PANELISTS

panelists Archive

Ararat Mirzoyan

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia

Since August 19, 2021, H.E. Ararat Mirzoyan is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia.

In 2000, he graduated from the Faculty of History of the Yerevan State University with Bachelor’s Degree. In 2002, he received a Master’s Degree. In 2004 he graduated from the State Management Academy of the Republic of Armenia receiving a specialization in Public Administration and Local self-government. He holds a PhD in History from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.

He was a Junior researcher in the Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute (AGMI), National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, then worked as Chief Archivist at the Department of Socio-Political Documents of the National Archives of Armenia.

He was a lecturer at Yerevan State University in 2012-2013.

H.E. Ararat Mirzoyan is a founding member of the “Civil Contract” party. He was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Armenia of the 6^th convocation, from the “Yelq” faction in 2017-2018. He served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia in 2018-2019. Afterwards, in 2019-2021 H.E. Ararat Mirzoyan was the President of the National Assembly of Armenia of the 7^th convocation.

He is an author of numerous analytical publications in the Armenian and international media.

Egils Levits

Former President of the Republic of Latvia

Born in 1955 in Riga, Latvia. Exiled in Germany from 1972 to 1990. Graduated from the University of Hamburg with a degree in law, and later also in political science. Participated in the restoration of the independence of Latvia. Ambassador of Latvia to Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Switzerland in 1992-1993 and 1994-1995. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice in 1993-1994.

Judge at the European Court of Human Rights from 1995 to 2004. Judge at the European Court of Justice from 2004 to 2019. President of the Republic of Latvia from 2019 to 2023. Special Representative for International Law and State Responsibility.

Elisabeth Pramendorfer

Geneva Representative
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Elisabeth Pramendorfer is an atrocity prevention expert with extensive experience in advocating for populations at risk of atrocity crimes at the United Nations (UN). She is the Geneva Representative at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. Established in 2008 with the support of international human rights leaders, including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as well as supportive governments and international human rights organizations, the Global Centre is the world’s leading research and advocacy organization for advancing the international norm of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) at the UN and beyond, and works to prevent mass atrocity crimes – genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing – throughout the world.

Since 2017, Elisabeth Pramendorfer has represented the Global Centre at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, institutionalizing and expanding the Centre’s work on atrocity prevention within the wider UN human rights system. In her role, she focuses on country-specific advocacy and engagement with HRC-mandated investigative mechanisms, the Universal Periodic Review and Special Procedures, as well as wider Geneva programming. Elisabeth Pramendorfer also leads the Centre’s research and advocacy for Latin America, including Venezuela and Nicaragua. She has successfully designed and implemented long-term advocacy strategies to mobilize action at the multilateral level to prevent and respond to escalating atrocity crises, including through engagement with high-level government officials and the wider UN system. She also oversees the Global Centre’s work on the Group of Friends of R2P in Geneva – an intergovernmental group of more than 55 cross-regional UN Member States – and the Centre’s engagement with the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC) network. She is also closely involved in the creation and delivery of the Global Centre’s training programs on atrocity prevention for UN and government officials as well as human rights defenders around the world.

Elisabeth Pramendorfer has written and published a series of articles, book chapters, op-eds and commentaries on R2P and atrocity prevention and is regularly invited by academic institutions, NGOs, governments and other stakeholders to speak on R2P and related topics. She also regularly represents the Global Centre at public events, expert conferences and other high-level forums. She holds an LLM in International Humanitarian Law from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, a MA in Humanitarian Action from Sciences Po, Paris and a BA in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and King’s College London. She speaks English, German, French and Spanish.

Fernand de Varennes

Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

Dr Fernand de Varennes is Visiting Professor at the Université catholique de Lyon (France) and of the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Hercegovina). He held between August 2017 and November 2024 the mandate of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. He sits on the advisory boards of research or civil society organisations such as the Club de Madrid, the International Communities Organisation and the European Centre on Minority Issues. He is renown as one of the world’s leading experts on the international human rights of minorities and the prevention of ethnic conflicts.

He has also been awarded prizes for his work and commitment to human rights and the protection of minorities, including the 2021 FUEN Prize (Germany), the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2017), the 2004 Linguapax Award (Barcelona, Spain), was nominated in 2004 for the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights (Gwangju, South Korea), and the 2000 Tip O’Neill Peace Fellowship (Northern Ireland, UK). As a researcher and writer, he has some 300 publications worldwide in more than 30 languages.

Marcin Marcinko

Associate Professor at the Chair of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Marcin Marcinko – dr habil., Associate Professor at the Chair of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University in Kraków; in 2007–2021 coordinator of the Centre for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at the Jagiellonian University; Chairman of the National Commission for Dissemination of International Humanitarian Law at the Main Board of the Polish Red Cross, and a lecturer and co-organizer of the Polish School of International Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict; associate of the Military Centre for Civic Education of the Ministry of National Defence and the Naval Command and Operations Department of the Polish Naval Academy.

