Council of Experts

  • Ed Brown is an American national, and is the Secretary General of Stefanus Alliance International, a Norwegian Christian missions and human rights organization with an expertise in freedom of religion and belief. Brown has a long-standing career in Stefanus, where he has also worked as a human rights advisor and human rights director.

    Before his current position, he was a senior advisor in the Norwegian Helsinki Committee where he coordinated an international parliamentarian network for freedom of religion or belief (IPPFoRB) and was part of helping to establish the network in 2014.

  • Ahmed Shaheed is Professor of International Human Rights Law in the School of Law and Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. He directs the Human Rights Centre's Religion and Equality Project, Project on Mobilising A Global Alliance to Counter islamophobia, and the Essex Summer School on Human Rights Research and Practice. He serves as an adviser on 'hate speech' to the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and is a member of the Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief convened by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

    He served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from 2016 to 2022 having previously served as the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran from 2011 to 2016. Hailing from the Maldives, Ahmed served as Foreign Minister of Maldives between 2005 and 2010, member of the Constitutional Assembly from 2004 to 2007, and led the government’s efforts to fast-track human rights and governance reforms between 2003 and 2007, which led to the transition to democracy in 2008.

  • Brett G. Scharffs is Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law and Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School. He received a BSBA in international business and an MA in philosophy at Georgetown University and, as a Rhodes Scholar, earned a BPhil in philosophy at Oxford. He received his JD from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. He taught freedom of religion for many years as a recurring visiting professor at Central European University in Budapest, and helps organize certificate training programs in religion and the rule of law in many parts of the world, including China, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Myanmar, as well as a workshop for young scholars at Christ Church, Oxford University.

    Author of more than 200 articles and book chapters, he has made more than 500 scholarly presentations in 40 countries.His casebook, Law and Religion: National, International and Comparative Perspectives (with Cole Durham, 2nd English edition 2019), has been translated into Chinese, Turkish and Vietnamese, with Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Burmese, Greek, Hebrew, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish underway. He is author with Elizabeth Clark of Religion and Law in the USA, part of Wolters Kluwer’s International Encyclopedia of Laws, as well as several books focusing on human dignity and religious freedom.

    In 2020-21 he was Chair of the International Human Rights Section of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS).

  • Susan Kerr, MBA PhD is the Senior Adviser on Freedom of Religion or Belief at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). In this role, Susan works to raise awareness of the human right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief (FoRB), to assist OSCE participating States in the implementation of OSCE FoRB-related commitments, and to empower civil society to defend this right. To this end, she also oversees ODIHR’s panel of experts on freedom of religion or belief. Prior to working at ODIHR, Susan had over fifteen years of European public affairs experience, including from within the European Parliament and the nonprofit sector, where she specialised in FoRB.

  • Ján Figeľ is currently a member of the EIT Governing Board. He is experienced personality in international relations in general, and in European integration in particular. He represented Slovakia as the Government Chief Negotiator on Accession to the EU (1998-2003) and then he became the EU Commissioner (2004-9). Figel’s great achievement was launch of Erasmus Mundus excellent international university program (2004) and establishment of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (2008). Later he served as Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010-12) and Vice-President of the Slovak Parliament (2012-16). In his diplomatic efforts he helped to liberate and save prisoners of conscience in Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Pakistan. In 2016 during the mass killings of religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East he became the first ever Special Envoy for Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU (2016-19).

    Ján Figeľ initiated Punta del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere in order to promote fundamental human rights and justice for all (2018). Declaration unites growing number of scholars, experts and leaders as its signatories. He presented culture of human dignity and its nexus to FoRB and sustainable development at many international and regional fora.

  • Kelsey Zorzi serves as the president of the United Nations’ NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Director of Advocacy for Global Religious Freedom with ADF International. She leads efforts to address and counter global persecution against Christians and other religious minorities. Based in Washington, D.C., Zorzi engages with a multinational network of attorneys, government officials, and international bodies to coordinate efforts aimed at challenging legal barriers to religious freedom and reasserting religious freedom as foundational to the international human rights framework.

    Zorzi earned her J.D. at the George Washington University Law School, where she participated in the GW-Oxford International Human Rights Law Program. Her work has appeared in several publications, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Real Clear Politics. She is admitted to the state bars in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

  • Mervyn Thomas CMG is Founder President of CSW, a Christian human rights organisation specialising in freedom of religion or belief. He has worked in this field for over 45 years, having testified in the UK and EU parliaments, US Congressional hearings and at the UN. Mervyn is Chair of the UK FoRB Forum (roundtable) and advises the UK Foreign Secretary on freedom of religion or belief issues, as a member of his Human Rights Advisory Group.

