She was born in 1987 in the Jawzjan province of Afghanistan to a mixed Arab & Uzbek family. During the Taliban rule in Afghanistan between 1996-2001, she lived as a refugee in Pakistan. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Smith College in the U.S.A. in 2009, and her master’s degree in development studies from Oxford University in 2011.
She was partner and chief operating officer with QARA Consulting, a firm owned and run by young Afghans in Kabul which she co-founded in 2010. She worked as an analyst for the Free and Fair Elections Foundations, and as a journalist for BBC Afghanistan. As the Country Director of the Open Society Foundation Afghanistan between 2014 and 2017, she carried out activities supporting civil society and the media in peacebuilding, human rights, and promoting tolerance. In 2017, she was selected by the World Economic Forum as Young Global Leader. Starting from 2017 until 2018, she worked as a Senior Advisor to the Afghan President on High Development Councils and in this capacity, coordinated the prioritization of development projects and programs for high level decision-making. Between 2018-2019, she worked as a Senior Advisor for UNESCO Afghanistan and acted as Deputy on the National Security Council for Peace and Civilian Protection and from 2019 until 2022, she acted as the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, recently abolished by the Taliban. After the Taliban took power in August 2021, she had to leave her country just as the scores of nationals of Afghanistan.
Her writing has appeared in the international and Afghan media, including the Washington Post, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and CNN, as well as in academic journals. She is currently an Academy Fellow in Human Rights at the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, Chatham House in the United Kingdom as well as working to launch a new human rights organization focused on Afghanistan.
She was partner and chief operating officer with QARA Consulting, a firm owned and run by young Afghans in Kabul which she co-founded in 2010. She worked as an analyst for the Free and Fair Elections Foundations, and as a journalist for BBC Afghanistan. As the Country Director of the Open Society Foundation Afghanistan between 2014 and 2017, she carried out activities supporting civil society and the media in peacebuilding, human rights, and promoting tolerance. In 2017, she was selected by the World Economic Forum as Young Global Leader. Starting from 2017 until 2018, she worked as a Senior Advisor to the Afghan President on High Development Councils and in this capacity, coordinated the prioritization of development projects and programs for high level decision-making. Between 2018-2019, she worked as a Senior Advisor for UNESCO Afghanistan and acted as Deputy on the National Security Council for Peace and Civilian Protection and from 2019 until 2022, she acted as the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, recently abolished by the Taliban. After the Taliban took power in August 2021, she had to leave her country just as the scores of nationals of Afghanistan.
Her writing has appeared in the international and Afghan media, including the Washington Post, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and CNN, as well as in academic journals. She is currently an Academy Fellow in Human Rights at the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs, Chatham House in the United Kingdom as well as working to launch a new human rights organization focused on Afghanistan.
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey was founded in 1990 by the Human Rights Association along with 32 human rights defenders with a common cause to prevent torture and to ensure the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals subjected to torture in the aftermath of the military coup of 1980.
Thanks to its meticulous work, experience, and know-how on documenting torture and the treatment of torture survivors, it has almost become a school in its own right. Through its advocacy and reports seeking to activate the existing mechanisms for combating torture and to establish new mechanisms at the local and international level, it has become one of the key organisations worldwide spearheading the efforts in preventing torture, inspiring numerous human rights organisations and international bodies.
It has played a pioneering role in the preparation of ‘the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, commonly known as ‘the Istanbul Protocol’, adopted in 1999. It has played a pivotal role in the design and implementation of training programmes for the investigation, documentation, and prevention of torture cases against health and legal professionals in Turkey and across the world. In 2008, thanks to contribution from the Association of Forensic Medicine Specialists and the Turkish Medical Association, it published ‘the Torture Atlas’, offering a medical documentation of torture cases. Through the centers it has established to date in Ankara, Diyarbakır, İstanbul, İzmir, Cizre and Van, it has provided treatment and rehabilitation services to over 20 thousand individuals subjected to torture and ill-treatment; contributing to the physical, psychological, and social well-being of torture survivors and their relatives facing trauma. Since 2000, it has been actively working on coping with collective trauma in light of the principles ‘truth, justice, and reparation’; conducting training programmes, panels, and symposia on the topic in Turkey and abroad. Meanwhile, it continues to lead the efforts for the periodical review of ‘the Istanbul Protocol’.
Thanks to its meticulous work, experience, and know-how on documenting torture and the treatment of torture survivors, it has almost become a school in its own right. Through its advocacy and reports seeking to activate the existing mechanisms for combating torture and to establish new mechanisms at the local and international level, it has become one of the key organisations worldwide spearheading the efforts in preventing torture, inspiring numerous human rights organisations and international bodies.
It has played a pioneering role in the preparation of ‘the Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’, commonly known as ‘the Istanbul Protocol’, adopted in 1999. It has played a pivotal role in the design and implementation of training programmes for the investigation, documentation, and prevention of torture cases against health and legal professionals in Turkey and across the world. In 2008, thanks to contribution from the Association of Forensic Medicine Specialists and the Turkish Medical Association, it published ‘the Torture Atlas’, offering a medical documentation of torture cases. Through the centers it has established to date in Ankara, Diyarbakır, İstanbul, İzmir, Cizre and Van, it has provided treatment and rehabilitation services to over 20 thousand individuals subjected to torture and ill-treatment; contributing to the physical, psychological, and social well-being of torture survivors and their relatives facing trauma. Since 2000, it has been actively working on coping with collective trauma in light of the principles ‘truth, justice, and reparation’; conducting training programmes, panels, and symposia on the topic in Turkey and abroad. Meanwhile, it continues to lead the efforts for the periodical review of ‘the Istanbul Protocol’.
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 the Yerevan State University, Department of Philology. Later attended Effective management courses in UK Open University, as a Chevening Fellow studied conflict prevention and transformation in PRDU, University of York, UK. Currently 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 job, 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 also served as a jury member for the numerous film festivals and journalism competitions.
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.