He is a member of the International Law Association (ILA – Polish Group), the European Society of International Law (ESIL), the International Society of Public Law (ICON-S), and the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP). He is the author and co-author of books, chapters and articles on legal issues of international security, in particular counter-terrorist measures in international law and various questions related to international humanitarian law of armed conflict.

Melanie O’Brien

President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)

Dr Melanie O’Brien is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia Law School, and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). Dr O’Brien was a 2023-24 Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies; and is a Visiting Scholar with the University of Minnesota Law School’s Human Rights Center (USA).

The International Criminal Court has cited Dr O’Brien’s work on forced marriage, and she has been an amica curia before the ICC, with her work on forced marriage pivotal in influencing state support for the inclusion of forced marriage in the draft crimes against humanity treaty. She has been an expert consultant for multiple UN bodies and is widely consulted by global media for her expertise on international criminal law. She has conducted fieldwork and research across six continents, and been awarded the Filon Ktenidis Award and a citation from the state of Connecticut (USA) for her work on justice and recognition for victims of genocide.

Dr O’Brien is a member of the WA International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross. She was a 2022 Research Fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum & a 2023 Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Loughborough, UK. Her most recent book is From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a Human Rights Lens (Routledge, 2023).

Peter Prove

Director, International Affairs, World Council of Churches (WCC)

Since 2014, Peter has been Director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC), responsible for WCC’s activities in the fields of peacebuilding, disarmament and human rights, and for WCC’s relations with the UN system.

A lawyer, he has long experience representing faith-based organizations in the international arena. Before joining the WCC, he was for more than 12 years Assistant General Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and for four years Executive Director of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA).

Among other responsibilities, he has also served as President of the NGO Special Committee on Human Rights (Geneva), 2000-2008; member of the UNCTAD Expert Advisory Group on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing, 2009; member of the UNAIDS International Advisory Group on Universal Access, 2011; member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils network 2012-2014; and member of the Steering Board of the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), 2018 to date.

Andrew Forde

Commissioner, The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC)

Dr Andrew Forde is an Assistant Professor (International Law/Human Rights) and Commissioner on the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). Dr Forde has over 20 years of international human rights experience including more than a decade with the Council of Europe (CoE) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as a Human Rights Advisor and Political Advisor with a specialist focus on human rights in conflict-affected regions.

His first book “European Human Rights Grey Zones – The Council of Europe and Areas of Conflict” was recently published by Cambridge University Press and his second, co-authored, book on Russia’s troubled relationship with the Council of Europe is due for publication early in 2025.

Ambassador Blanka Jamnišek

National Contact Point for Responsibility to Protect, Slovenia

Blanka Jamnišek, M.A. graduated in Psychology (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts,1982), specialized in International Relations-Diplomatic Academy (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences,1999) and completed her Master of Arts Degree in International Politics (CERIS, Bruxelles and Faculté Jean Monet, Université de Paris XI, 2001). She completed the trainings in Neuro-Linguisitc Programming and became a Master Coach in NLP (NLP Institute Ljubljana, 2019). In 2020 she concluded education for a mediator.

After the declaration of independence of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991 she worked for the new Government in the Ministry of Information, later Public Relations Office. She held the post of the Head of Public Relations Office of the Ministry of Defense in 1994-1996. In 1996 she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as desk for bilateral relations with the USA, Canada, UK and Ireland. From 1998 to 2003 she was posted to the Permanent Mission of Slovenia to NATO and WEU in Brussels as a diplomatic counsellor. From 2004-2011 she was a member of diplomatic teams for chairing the OSCE (2005) and Council of Europe (2008). She also led the Department of OSCE and Council of Europe. From 2011 till 2015 she served in Austria as an Ambassador-Permanent Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the United Nations, OSCE and other international organizations in Vienna.

Ambassador Jamnišek introduced the promotion of human rights education into Slovenian foreign policy in 2005 during the Chairmanship of OSCE. She founded a new the human rights education project for children and became the co-author of the publication ”OUR RIGHTS”. This human rights education tool for children was operationalized as a pilot project in a variety of countries and is still ongoing. To date the “OUR RIHGTS” project has been implemented due to its universality for over 400.000 children worldwide in almost all continents in 27 countries in 23 languages. Human rights education has since become one of the Slovenian priority foreign affairs topics.

In 2015 she was appointed by the Government of Slovenia as the National Contact Point for Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and currently serves as a member of the Steering Group within the Global R2P Focal Points Network. Her efforts are focused on awareness raising and prevention of processes that may lead to mass atrocities, as R2P is one of Slovenia’s foreign affairs priorities. Ambassador Jamnišek is also the Deputy Head of of the Slovenian Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which promotes education, research and remembrance. Human rights education and R2P were adopted by the Parliament and the Government as foreign affairs priorities included both the Declaration and Strategy of the Slovenian Foreign Policy.

Ambassador Jamnišek is married and a mother of four children.