    He was a founder member of the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP), an international network  of more than 80 Christian organisations from over 25 countries working for religious freedom, and served as its chair between 2006 and 2021. He also serves on the World Pentecostal Commission on Religious Liberty. 

    In 2019 Mervyn was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to be a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in recognition of his services to Human Rights and Freedom of Religion or Belief.

  • Nguyen Dinh Thang, PhD, CEO & President of Boat People SOS, was a refugee from Vietnam. For the past four decades, he has been known for his tireless efforts to defend human rights, protect refugees, rescue victims of human trafficking, and promote religious freedom and civil society in Southeast Asia and particularly in Vietnam.

    As Director of BPSOS’ International Initiatives, he currently chairs the FORB Rising Leaders Network and serves on the Steering Committees of Southeast Asia Freedom of Religion or Belief (SEAFORB) Network, International Religious Freedom Summit, and International Religious Freedom Roundtable.

    He co-founded the Vietnam FORB Roundtable in 2016 and is the convenor of the post-coup biweekly Roundtable on Myanmar. In 2011 he was presented the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award by the President and the Chairman of Parliament of the Republic of China (Taiwan). 

  • Greg Mitchell serves as Founder & CEO of IRF Secretariat, a non-governmental organization that was founded as a leadership, administrative, and management mechanism for the FORB movement. With support from Templeton Religion Trust, IRF Secretariat is building a global network of civil society roundtables and is in the middle of a 3-year project that is designed to institutionalize a new approach, centered on cooperative engagement (that respects/protects the other’s human dignity and liberty of conscience) and coordination of multi-faith actions.

    Greg also serves as Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable in Washington, D.C., a multi-faith, inclusive, equal citizenship space that has proven it is possible for faith and belief communities to engage one another cooperatively across their deepest differences and build mutual respect, trust, and reliance while working together to engage governments and advance freedom of thought, conscience, and religion for all.

  • Diane Ala'i is an independent human rights and international affairs expert who has been working on issues of FoRB for over 30 years as Representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations. In this capacity, she collaborated and supported the work of all the Special Rapporteurs -- from Mr. Angelo Vidal d'Almeida Ribeiro to Ms. Nazila Ghanea. Her work was not solely on the situation of the Bahá'ís, but rather on the overall right of each person to choose freely which religion or belief he/she wishes and to practice it alone and in community with others.

    She also chaired the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Geneva for numerous years. She is presently focussing on coexistence in the Middle East.

  • Knox Thames is a Senior Fellow at Pepperdine University where he directs the Program on Global Faith & Inclusive Societies. He is also a non-resident Senior Visiting Expert at the U.S. Insitute of Peace. Before joining Pepperdine University, he worked in various U.S. government roles for over two decades to promote the rights of religious minorities abroad and combat persecution. In his last position, Thames served the Obama and Trump administrations as the Special Advisor for Religious Minorities in the Near East and South / Central Asia at the State Department. 

  • Mariz Tadros is professor of Politics and Development at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, United Kingdom with over twenty years’ experience in leading multidisciplinary, multi-country consortia. She was director of the Coalition for Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID) and is currently the Director of the Middle East People’s Culture Conservation Collective, an initiative aimed at reviving heritage practices among the religiously marginalised in Egypt, Syria and Iraq.   

    She is author/editor of 8 books, the latest of which are: Poverty and Prejudice, Religious Inequality and the Struggle for Sustainable Development (with Philip Mader and Kathryn Cheeseman, Bristol University Press, 2023) and Using Participatory Methods to explore freedom of religion and belief (with Jo Howard, Bristol University Press, 2023) and What About Us? Global perspectives on redressing religious inequalities’ (IDS 2022). Her latest journal publication is Gender in development: What lessons for addressing inequality on the grounds of religion or (non)-belief? With Cathy Shutt in World Development.

