Ajeetha Begum Sulthan is a Deputy Director in SVP National Police Academy and a Police Service Officer of the 2008 Batch in India. She has over a decade of experience heading various district police units, supervising crime prevention, detection and investigation, maintenance of law and order, and community policing initiatives. Sulthan has also headed the investigation of various high-profile child trafficking and abuse cases and served as Assistant Superintendent of Police in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. As Superintendent of Police, she has held many posts in Kerala including Deputy Commissioner of Police Trivandrum City, Principal of Police training college, the District Police Chief in three districts of Kerala, and Commissioner of Police of Kollam city. She has represented India at the UNODC conference in Vienna, Austria (2019), and made a presentation on Gender mainstreaming in Police. Sulthan received the Kalinga Fellowship in recognition of her work in combating Gender-based violence and trafficking of women and children. She is a triathlete and has placed first in the Hyderabad Full marathon (Open category- Women’s) 2021. Sulthan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and Business Management from the Avinashilingam Deemed University and a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Indira Gandhi National Open University in Delhi. As a Humphrey Fellow, she is focusing on trafficking in children and institutional response to child victims of sexual assault.
Amandine Ingabire serves as a judge at the Ministry of Justice of Burundi. She has over nine years of professional experience working on land disputes, women's rights, and children's rights. Ingabire is also a passionate women's rights defender and has expertise in children's rights and gender post-conflict. Ingabire was a member of the Association Dushirehamwe for more than 5 years which focuses on increasing women’s voting rights and promoting Human Rights and national reconciliation. From February 28 to March 25, 2022, she participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Rule of Law and the U.S Judicial System. Ingabire holds a Bachelor of Law from the Light University of Bujumbura. During her Humphrey Fellowship, Ingabire is focusing on gaining skills in Human Rights, International Trafficking in persons, and International Humanitarian and International criminal law to enable her to promote community social responsibilities, human rights, justice, and gender equality in her country.
Christine Nyiranshimiyimana works at the National Land Authority as the registrar of land titles for Kigali City, Rwanda. In this capacity, she focuses on all land issues of the capital city and offers different lawful solutions. She holds a master’s degree in Commercial Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has a diploma in legal practice from the Institute of Legal Practice and Development in Nyanza, Rwanda, and a diploma in Legislative Drafting from the International Institute in Kampala, Uganda. Nyiranshimiyimana served between 2010-2017, as a legal advisor at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and as the manager of the legal and corporate affairs at the Capital Market Authority. During her fellowship, she is focusing on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms associated with land conflicts.
Dhaisy Paredes Guzmán is a Venezuelan lawyer and the Director of Legal Affairs of the Office of the Interim Presidency of Venezuela. Paredes advises the Interim President, various members of the presidency and the legitimate parliament on legal matters related to the operation of these bodies and the efforts to restore Venezuelan democracy and protect Venezuelans’ rights. Since 2016, she has been part of the technical team of the National Assembly, the only democratically elected body in Venezuela, and participated in the drafting of relevant bills and investigations. She holds a Law degree from the Central University of Venezuela, a Master's degree in Political Action from Francisco de Vitoria University in Spain, and she is currently working on a dissertation to obtain the Master’s degree in Private International Law and Comparative Law from the Central University of Venezuela. As a Humphrey Fellow, she is focusing on the promotion of peacebuilding policies and human rights protection through transitional justice that can lead her country to a democratic and peaceful society.
Diego Andrés Cabrita is a human rights activist and lawyer in Uruguay. His principal position has been as secretary of the Commission of International Affairs on the Parliament of Mercosur. He has taught international public law and diplomatic law at the Universidad de la República, Uruguay. Additionally, he has worked within the United Nations at the International Organization for Migration as a liaison policy officer and focal point for training government authorities, specifically, in xenophobia, integration, racism, human trafficking, and smuggling migrants. Diego is the founder of Manos Veneguayas, a non-governmental association that supports Venezuelan migrants in Uruguay. Cabrita holds an advanced diploma in political communication, International Cooperation, and Public Policy, and is currently a master's thesis student in International Relations at Universidad de la República. During his Humphrey Fellowship, Diego will study policy prevention on human trafficking and intends to promote a protocol to identify victims, especially protocols with the local governments, as well as a regional law to fight against human trafficking across social media.
Kashif Zulfiqar is currently a member of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP). He also served as the Additional Director Counter Terrorism Wing at Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of Pakistan. Previously, he worked with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police for over a decade at different command positions. He received the British Chevening scholarship in 2017 and worked with the North Yorkshire Police as part of a human rights project. Zulfiqar also won the Netherlands Fellowship Program (NFP) and attended courses on Inclusive Governance at The Hague Academy for Local Governance. He has also attended the International Police Association Training Conference at Green Bay in Wisconsin, USA. Zulfiqar holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law and Practice from the University of York in the United Kingdom. As a Humphrey fellow, Zulfiqar is focusing on human rights education and legislation. He believes that his study of law and human rights will help in developing human rights standards for law enforcement.