Ewelina U. Ochab

Lawyer, human rights advocate, and author

Dr Ewelina U. Ochab is a lawyer, human rights advocate, and author. She is a senior programme lawyer with the IBA’s Human Rights Institute and the co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. Her work centers on genocide, focusing on the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world, including the Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram atrocities in West Africa, and the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Uyghurs in China, Tigrayans in Ethiopia, and Hazara in Afghanistan.

Dr Ochab has also been raising awareness of abductions and illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children in Russia. She has written over 30 reports for the UN (including Universal Periodic Review reports) and has made oral and written submissions at the Human Rights Council, the UN Forum on Minority Issues, PACE, and other international and regional forums. Dr Ochab conducted several fact-finding missions including to Iraq after its liberation from Daesh, and Ukraine after Russia’s attack. Dr Ochab holds a PhD in international law and medical ethics. Her recent book ‘State Responses to Crimes of Genocide’, co-authored with Lord Alton of Liverpool, engages on the failures to prevent and punish genocide. Dr Ochab authored the initiative to establish the UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on August 22.

Henry C. Theriault

Associate Provost, Worcester State University

Henry C. Theriault, Ph.D., is Associate Provost at Worcester State University in the United States, after teaching in its Philosophy Department 1998-2017. He coordinated WSU’s Human Rights Center 1999-2007. Theriault researches genocide denial, genocide prevention, post-genocide victim-perpetrator relations, reparations, and mass violence against women and girls. He has lectured around the world and published numerous journal articles and chapters.

He is lead author of the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group’s 2015 Resolution with Justice, and, with Samuel Totten, co-authored The United Nations Genocide Convention: An Introduction (University of Toronto Press, 2019), and, with Chunhui Peng, coeditor of Aftermath of Mass Violence: A Comprehensive Approach through Theory and Case Studies (Bloomsbury, forthcoming). Theriault’s work has appeared in English, Spanish, Armenian, Turkish, and other languages. Theriault served two terms as president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, 2017-2019 and 2019-2021. He has been founding co-editor of Genocide Studies International since 2012 and co-edited Genocide Studies and Prevention 2007-2012. He currently vice-chair of the executive committee of the board of directors of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research.

Kathryne Bomberger

Director-General
International Commission on Missing Persons

Kathryne Bomberger has worked in the field of international relations, human rights, politics and conflict
prevention for the last 20 years. Since 1998, she has led the development of ICMP, which is today the
world’s leading human rights and rule of law organization dedicated exclusively to helping governments
address missing persons issues arising from war, human rights violations, migration, organized crime,
natural disasters and other causes. She was appointed ICMP Director-General in 2004.

Since its creation in 1996, ICMP has been transformed from an ad hoc mechanism tasked with assisting
countries emerging from the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia to a treaty-based international
organization with global reach. Kathryne Bomberger has consistently sought to ensure that the global
challenge of missing persons is addressed by governments as an urgent priority, in a manner that is
modern, effective and based on the rule of law.

Ms Bomberger has worked in conflict and post-conflict areas as well as in areas affected by disasters and
by organized crime (including the Western Balkans, Cyprus, Armenia, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Ukraine,
Mexico, Colombia, Haiti, and the Philippines), helping governments, courts, prosecutors, NGOs, scientists,
academics and others to build capacity to address the cross-cutting issue of missing persons, including
through the development of effective institutions and legislation. She has spoken on the issue of missing
persons at countless public forums, including the United Nations and the US Congress, and she has been
interviewed by the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist and many
other media outlets, as well as participating in TV and film documentaries. Her numerous awards include
recognition by the President of France as a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

Before joining ICMP, Kathryne Bomberger worked for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, the UN, and the US Senate. She has an undergraduate degree in History and a graduate degree
in International Relations, with a focus on Middle East Studies, from the Elliot School of International
Relations at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She is an American national currently
residing in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Mark McInnes (Lord McInnes of Kilwinning CBE)

Member of the House of Lords

Mark McInnes (Lord McInnes of Kilwinning CBE) has been a member of the House of Lords since 2016 having served as the Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on constitutional matters No10 Downing Street. His special interest is in designing and implementing strategies to strengthen the constitutional settlement in the United Kingdom and his wider interests include international development, humanitarianism and post conflict stabilisation, during his academic research he included a focus on historic genocides.

Lord McInnes, who graduated from the Universities of Edinburgh and Bath, was campaign Director, Chief Executive, Political Strategist of the Scottish Conservative Party for 18 years until 2021.

Matias Hellman

Matias Hellman is Head of the Outreach Unit at the Registry of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a function he has performed since August 2024. He previously served, from July 2010, as External Relations Adviser of the ICC Presidency. Prior to joining the ICC, Mr Hellman served for ten years in the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), of which eight years in the ICTY’s field offices in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, first as Outreach Coordinator and later as Registry Liaison Officer.

A national of Finland, Mr Hellman holds an LLM (with distinction) in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex and an MA (laudatur) in Slavic Languages and Cultures from the University of Helsinki.

