyer in Istanbul before going to Britain as a political exile. His writing has appeared in papers including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and La Repubblica. He translated The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake into Turkish. He lectured in Literature at the university of METU. He received the Vaclav Havel Library Award, the EBRD Literature Prize and Sedat Simavi Literature Award. He lives between Istanbul and Cambridge.
Born in Istanbul, in 1956. He graduated from the Law Faculty at Istanbul University. He worked as an assistant of International Law and academic member in the same constitution. He is still an academic member of the Istanbul Bilgi University Law Faculty and works as the director of the Human Rights Law Research Center which he was a founder. He was the dean of the Law Faculty of the Istanbul Bilgi University between 2002 and 2019.
He gives lectures about human rights activism, activism and modern art, business and human rights, and international human rights regime at the master and PhD levels. His six published books are also on these topics. Apart from the aforementioned subjects, he works on confronting the past, international conflicts and restorative justice fields. He took part in Harvard University Negotiation Project and Princeton University international crimes themed projects. In 2001, he was awarded by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) a Certificate of Appreciation for his contributions to the refugee rights in Turkey. He was a member of the international jury for "Human Rights in Cinema," which was held at the Istanbul International Film Festival for the first time.
He is a founding member of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, Amnesty International-Turkey, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, and History Foundation among several other non-governmental organizations. He is also a member of the Istanbul Bar Association.
He gives lectures about human rights activism, activism and modern art, business and human rights, and international human rights regime at the master and PhD levels. His six published books are also on these topics. Apart from the aforementioned subjects, he works on confronting the past, international conflicts and restorative justice fields. He took part in Harvard University Negotiation Project and Princeton University international crimes themed projects. In 2001, he was awarded by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) a Certificate of Appreciation for his contributions to the refugee rights in Turkey. He was a member of the international jury for "Human Rights in Cinema," which was held at the Istanbul International Film Festival for the first time.
He is a founding member of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, Amnesty International-Turkey, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, and History Foundation among several other non-governmental organizations. He is also a member of the Istanbul Bar Association.
Nilgün Toker Kılınç, was born in 1961, Dinar. She completed her bachelor's and master’s degree in the Faculty of Philosophy at Ege University and her PhD in Paris VIII-Saint Denis University. Published research in the field of political philosophy. In February 2017, while she was an academician in the Philosophy Department of the Ege University, she was discharged from her job due to being a signatory of the “We will not be a party to this crime” petition. After her dismissal, She continued her research within TİHV-Akademi (Turkey Human Rights Association) and İDA (Izmir Solidarity Academy) focusing on human rights
As a founding member of TİHV, she is on the organization council of the “Turkey Human Rights Movement Conference” and continues her position as a TİHV member of the board. She is the editorial director of the Toplum ve Bilim Magazine (Society and Science Magazine) since 2017.
As a founding member of TİHV, she is on the organization council of the “Turkey Human Rights Movement Conference” and continues her position as a TİHV member of the board. She is the editorial director of the Toplum ve Bilim Magazine (Society and Science Magazine) since 2017.
Nouneh Sarkissian was born in 1964 in Yerevan. She graduated from Yerevan State University, Department of Philology. She aater attended effective management courses in UK Open University. As a Chevening Fellow she studied conflict prevention and transformation in PRDU, University of York, UK. Currently she is working as the Managing Director of the Media Initiatives Center in Yerevan. Working in media development, she has over 25 years of experience as a broadcast journalist, producer and script writer. In her current position, Sarkissian has designed and implemented numerous media development and communication projects, which include various journalism training; TV, radio, documentary and multimedia production; media literacy initiatives; media in conflict transformation and awareness raising on different political and social problems and media research projects. She has served as a jury member for numerous film festivals and journalism competitions.
Terry Tempest Williams is writer-in-residence at the Harvard Divinity School where she is the director of The Constellation Project, an interdisciplinary cooperative that brings together hard conversations on climate justice, planetary health, science, art and the humanities.
She is the award-winning author of more than twenty books on creative nonfiction including the environmental literature classic, 'Refuge -- An Unnatural History of Family and Place." Her most recent boks include "The Hour of Land -- A Personal Topography of America's National Parks" and "Erosion -- Essays of Undoing." Her writings which are hard to classify from lyrical prose to journalism to memoir, including issues of social justice have been published worldwide. Ms. Tempest Williams has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Literature and a Lannan Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction.
She is a member of the Academy of American Arts & Letters. She lives with her husband Brooke Williams where they divide their time from Cambridge Massachusetts to the red rock desert in Castle Valley, Utah.
She is the award-winning author of more than twenty books on creative nonfiction including the environmental literature classic, 'Refuge -- An Unnatural History of Family and Place." Her most recent boks include "The Hour of Land -- A Personal Topography of America's National Parks" and "Erosion -- Essays of Undoing." Her writings which are hard to classify from lyrical prose to journalism to memoir, including issues of social justice have been published worldwide. Ms. Tempest Williams has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Literature and a Lannan Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction.
She is a member of the Academy of American Arts & Letters. She lives with her husband Brooke Williams where they divide their time from Cambridge Massachusetts to the red rock desert in Castle Valley, Utah.
Serra Yılmaz was born in Istanbul. She studied psychology and theatre in France. After winning the competition opened by Dostlar Theater Group, she had her first stage experience in this theatre. She started acting in the cinema with Atıf Yılmaz's movie "Şekerpare" in 1983. She has worked with important directors such as Atıf Yılmaz, Ömer Kavur, Zeki Ökten, Şerif Gören, Ümit Ünal and Ferzan Özpetek. In 1997, she directed the first theatre play "The Others Name Ali". Serra Yılmaz, who received many awards for her performances in both theatre and cinema, worked for 15 years as an actress, dramaturg and assistant art director at Istanbul City Theaters, in addition to her cinema studies. In 2005, she started to do theatre work in Italy, besides her cinema and TV projects. She continues her works in cinema and theatre both in Turkey and in different countries.
Rakel Dink became involved in human rights activism following the tragic assassination of her husband, the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist and founder of Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink.
Born to an Armenian family in Silopi, southeastern Turkey, Rakel moved to Istanbul with tens of kids from Anatolia in order to receive education in Armenian Schools. She met with Hrant Dink at Camp Armen, where Armenian children orphans or those away from their families would spend their summers. Rakel and Hrant got married and became managers at Camp Armen in the following years until the property was seized by the state.
Following the death of Hrant Dink in January 2007, Rakel devoted her life to preserving her husband’s legacy. She established the Hrant Dink Foundation in 2007, with a mission to protect and uphold human rights in Turkey, preserve the identity and culture of minorities, address polarization, and normalize Turkish-Armenian relations. Rakel continues to be an optimist and maintains that despite the various challenges that she was forced to overcome throughout her life, she has been surrounded by love and kindness. She is hopeful for the future of Turkey and finds joy in her work and her family.
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