Organisation

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is the deciding board in charge of reaching the organisation’s goals. It is composed as followed:

President: Bertrand Ramcharan (Guyana)
Treasurer: Begum Bulak (Turkey)
Secretary: Waqas Ali Saqib (Pakistan)

Bertrand G. Ramcharan, President, Guyana

Dr. Ramcharan was elected President of UPR Info in January 2011. He was acting High Commissioner for Human Rights from August 2003 July 2004. During his three decades with the United Nations, Dr. Ramcharan served in the Centre for Human Rights as Special Assistant to the Director, as the Secretary-General’s Chief Speechwriter, as Director of the Office of the Special Representative for the Secretary-General in UNPROFOR, as Director of the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, as political adviser to the peace negotiators in the Yugoslav conflict, and as a Director in the United Nations Political Department, focusing on conflicts in Africa.

A barrister of Lincoln ’s Inn , with a Doctorate in international law from the London School of Economics and Political Science earned in 1973, Dr. Ramcharan was Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law at Columbia University and has written or edited some twenty books and numerous articles. He holds the Diploma in International Law of the Hague Academy of International Law, where he has also been Director of Studies.

Source: www.ohchr.org

Staff

Roland Chauville, Director, France

Roland Chauville is the co-founder and Director of UPR Info since its establishment in February 2008. In this regard, he has been involved in the UPR process since its beginning following each session and participating in numerous trainings and conferences on the UPR. Prior to this, he worked for Geneva for Human Rights, an NGO organising training on human rights. Roland holds a Master in International Relations from University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, in France.

Jean-Claude Vignoli, Program director, Switzerland

Jean-Claude Vignoli joined UPR Info as soon as 2008. Since the beginning, he is deeply involved in communication strategy and tools development. He is currently in charge of the UPR Info’s Follow-up Programme. Jean-Claude holds a Master in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Relations (Geneva).

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is in charge of providing the Executive Committee and the staff with advice, expertise and strategies on the activities of the organisation in order to better fulfil its goal: to promote and strengthen the Universal Periodic Review. The current members are:

 Anita Goh (France) - NGO Group for the CRC

 Marianne Lilliebjerg (Denmark) - Amnesty International

 Professor Edward R. McMahon, United States

Edward McMahon currently holds a joint appointment as Research Associate Professor in the Departments of Community Development and Applied Economics, and Political Science, at the University of Vermont. He has collaborated with UPR Info since 2009, and has taken the lead in developing the action category component of UPR Info’s innovative database. He has made a number of presentations in the regard to a variety of audiences in Europe and the United States, and has a related article in the forthcoming edition of the African Yearbook of International law.

McMahon previously was Dean’s Professor of Applied Politics and Director of the Center on Democratic Performance at Binghamton University. He also held the position of Africa Regional Director for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs from 1989-1998 and previously served for 10 years as a U.S. diplomat.

 Katharina Rose, Germany

Since 2007 Katharina Rose is the Geneva Representative of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC). Ms Rose supports national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in their engagement with the Human Rights Council and specifically the Universal Periodic Review. She also administers and promotes ICC activities, including liaising with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and supports awareness building and promotion around NHRIs and the ICC.

Prior to joining the ICC, Ms Rose worked at the German Bundestag and as junior lawyer in Germany and Morocco. Ms Rose studied law, international relations and literature in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. She holds the Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen, qualifiying her to practice law as barrister, judge or prosecutor in German jurisdiction. Ms Rose is fluent in French, German, English, Spanish and Italian.

 Micheál Tierney (Ireland) - Permanent Mission of Ireland to the United Nations

Statute

Statute of the organisation.

Address

Avenue du Mail 14
1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Phone: + 41 22 321 77 70
Fax: + 41 22 321 77 71

Contact

Email: info [at] upr-info.org