Jochen Böhler

Director of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies

Director of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies
PD Dr. Jochen Böhler is the Director of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. His expertise is the Holcocaust and the history of Vioelence in Eastern Europe in the 20th Century. He has held visiting professorships in Paris and Jena and was a fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and at Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. His lates publications are

Civil War in Central Europe. The Reconstruction of Poland, 1918-1921 (Oxford University Press 2018) and The Routledge History Handbook of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century, Volume 4: Violence (ed. with J. v. Puttkamer and W. Borodziej, Routledge 2022).

Luis Moreno Ocampo

Founder Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

Luis Moreno Ocampo had a distinguished role as a Prosecutor during the transition to democracy in Argentina (1984-1992) and as the founder Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2003-2012).

He was the deputy Prosecutor in the trial against the Military Juntas in 1985 (“Argentina, 1985,” a film that premiered in September 2022 presenting the case, Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature Film.) He was also the Prosecutor of the last military rebellion in 1990.

As the First Chief Prosecutor of the new and permanent International Criminal Court, Moreno Ocampo had to put the Court into motion, establishing the structure and the Office’s strategic policies. During his tenure, he obtained an arrest warrant for the crime of genocide against Sudan President Omar Al Bashir.

In December 2022, Oxford University Press published Luis Moreno Ocampo’s book: “War and Justice in the 21st Century, a case study on the International Criminal Court and its interaction with the War on Terror.”

Currently, he is a visiting Professor at USC Cinematic Art School, researching how films produce narratives on war, crime, and justice. He also directs a project at the University of Sao Paulo on “Innovation on Global Order.”

Previously, he was a visiting professor at Stanford, Harvard, Al Qud, and Hebrew University.

https://luismorenoocampo.com/

https://x.com/MorenoOcampo1

Mirza Dinnayi

Co-Founder of the Air Bridge Iraq
Laureate of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity

2019 Laureate of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, Yezidi Human Rights Activist; Co-Founder of the German based NGO (Air Bridge Iraq) & Founder of House of Coexistence in Sinjar/Iraq.

Former Advisor to the Iraqi President for the Affairs of Non-Muslim Minorities. Expert in Iraqi Minority affairs. Laureate of the Golden Stauffer-Medaille 2016, highest Award for extraordinary engagements, granted by the Prime Minister of State Baden-Württemberg.

In 2023 Dinnayi received the the US Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Award for his role in defending the rights of minorities and in promoting peace, coexistence and diversity in Iraq

Mirza Dinnayi dedicated his whole life to saving the victims of the Iraq war, evacuating women and children from territories controlled by ISIS and providing those with rehabilitation and support. He personally transports people to safety and delivers food and water to isolated areas, even after surviving a helicopter crash.

Mirza Dinnayi comes from a well-respected Yazidi family. He was in high school when he started writing stories about Yazidis and the persecution they faced. Driven by his intention to help his community, he enrolled in medical school and joined a student group in Mosul that protested Iraq’s political regime. In 1992, concerned for his safety, he fled to Iraqi Kurdistan. During the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, he sought asylum in Germany where he became a prominent member of the Yazidi community. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Dinnayi became Advisor for Minority Affairs to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Vincent Duclert

Researcher at the Centre Raymond Aron

Prof. (hon.) Dr. Vincent Duclert is a full researcher at the Centre Raymond Aron (CESPRA, EHESS-CNRS), former director of this Center of research for philosophical, political and historical studies, and former Professor at Sciences Po (“Global History of Genocide and Genocidal Process”). In 2015, he was the co-organizer of the international colloquium for one century of research on the genocide against the Armenian of the Ottoman Empire (Paris, march). In 2016-2018, he was the president the Mission of Study on the Research and Teaching of Genocides and Mass Crimes (Report published by CNRS Editions in 2018). In 2019-2021, he had presided the Research Commission on the French Archives Related to Rwanda and the Tutsi Genocide (Report published by Armand Colin Editions and vie-publique.fr ; english version on vie-publique.fr : https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/284672-france-rwanda-et-le-genocide-des-tutsi-1990-1994-english-version ). Prof. Duclert just returned from Sacramento California State University where he spoke at the 6th International Conference on Genocide.

In 2022 and 2023, he organized with the University of Rwanda two session of an international colloquium on the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda (September 2022, session in Rwanda; September 2023: majority of the communications presented during theses two sessions are available, on line : cirre.hypotheses.org). As historian of genocides, genocidal process and prevention of genocide, he published several researches since 2004.

Selected references:

« Les historiens et la destruction des Arméniens », Vingtième siècle. Revue d’histoire, n°81, janvier-mars 2004, p. 137-153.

« Armenia » et « Armenian Genocide », in Jay Winter and John Merriman (eds.), Europe since 1914. The Age of War and Reconstruction, Charles Scribner’s Sons/Thomson Gale, 2006.

Le génocide des Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman dans la Grande Guerre. Un siècle d’engagements pour la recherche et la connaissance, 1915-2015 (codirection), Paris, Armand Colin, 2015, 367 p.

