HURIDOCS - Key Persons
After 10 years developing software in different countries, Alberto started working for HURIDOCS in 2015 on OpenEvsys and currently works on Uwazi.
Alejandra is a storyteller and a visual communicator expert. She has been working on strategic communications and content creation in social development for 6 years and joined HURIDOCS in 2023.
Ali completed university in the summer of 2020 and started as an intern at HURIDOCS that November. Now, he is working as a machine learning developer since May 2021.
After 35 years working in positions related to accounting and administration in the advertising business, Anne joined the HURIDOCS team in 2014.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board and Advisors Team
- Executive Director of the Pro Victimis Foundation
Ariane Waldvogel is the Executive Director of the Pro Victimis Foundation. After a few years spent with an NGO in Lebanon, she made her career with the United Nations (UNDP and WFP) and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). Over the years, she has held various posts abroad, particularly in Tanzania, India, Burkina Faso and Laos, as well as in New York and Geneva for the Swiss Mission to the United Nations. She brings a wealth of experience in development, human rights, and governance, as well as in philanthropy. Ariane has a BA in Political Science from the University of Lausanne and an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. She joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2022.
Arina has been working to promote human rights in Eurasia since 2015 by contributing to the implementation of projects on attacks against free media, indigenous peoples' issues and minority rights in Eastern Europe, Croatia and the US. She joined HURIDOCS in 2022.
"Information has always been the key to human rights work and that is still the case. Being organised, sharp, learning from our history and not being afraid to go into the future fighting for truth, justice and human rights with all of the tools that are available to us. That is the civil society we want to see, that is the civil society we want to support!"
Danna has more than 10 years of international work experience in human rights and non-governmental organisations. With experience in UAE, Poland, UK, Kenya and more she has specialised in supporting activists and human rights defenders, and providing strategic direction for teams working at the intersection of technology and human rights.
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- Member of the Board and Advisors Team
- Professor
Professor Edward (Eddie) Abbott-Halpin is an expert on human rights and information communication technologies. He was a member of the HURIDOCS Board from 2009 until 2018, serving as Chair from 2011-2016. He teaches in the School of Computing and Creative Technology at Leeds Becket University, where he is Co-Chair of the Digital Research Centre. Eddie has worked for the European Parliament's Scientific and Technical Options Assessment (STOA) Unit on human rights information, the Child Rights Information Network, and the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. He co-published Human Rights and the Internet (2000) and co-edited Human Rights and Information Communication Technologies: Trends and Consequences of Use (2012).
In 2019, Federico made the change from working on software in a multinational corporation to developing solutions for human rights defenders with HURIDOCS.
Gabriel has worked for several years in software development and operations research, and has a background in statistics and big data analytics. He joined HURIDOCS in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board and Advisors Team
- Partner at Capital Group
Georgios Damtsas is a Partner at Capital Group. He is an investment analyst with Capital World Investors, with investment responsibilities in consumer staples, media and B2B services. He is also a Research Director for Europe. Georgios joined the Capital Group in 2003 in Los Angeles as a participant of The Associate Program (TAP). Prior to joining Capital, Georgios interned in the corporate finance division of Lazard in London, and also served in the Cyprus National Guard for 26 months.
Georgios earned a MPhil degree in European Studies from Cambridge University, and a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) with First Class Honours. Georgios joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Secretary of the Board and Advisors Team
Grace Danciu was a Product Manager at Google for over 19 years, and worked on products such as Google Search, Gmail, and Google Calendar. Prior to Google she worked as a Program Manager at Microsoft. In these roles, Grace led teams in developing products that connect technology with real user needs. Grace has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Harvard University. She joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Ambassador
- Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy
Hannah Forster is Executive Director of the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, a position that she has held since 2001. She was a member of the HURIDOCS Board from 2009 to 2019, having previously served as a member of the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council (1992-2009). A human rights activist with a background in information management, Hannah has served as Chair of the African Democracy Forum and has worked for adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. In 2007, Hannah was the first Gambian to receive the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award.
Joan Gallego first worked as a contractor in the HURIDOCS-MRVRS project in June 2015 and joined HURIDOCS as a full-time senior developer in September 2015 to work on Uwazi.
After five years of developing e-commerce and warehouse management software, Kevin joined HURIDOCS in 2020 to work on Uwazi.
Kinza Win founded "Gaia Metta Consultancy" in 2018 to offer independent wealth management advice in the field of Philanthropy and investing for social impact. Having worked in the finance industry for over 25 years and catered for the needs of high net worth individuals and corporations throughout the globe she is well versed in both global challenges and financial wealth management. As a passionate advocate and practitioner of Philanthropy and investment for social impact she actively works to promote the practice of effective giving and responsible investing by providing her expertise to collaborative and socially responsible entities and individuals.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Executive Director of the International Justice Resource Center
Lisa Reinsberg is the Executive Director of the International Justice Resource Center (IJRC), an organisation she founded in 2011 with the goal of improving the accessibility, transparency, and impact of human rights protections. IJRC's informational resources, technical support, and training services reach advocates and victims around the world. Lisa is a lawyer who previously worked with non-governmental organisations and intergovernmental organisations in the Americas and Europe. She joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2018 and has been the Chair since mid-2021.
