Board and staff

President: Ms Karine Appy (Brazil)

Karine holds a degree in philosophy and international relations.

She worked with CCFD-Terre Solidaire, the leading French development NGO. She was in charge of the work with the media in relation to advocacy on several themes: corporate social responsibility, food sovereignty, fight against tax havens and conflict resolution. 

Karine was previously employed by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

Secretary: Ms Aisha Gilani (United Kingdom) - Barrister

Aisha Gilani is a UK Barrister who holds a Bachelor and Master of Law.

She has more than 15 years’ experience working in policy development, public affairs and communications with the UK government, the Commonwealth, United Nations organisations and civil society, including several years working in international affairs. She is an expert in international human rights law, with experience in post-conflict reconstruction. She brings to Human Dignity a wide range of expertise in advocacy, strategic communications, press and public affairs, campaigns, and civil society engagement.

 

Treasurer: Ms Anita Nyanjong (Kenya) - Lawyer

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Anita is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. 

She is currently the Regional Coordinator for the Eastern Africa Child Rights Network (EACRN) where she heads the secretariat of the EACRN national coalition membership from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Ethiopia towards advocacy on the implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Anita has extensive experience in human rights advocacy in Africa spanning over 12 years. Before joining the EACRN, Anita worked at Equality Now, where she led policy and legal advocacy on ending the sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of women and girls rights in several African countries. Anita has also worked with at the International Commission of Jurists as Programme Manager, where she led the institutional legal and policy advocacy on access to justice and rule of law.

Anita obtained her Master's degree in Public International Law and a Post Graduate Diploma in Women's Human Rights Law atThe Queen Mary University in London. She is also currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the Center for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.

Anita is a trained Mediator, an avid reader with a keen interest in pursuing justice for all women and children in the world. She speaks English, Swahili and French. 

You can view Anita LinkedIn Profile here.

 

 

Mr Yared Hailemariam (Ethiopia) - Director of the the Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center

Yared Hailemariam is the Director of the the Ethiopian Human Rights Defenders Center (EHRDC) established in 2020 with the aim to strengthen the network and capacity of HRDs in Ethiopia and to provide them with protection.

Yared served as a lead investigator at the Ethiopia Human Rights Council (HRCO) for seven years before being forced into exile in the aftermath of the heavily contested 2005 election in the country. While I was in exile, he founded and led the Europe based NGO Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia (AHRE) as an Executive Director.

Aside his Board member role at Human Dignity, he is also the African Union liaison officer of  DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project).

 

  

 

Board Member: Mr Clément Nyaletsossi Voule (Togo) - UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association

Based in Geneva, Clément is currently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. He is also Associate Researcher at the Geneva Academy and Senior Advisor at the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).

Between 2011 and June 2020, Clement was an expert member of the Working Group on Human and Peoples' Rights on Extractive Industries, the Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa. He previously  led ISHR’s work to support human rights defenders in states in transition and coordinated the organization’s work in Africa as African Advocacy Director. 

Clement was also Secretary General of the Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders and the Amnesty International section in Togo.

                    

Member : Mr Amourlaye Touré (Côte d'Ivoire)

Amourlaye Touré is an international development professional with 20 years of experience on human rights, elections, good governance, and the environment. He worked as a Country Director for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and Freedom House in Niger, Togo, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.

He is a founding member of the Ivorian Human Rights Movement (MIDH), which is a leading rights-based NGO in Cote d’Ivoire. As head of MIDH, Amourlaye worked on more than 400 investigations during the Ivorian crisis on issues ranging from rape, torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, and destruction of properties.

As a consultant, Amourlaye has worked for Open Society Initiative, Amnesty International, the UNDP, NDI, IFES, Rights and Democracy, etc. in countries like Djibouti, Sierra Leone, DRC, Niger, Liberia, Benin, Kenya, Mali, and Burkina Faso.

He is fluent in Bambara, French, and English, and conversational Spanish.

 

 

Member : Mr Stephen Musau (Kenya)

Stephen Musau is a practitioner in human rights, good governance, peace and security, practicing in Kenya.

He holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights and Conflict Management (MAHRCM) from the School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy) and a Bachelors of Arts Degree (Economics and Sociology Major) from Egerton University, with numerous professional training in Human Rights, strategic Management and Leadership, Organization Development and Management, Security in Peacekeeping Missions, International Investigations among others.

Mr. Musau has an extensive experience in designing, leading and supervising projects with keen interests on human rights, security, policing, conflict prevention, management and transformation; and in leading and supervising teams for service delivery.

Currently, Mr. Musau is serving with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), a State agency in Kenya that oversights the National Police Service.

Before joining IPOA in 2014, Mr Musau had served in the governance, democracy and human rights civil society sector in Kenya, and practiced consultancy services in the same fields, while working closely with national, regional and international human rights organizations.

 

Projects Assistant : Ms Karina Ivanova (Bulgaria)

Karina studied law in France and Colombia and holds a Master’s degree in International law from the University Panthéon-Assas Paris 2.

Passionate about human rights and development issues, Karina has worked and volunteered for the EU, the UN as well as several NGOs, including ECPM and Parliamentarians for Global Action. Between January 2018 and June 2019, she worked for the Bulgarian Red Cross and IOM on projects providing humanitarian assistance and integration support to asylum seekers and refugees in Bulgaria.

Karina has lived and worked in Bulgaria, France, Colombia, Mexico, the Netherlands and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Bulgarian. She is currently based in Malawi where she works as a Project Support Officer for United Purpose, a community-led development NGO.

Convinced that the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights is the key to sustainable development, social justice and equality in Sub-Saharan Africa, she decided to join Human Dignity as a volunteer in 2017.

Projects Assistant: Ms Anna Hertkorn (France)

Director : Ms Seynabou Benga (Senegal-France) - Expert Member of the Working Group on Extractive Industries of the African Commission