Comprendre le génocide des Arméniens de 1915 à nos jours (with Hamit Bozarslan et Raymond H. Kévorkian), Paris, Tallandier, 2015, 494 p., réédition, coll. « Texto », 2016, 2022.

La France face au génocide des Arméniens, du milieu du XIXe siècle à nos jours. Une nation impériale et le devoir d’humanité, Paris, Fayard, 2015, 424 p.

Rapport de la Mission d’étude en France sur la recherche et l’enseignement des génocides et des crimes de masse (édition), préface de Dominique Schnapper, postface d’Henry Rousso, Paris, CNRS Editions, 2018, 324 p.

Les Génocides, Paris, CNRS Editions, coll. « La Documentation photographique », 2019, 64 p.

Penser les génocides. Itinéraires de recherche (Vincent Duclert dir.), Paris, CNRS Editions, 2021, 360 p.

« Le génocide des Tutsi du Rwanda. Devoir de recherche et droit à la vérité », Le Genre humain (Vincent Duclert dir.), préface de Joseph Nsengimana, postface de Liberata Gahongayire, n° 62, mars 2023, 270 p.

Arménie. Un génocide sans fin et le monde qui s’éteint, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2023, 138 p.

La France face au génocide des Tutsi. Le grand scandale de la Ve République, Paris, Tallandier, 2024, 635 p.

Vladimir Vardanyan

Born on August 26, 1979 in Yerevan.

2000 – Graduated from the Law Faculty of the Yerevan State University.

2002 – Master’s degree of the same faculty. Specialist of Law.

2002 – Postgraduate of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute of the NAS of the Republic of Armenia.

2004 – Transfer to the Postgraduate of the YSU. Candidate for Law.

2003 – 2006 – Chief Specialist of the Legal Advisory Service of the Staff of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.

2006 – 2013 – Head of the Department of International Treaties of the same service.

2013 – 2016 – Head of the same service.

2016 – 2018 – Advisor to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.

Since 2005 – YSU teacher.

2007 – 2015 – Lecturer of the Russian – Armenian (Slavonic) University.

2014 – 2015 – Head of the Department of International and European Law of the Russian -Armenian (Slavonic) University.

January 2016 – 2019 – Executive Director of the International Analytical Centre “Constitutional Culture.”

April 2018 – January 2019 – Head of the Staff of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.

Since 2015 – Coordinator of the Scientific and Analytical Centre “Legal Issues of the Armenian Genocide” adjunct to the Council of All-Armenian Congress of Lawyers.

2018 – Member of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute.

December 9, 2018 – Elected Member of the National Assembly from the national electoral list of the “My Step” alliance of parties.

January 18, 2019 – Elected Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly.

Member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the Board of Trustees of the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, the editorial board of the “Armenian Yearbook of International and Comparative Law” and the All-Russian Scientific Journal of “Legal Initiative,” International Editorial Board of the “Belarusian Yearbook of International Law.” Co-founder of the Armenian Centre for International and Comparative Law (ICLaw).

Collaborates with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Reviewer (Armenian) of comments of 2016 of the first Geneva Convention of 1949. Expert of the program of Council of Europe “Strengthening the Application of European Standards in the Area of Human Rights in the Armed Forces in Armenia”, co-author of the program of the training course “Human Rights in the Armed Forces”.

Author of a monograph and more than 30 scientific articles.

Andranik Shirinyan

Country Representative for Freedom House in Armenia

Andranik Shirinyan is the Country Representative for Freedom House in Armenia and a committed advocate for human rights, justice, and democratic governance. His work spans a wide array of issues, including strengthening civil society, advancing accountability mechanisms, and promoting the rule of law. Andranik has played a key role in addressing systemic challenges such as the protection of vulnerable groups, media freedom, and the promotion of inclusive policies.

Recently, he has also focused on the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, documenting the forced displacement of Armenians and advocating for international attention to the region. Drawing on his international experience, including studies in Italy and Estonia, Andranik brings a holistic perspective to bridging local challenges with global human rights and democracy initiatives.

Anahit Manasyan

The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia

Education:

January – June 2016 – Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University

2010-2013 – postgraduate student (aspirant) of Faculty of Law of Yerevan State University

2008-2010 – Master of Law (diploma with honorary distinction) Faculty of Law of Yerevan State University

2004-2008 – Bachelor of Law (diploma with honorary distinction) Faculty of Law of Yerevan State University

Professional activity:

April 2023-present – The Human Rights Defender of Armenia

November 2022 – April 2023 – Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic Armenia

April – August 2022 – Senior Legal Expert of the EU-funded project “Consolidation of the Justice System in Armenia”

2015 – present – Associate Professor at the Chair of Constitutional Law of Yerevan State University

January 2019 – July 2021 – Vice-Rector of the Academy of Justice

February 2017 – January 2019 – Vice-Rector of the Academy of Justice for Scientific Affairs