Lucía holds vast experience working in the international cooperation sector, specially in the Andean region of Latin America, India and Nepal. Before joining HURIDOCS in May 2021, she led projects that built capacity for human trafficking survivors along the borders of Colombia-Ecuador and India-Nepal.
"In research and development, the emphasis on efficiency can lead to overspecialization, where the actual application and its wider societal impact is lost from an individual's perspective. In this sense, working at HURIDOCS is a personal attempt to take back this responsibility and ensure that the results of the effort are used in a beneficial way."
After receiving a mixed degree in informatics and physics in 2010, Laszlo worked on a wide array of applications within industry and academia, mostly in positions where both coding and quantitative skills were needed. After his last place in finance, Laszlo joined HURIDOCS in May 2021.
Matel has worked in Chicago, Geneva and across West Africa with a focus on capacity building and knowledge management for civil society actors. She joined HURIDOCS in 2019.
"Technology, the Internet and social change go hand-in-hand and I have always been passionate about them. The opportunity to actively contribute to the building of free tools that help to organise knowledge and are related to human rights, is a very motivating challenge."
Mercedes has always worked in the digital field, developing activities such as consulting, marketing and product management. She is passionate about technology and delivering meaningful user experiences. She specialises in making things with code and joined HURIDOCS in March 2022.
After working for almost 15 years in the financial sector, Mercy left her last director position in order to come back to development-this time, open-source software for humanistic purposes. She joined HURIDOCS in May 2020.
Meskerem Geset Techane is a human rights lawyer and women's rights advocate who over the past 15 years has contributed to numerous litigation, research, advocacy, legal aid, and legal reform initiatives at a national, pan-African and international level. She previously held positions as a High Court Judge in Ethiopia and Deputy Director of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA). Meskerem currently is a Doctoral Fellow at the Human Rights Center of University of Padova and serves as a member of the United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice. She has a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the Addis Ababa University and a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Pretoria. She joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2019.
Natasha has a background in human rights research, publishing and editing, with a focus on social inclusion, humanitarian aid and peace. She joined HURIDOCS in 2020.
Oleksandra's background is in law and human rights with the focus on project management in international organisations. Before joining HURIDOCS in October 2022, she managed projects related to international criminal law, digital rights and online safety in Ukraine.
Oleksandra Matviichuk is a human rights defender who works on issues in Ukraine and the OSCE region. She heads the human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties and also coordinates the work of the initiative group Euromaidan SOS. In 2016, Oleksandra received the Democracy Defender Award for "Exclusive Contribution to Promoting Democracy and Human Rights" from missions to the OSCE. In 2017, she received a Ukraine's Woman of Courage Award from the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. In 2022, the Center for Civil Liberties was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power. Oleksandra joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2018.
Being key account and strategic alliance manager at Procter & Gamble for 12 years, Peter started working for various NGOs and joined HURIDOCS in 2012.
"As a developer, I have relied heavily on open source projects during my career. At HURIDOCS, being part of open source projects that can contribute to other NGOs as well as other programmers and give back to the community is an exciting experience."
"I believe that documentation is powerful for achieving change and social justice. Technology has given us the opportunity to contribute to those ‘other possible worlds' for which we have fought so hard, and what better way to do so than by building historical memory for the defense of human rights."
Salva has been involved in the defense of human rights since 2002, working in civil society organisations and in the Ombudsman office of the National Preventive Mechanism Against Torture. He has participated in IT projects for international development cooperation and human rights research. He joined HURIDOCS in April 2021.
Santiago has worked in human rights organizations as a tech consultant, system administrator and web developer. He joined HURIDOCS in February 2021.
A software developer since 1996, Tomàs also has a background in sociology - the perfect match between technology challenges and social projects.
Ximena has worked in nonprofit civic tech for several years and is the co-founder of Accionar.io, a platform that helps activists and collectives build digital advocacy campaigns. She joined HURIDOCS in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Director of Development and Communications
Yolanda was the Communications and Advocacy Manager at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, before joining HURIDOCS in 2021. She holds an Honours degree in Visual Studies and a Master's degree in Multidisciplinary Human Rights.
From start-ups to large consulting firms and multinationals, Álvaro spent the last 16 years in the software development industry. He joined HURIDOCS in 2023 to contribute his wide technical expertise to the organisation's operations.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Board
Özgür Kahale is a Director in the Responsible Business team of the international law firm DLA Piper. She manages the pro bono practice for Europe, a high-volume program in 17 countries collaborating with more than 2000 attorneys. She also leads on DLA Piper's work on "Access to Justice and Technology" in order to develop tech projects to facilitate access to legal information and advice. Özgür is a scholar of corporate social responsibility with a focus on ESG and business and human rights with a PhD from Lancaster University. Previously she worked as a project finance lawyer in London and Paris. She is a lawyer by training, registered to the Bar in Istanbul and speaks English, French and Turkish. Özgür joined the HURIDOCS Board in 2022.