Lema Zelalem works as an independent human trafficking researcher and migrant rights advocate in Ethiopia. He is also a peace alumnus at the Austrian Peace Center. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Rift Valley University and completed Master's Courses in Crisis management at the Austrian Study Center for Peace. In collaboration with international organizations such as MSF Spain and Human Rights Watch, Zelalem has been denouncing human rights abuse of migrants on local and international media. In 2020, he advocated for more than 30,000 Ethiopian migrants confined in detention centers in gulf countries, which ultimately led to their safe repatriations to their home countries. Lema visited several irregular detention centers in Ethiopia and helped detainees obtain justice and reconnect with their families. Lema hopes to become a migration and human trafficking policy advisor. During his Fellowship program, he is focusing on trafficking in person policy and prevention.
Mae Pagdilao-Flores is a Deputy Regional Prosecutor of the Philippines Department of Justice. She also serves as Chief of Operations of her region’s anti-trafficking task force. She has been working as a prosecutor for almost 15 years and is a very engaged anti-trafficking advocate since 2010. Pagdilao-Flores also taught Criminal Law and Evidence at the University of Southeastern Philippines School of Law. As an anti-trafficking advocate, she creates and participates in the refinement of anti-trafficking laws and policies, leads case build-up investigations and prosecution of human trafficking and online sexual exploitation of children cases, and designs countrywide training for prosecutors, law enforcers, and other stakeholders. As a prosecutor and chief of operations for the anti-TIP task force, Mae led and was involved in investigations that resulted in the filing of about 200 TIP-related cases in court. In 2019, Flores received an award for having the third highest number of human trafficking convictions in the Philippines. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Legal Management from De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines, and a Juris Doctor from the Ateneo de Davao University in Davao, Philippines. As a Humphrey fellow, Flores will focus on gaining relevant scholarship and establishing professional connections to continue promoting anti-human trafficking policies and projects in her home country.
Natallia Karkanitsa serves as a Head of the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Belarus. Since 2014, Karkanitsa has been working at the UN and focused on the issues of human rights, rule of law, access to justice, and sustainable development, coordinated join UN monitoring, evaluation, planning, and reporting activities. She started her career at the local NGO offering legal and social aid to refugees and asylum seekers. Karkanitsa is a lecturer at the Belarusian State University and teaches courses on Refugee Law and the Principle of Non-Discrimination in International Law. She has a bachelor's degree in International Law and a Master's in Jurisprudence from the Belarusian State University. She also holds a Master’s in European and International Law from the University of Bordeaux. Karkanitsa published many articles in renowned professional journals. As a Humphrey Fellow, Karkanitsa is interested in constitutional law, advanced legal methods, and alternative dispute resolution.
Shahlaa Badawy is a project assistant at the International Organization for Migration- a UN Migration Agency in Bahrain. She has been with the Protection Division for over two years working against trafficking in persons. Badawy is part of a team that supports the development of long-term resources for a Bahrain-based regional center of excellence training and capacity building in the anti-trafficking field. These resources will equip frontline workers who may encounter potential victims of trafficking with the knowledge to identify and respond to human trafficking. Prior to that, Badawy worked as a news reporter focusing on the rights of migrants, women, and vulnerable groups of the society. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Bahrain, and a Master’s degree in Global Affairs and Policy from Yonsei University, South Korea. As a Humphrey Fellow, Badawy hopes to strengthen her knowledge in trafficking in persons, while focusing on best anti-trafficking practices and policies.
Tamar Dekanosidze is a human rights lawyer from Georgia and the Eurasia Regional Representative at Equality Now. She leads the efforts addressing violence and discrimination against women and girls in Georgia and other countries of the former Soviet Union. Dekanosidze has over 10 years of experience in human rights litigation, research, advocacy and teaching in Georgia. She has been litigating cases at the national level, the European Court of Human Rights, and the UN CEDAW Committee. She also has worked with the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and other local and international human rights organizations. Dekanosidze has researched extensively gender, criminal and human rights law and has conducted trainings with criminal justice professionals on these matters. Dekanosidze holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Tbilisi State University and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. She has studied at Utica University as a UGRAD Fellow and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Law at the Caucasus University. As part of her Humphrey fellowship program, Dekanosidze will be focusing on gender-based violence and trafficking to create systemic changes on these matters in her home country.
Zineb Ouaaba is a Studies Officer at the Interministerial Human Rights Department in Morocco (DIDH). She helps develop and implement the vision, strategy, and organization of DIDH since its inception in 2011 and helped share its experience as a recognized international best practice. Her work involves mainstreaming human rights in public policies and developing integrated solutions for the implementation of Morocco's human rights commitments. Ouaaba manages international cooperation projects, organizes training for public officers to adopt a rights-based approach, and serves as the human rights focal point for the right to information, gender mainstreaming, and Government program implementation. Ouaaba was previously a university professor and has worked as a volunteer with drug-exposed teenagers. She holds a Master’s degree in Communication from Moulay Ismail University in Meknes and a Certificate in Human Rights Protection from the French National School of Administration in Paris. As a Humphrey Fellow, Ouaaba is interested in human rights with a focus on the right to education and the engagement of stakeholders.