December 2016 – March 2018 – Advisor at the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2014 – December 2016 – Senior Adviser to the President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2013 – 2014 – Adviser to the President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2014 – July 2021 – Lecturer at the Academy of Justice of the Republic of Armenia

2012 – Internship at the Constitutional Court of Hungary

2010 – 2015 – Lecturer at the Chair of Constitutional Law of Yerevan State University

2009 – 2013 – Assistant to the President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2008 – 2009 – Expert in the staff of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia

Participation in professional/scientific institutions:

March 1, 2024 – present – Member of the Governing Board of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI)

December 20, 2023 – present – Member (Armenia) of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)

November 2022 – April 2023 – Member of Governing Board of the Academy of Justice of Armenia

November 2022 – April 2023 – Chairman of Ethics Committee adjunct to the Prosecutor General of Armenia

March – November 2022 – Member of the Professional Commission on Constitutional Reforms of the Republic of Armenia

November 2022 – April 2023 – President of the Editorial Board of Scientific journal “Legality” of the Prosecutor Office of Armenia; since June 2023- member of the Editorial Board

August 2020 – November 2022 – Member of the Commission on Evaluation of the performance of Judges

January 2020 – January 2021 – Member of the Professional Commission for Constitutional Reforms of Armenia

February 2021 – present – Member of the editorial board of the international academic journal “JURIDICA” published in Ukraine

January 2020 – present – Member of the editorial board of the international academic journal “Journal of Political Science” published in Warsaw

2019 – July 2021 – Armenian representative of the HELP online platform of the Council of Europe

2015 – present – Member of the professional council 001 on law at Yerevan State University of the Supreme Certifying Commission of the Republic of Armenia

2015 – 2019 – Scientific secretary of professional council 001 on law at Yerevan State University of the Supreme Certifying Commission of the Republic of Armenia

2016 – present – Member of the Board of Trustees of the International Analytical Centre “Constitutional Culture”

2016 – 2017 – Member of the working group for developing the Draft Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2013 – 2020 – Member of the editorial board of territorial “South Caucasus Law Journal”

2012 – March 2018 – member of the editorial group of the Russian Annex to the Bulletin of the Constitutional Court of Armenia

2012 – 2017 – regional analyst for the international scientific journal “Comparative Constitutional Review”, published in Moscow

2008 – present – member of the Armenian Lawyers Association

Academic degree, title:

PhD in Law, Associate Professor

Additional information:

Anahit Manasyan is the author and co-author of 11 monographs, 4 manuals and more than 7 dozen scientific articles, which were published by prestigious Armenian and international publishing houses (including in Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus).

As an expert, she has participated in the preparation of opinions, researches, and guidelines on numerous issues by various international organizations (OECD, Council of Europe, UN, etc.), and has given lectures during several international seminars and in several foreign scientific and educational institutions (including: in Georgia, Hungary, Ukraine).

Edita Gzoyan

Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute

Dr. Edita Gzoyan is the Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation and a leading researcher at the institution.

She holds her BA, MA and Ph.D. from the Faculty of International Relations at Yerevan State University and an LLM from the American University of Armenia.

Dr. Gzoyan specializes in the legal and historical aspects of the Armenian Genocide, comparative genocide studies, and the history of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920). She is the author of several dozens of publications in national and international journals and serves as an editor for the International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies.

Gurgen Petrossian

Armenian legal expert

Dr. Gurgen Petrossian, LLM (Heidelberg), is an Armenian legal expert who specialises in international criminal law, international law and human rights. He holds teaching positions at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt and Yerevan State University. Before rejoining the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, Dr Petrossian advised one of Germany’s largest textile companies on aspects of business and human rights in accordance with the German Act on Due Diligence in Supply Chains. Previously, he worked as head of the International Criminal Law Research Unit at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. During his tenure, he successfully led and completed research projects funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the German Research Foundation. These projects dealt with topics such as “Length of Proceedings at the International Criminal Court” and “Victims’ Rights before the International Criminal Court”.

From 2016 to 2019, Dr Petrossian was one of the organisers of the “Nuremberg Moot Court”. He has provided assistance to the Republic of Armenia and the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region on incorporating international criminal law into their respective legal systems. Dr Petrossian also served as legal advisor in Armenia, where he made significant contributions to the prison facility investigation project of the NGO Helsinki Association for Human Rights. Additionally, he gained valuable experience at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia.

Dr Petrossian obtained an LLB from Yerevan State University, followed by an LLM from Universität Heidelberg and ultimately earned a PhD from Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He publishes on international criminal law, international law and human rights. Since 2019, he is the president of the German-Armenian Lawyers’ Association and member of the German Institute for Compliance.

Rebecca A. Shoot

Rebecca A. Shoot is an international lawyer and democracy and Executive Director of Citizens for Global Solutions. She is the Co-Convener of the Washington Working Group for the International Criminal Court and Co-Founder and Convener of ImPACT Coalitions on International Judicial Institutions and International Anti-Corruption Court. She serves on the boards or advisory committees of several organizations and coalitions, including Integrity Initiatives International, which leads the campaign for an International Anti-Corruption Court, and the Coalition for the United Nations We Need.

In nearly a decade with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Rebecca held numerous positions in headquarters and the field supporting and leading democracy and governance programs in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern and East Africa. She subsequently moved to a leadership role steering NDI’s Governance projects globally and directing programming for the bipartisan House Democracy Partnership of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rebecca created a global parliamentary campaign for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights as Senior Advisor to Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), an international network of legislators committed to collaboration to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Prior to that, she directed PGA’s International Law and Human Rights Programme and ran PGA’s office in The Hague. Most recently, she helmed global programming to promote criminal justice reform and gender equality for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative.

Rebecca has spoken at high-level conferences and events on five continents (and increasingly, globally through online platforms). Her publications include the first Global Parliamentary Report (IPU & UNDP 2012), Political Parties in Democratic Transitions (DIPD 2012), and Navigating between Scylla and Charybdis: How the International Criminal Court Turned Restraint Into Power Play (Emory Int’l L. Rev. 2018), which was honored with the Emory International Law Review’s Founder’s Award for Excellence in Legal Research and Writing.

Rebecca earned a Juris Doctorate with Honors from Emory University School of Law, where she received several academic distinctions, including the David J. Bederman Fellowship in International Law and Conley-Ingram Scholarship for Public Interest Leadership. She earned a Master of Science in Democracy & Democratisation from University College London School of Public Policy and a Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Political Science from Kenyon College. She holds certificates in Conflict Analysis from the U.S. Institute of Peace and in Public International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law.

She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and is a member of several bar associations, including the American Branch of the International Law Association (ABILA), where she serves as Advocacy Director for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Committee. She served as a Visiting Professional in the Presidency of the ICC and has provided pro bono legal expertise to The Carter Center, International Refugee Assistance Project, United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, and U.S. Marine Corps University, where she helped develop the international humanitarian law curriculum.

YEGHISHE KIRAKOSYAN

Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters

Dr. Yeghishe Kirakosyan serves as the Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters. In this capacity, he represents Armenia in proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, investment and commercial arbitral tribunals, foreign courts and mediation fora. Since 2008, Dr. Kirakosyan has held various key governmental roles, including Assistant to the Prime Minister, Deputy Minister of Justice, and Adviser to the Prime Minister.

In addition to his extensive public service, Dr. Kirakosyan has been engaged in academia since 2006, teaching at various universities in Armenia. He currently chairs the LL.M. Program in International Courts and Arbitration at Yerevan State University. His teaching portfolio includes courses on “Public International Law”, “International Court of Justice”, “Treaty Interpretation”, and “Strategic Litigation”. Dr. Kirakosyan’s research focuses on international courts and arbitration, state responsibility, countermeasures, and the efficiency of enforcement of international law.

Gulnara Shahinian

Gulnara Shahinianis an esteemed international human rights lawyer and linguist, with extensive experience in gender equality, traditional forms of slavery, and human trafficking. Since the Declaration of Independence in Armenia, she has dedicated her efforts to strengthening democracy, the rule of law, and peace working with women and youth in border communities and cross border . Her peace-building work is recognized both regionally and internationally.

Ms. Shahinian holds degrees from Yerevan State University and St. Petersburg University, along with several professional qualifications from universities in Europe and the USA. She is the founder and chair of the NGO “Democracy Today,” which has history of 30 years peace work, operating throughout Armenia as well as regionally and internationally.

In Armenia, she served as an elected member of the Yerevan Council and Head of the Foreign Relations Department. Internationally, she made history in 2008 when she was elected by the UN General Assembly as the first UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. She was also elected to chair the UN Trust Fund for Contemporary Forms of Slavery and led numerous expert working groups. She also collaborated with various UN divisions, including the ILO, UNODC, and OHCHR.

Ms. Shahinian was the first deputy president of the Intergovernmental Commission that developed the European Convention on Actions Against Trafficking (CAHTEH) and later served as the first vice president of GRETA. She has been instrumental in monitoring the implementation of the convention and has done extensive work in documenting and developing policies and laws to fight slavery and human trafficking in over 40 countries. Her reports and recommendations have been presented to the UN General Assembly, OHCHR, and the COE Commission of Action Against Trafficking.

As an international consultant, she has worked with many UN agencies, international organizations, and states, and has presented amicus curiae briefs to international courts. Most of the time and knowledge she dedicated to work with victims of slavery and human trafficking in many corners of the world. She has received letter of recognition from many civil society groups in Africa.

Since 1995, she has been actively involved in peace-building, conflict resolution, and gender equality. She has conducted numerous assessments and trainings in Armenia and beyond, served as a keynote speaker at international conferences, and authored numerous publications.

Ms. Shahinian has published manuals on peacebuilding, human trafficking, and Women, Peace, and Security and Youth Peace and Security among other subjects. She is a member of the board of advisors for several international organizations and has received numerous medals and letters of recognition from states and civil society groups for her outstanding work.

Dr. Jean Meyer

Born in the South of France in 1942 to Alsatian parents fleeing the Nazi invasion, Jean Meyer lived until 1959 in Aix en Provence. He studied history at the Normal Superior and at the Sorbonne, before heading to Mexico in 1965 to study a chapter of the Mexican Revolution, La Cristiada (first book, 1973). Franco-Mexican since 1977, he is married to historian Beatriz Rojas and has five children.

He is an Emeritus Researcher Level III by the National System of Researchers and an Emeritus Professor of the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE). He won the National Prize for Sciences and Arts 2011, is a Doctor honoris causa by the University of Chicago in 2012, member of the Academy of History and honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Language. He has been granted an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Guadalajara in 2015 and another one from the Pontifical University from Mexico in 2017.

In 2008, the books “Russia and its Empires, 1894-2006” and “The Crusade for Mexico: American Catholics and the religious conflict” were both published in Spain. He has been a researcher-teacher at Colegio de México, the Sorbonne, the University of Perpignan and Colegio de Michoacán. Since 1993 he has worked at the CIDE, where in 2000 he founded its History Division and the quarterly magazine ISTOR. On Russia he has also published “The Peasant in Russian and Soviet history”, Mexico, (1991) “Perestroika” (2 vols.), Mexico, (1991), and “The great controversy between the Catholic and Orthodox churches”, Mexico and Madrid, (2005). In 2009 he published “Priestly Celibacy. Its History in the Catholic Church” and in 2010 he published “Road to Baján” and the collective work “Foreign nations facing religious conflict in Mexico”.

His Mexican editors are Siglo XXI, El Colegio de México, Vuelta, Jus, the CEMCA, Fondo de Cultura and Tusquets. In France his publishers are Gallimard, Desclée and CLD Editeurs. In England his publishers are Cambridge University Press. He writes every Sunday in the Mexican newspaper El Universal on current international and national affairs.

His most recent books are: The Fable of Ritual Crime (2012), Manuel Lozada (2015), The Book of my Father (2016), Star and Cross: The Judeo- Christian reconciliation, “If they can be called arrangements …” Chronicle of the religious conflict in Mexico, 1928-1938, ( 2021), The Prophet of the New World. Louis Riel (2022).

Mario Buil-Merce

Senior Political Affairs Officer / Chief of Office at the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect

Mario Buil-Merce was born in Lleida, Spain, in 1973. His academic background includes undergraduate degrees on political science and journalism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona -UAB (1996); a Master of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown University (1999) and a Master of Philosophy in European Politics and Society at the University of Oxford (2003).

Mr. Buil-Merce currently serves as Senior Political Affairs Officer / Chief of Office at the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, since 2021, with base at United Nations Headquarters, in New York. Prior to this position, he served as Political Affairs Officer in the same Office from 2010 to 2021. This built upon previous Political Affairs Officer assignments at the United Nations, including at the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs’ Mediation Support Unit (2007-2010), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (2006-2007) and the Office of Constitutional Support of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) (2004-2006).

Previous professional experience also includes advisory and consultancy services at the Committees of Foreign Affairs, Constitutional Affairs and Development of the European Parliament (2003-2004); the Democracy Program at The Carter Center (2002) and the Office of External Relations of the Pan American Health Organization (1999-2001).

Mr. Buil-Merce lives in New York, United States of America.

Sheila Paylan

Sheila Paylan is an international criminal lawyer, war crimes investigator, human rights and gender expert, and former legal advisor to the United Nations. She spent more than 15 years advising the judges and senior officials of various UN-backed international criminal tribunals, including for Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From 2019 to 2021, she was appointed by the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights as the Legal Advisor and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Specialist to a Team of International Experts mandated to assist the judicial and military authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo with investigating and prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and gross human right violations.

Now based in Yerevan, she regularly consults for a variety of international organizations, NGOs, think tanks, and governments. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, a Bachelor of Civil Law, and a Juris Doctorate from McGill University, as well as a Master of Laws specializing in Public International Law from the University of London, and has published extensively on the subjects of international justice, remedial secession, and the Responsibility to Protect.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan

Mr. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan entered Armenia’s diplomatic service in 1991 and held several posts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Armenia to the United Kingdom, the Offices of the Prime Minister and the President of Armenia. In 2002 he became Armenia’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations at Geneva, as well as Armenia’s Ambassador to Switzerland. In 2008 he was appointed Armenia’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France). Between 2011 and 2014 he held the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief Negotiator of EU-Armenia Association Agreement. In 2014 he became Armenia’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. From May 2018 until his resignation in November 2020 he was Armenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

While in Geneva and New York, he led the negotiations for the adoption of Armenia’s draft Resolutions on the Convention and on Prevention of Genocide in 2005 and 2008 in the UN Commission on Human Rights, as well as for the Resolution on the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, and the Prevention of this Crime, initiated by Armenia and adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.

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