  • Prof. Dr. Nayla Tabbara is the President and co-founder of Adyan, a Lebanese Foundation for Diversity, Solidarity and Human Dignity. (www.adyanfoundation.org ), that works on Inclusive citizenship of religious and cultural diversity, FORB in the MENA region, Education on Diversity, and Religious Social Responsibility. She is also a co-president of Religions for Peace, a University Professor in Islamic studies, a Muslim woman theologian and an expert in Education on religious diversity. For her publications see: https://linktr.ee/naylatabbara

  • Marcela Szymanski lives in Brussels, Belgium.  Since 2011 she is the International Advocacy officer for the pontifical foundation Aid to the church in Need, which helps the voice of the persecuted to be heard among policy-makers. She is also the Director of Research of the Center of Studies of Religious Freedom in Brussels. She conducts high-level public diplomacy relations on behalf of the victims, including kidnapped priests as well as entire communities under duress.

    She often appears on TV shows defending the importance of maintaining the integrity of Article 18 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, promoting and protecting the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and opposing attempts to separate its basic elements. Her current research interests include the impact of Article 18 violations on women and girls.

  • Sharon Rosen is Director of Religious Engagement globally at Search for Common Ground (Search), the world’s largest organization working on the frontlines of today’s conflicts. An expert on interreligious programming and advancing Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion, Sharon provides strategic oversight, quality control, and technical expertise to Search offices working on religious engagement in more than 20 countries. She leads the development of the Common Ground Approach to Religious Engagement toolkit for peacebuilders and religious actors, and co-developed a popular online course with the United States Institute of peace on Religious Engagements in Peacebuilding – A Common Ground Approach.

    Sharon co-founded the Universal Code of Conduct on Holy Sites initiative for the protection of sacred spaces and for the past eight years has directed a Jewish-Muslim religious leaders’ initiative to expand Constituencies for Peace within Israeli religious communities. Previously, Sharon was co-director of Search’s Jerusalem office, directing multiple projects in religion, development, health, and media.

    Born in the UK, Sharon has lived in Jerusalem for over 40 years. Married to a leading Orthodox rabbi, she previously served Jewish communities in South Africa and Ireland. She holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Recent publications include Bridging the Divides, Interreligious Diplomacy for Effective Peacebuilding CrossCurrents, September 2022.

  • Dr Ewelina U. Ochab is a lawyer, human rights advocate, and author. Dr Ochab is a senior programme lawyer with the IBA's Human Rights Institute and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. Dr Ochab works on the topic of genocide, with a specific focus on the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world, with main projects including the Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram atrocities in West Africa, the situation of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the Uyghurs in China, Tigrayans in Ethiopia, and the Hazara in Afghanistan.

    Dr Ochab further works on the issue of conflict-related sexual violence and the situation of children in conflict, including during Putin's war in Ukraine. Among others, Dr Ochab has been raising the issue of abductions and illegal adoptions of Ukrainian children in Russia. Dr Ochab has written over 50 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 was the lead expert on several UK Parliamentary inquiries, including the Hazara Inquiry, the Darfur Inquiry, the Tigray Inquiry, the Nicaragua Inquiry, and the Gender Apartheid Inquiry. Dr Ochab authored the initiative and proposal to establish the UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on August 22.

  • Eugene Yapp is a Senior Fellow with the Religious Freedom Institute of the South East Asia team. He is also the director for RFL Partnership, an organisation for the promotion of religious freedom and inter-religious harmony in Malaysia as well as the  Programme Director for his own NGO, UID Sejahtera Malaysia, where he directs peace building initiatives which includes inter-religious and cultural diversity issues. He serves as a consultant to the Government of the State of Johor on their youth development programme for Ambassadors of National Unity.

    Regionally, he is a Steering Committee member for the Southeast Asia Network for Freedom of Religion and Belief (SEAFORB) and has participated in consulting forums with the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights and the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights on religious freedom issues. He is a participating member of the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) as well as a member of the working group on the project of Human Dignity for Everyone, Everywhere.

  • Kishan Manocha is the Head of the Tolerance and Non-Discrimination Department at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw.  From 2015-2020, he was ODIHR’s Senior Adviser on Freedom of Religion or Belief. 

    Kishan has extensive experience in freedom of religion or belief and related human rights issues, including hate speech and hate crime, in Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central and South Asia as an advocate, researcher, trainer and consultant to a number of international and non-governmental organisations.  He holds degrees in psychology and medicine from the University of London and in law from the University of Cambridge, and has practised as a psychiatrist.  He served as Director of the UK Bahá’í community’s Office of Public Affairs from 2010-14, where he was responsible for leading the community’s engagement with government, parliament and civil society and coordinating its interfaith activities.  He served as a Co-Chair of the Inter Faith Network of the UK between 2011 and 2013.

    Kishan has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University and a Fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of the UK, a member of the Global Steering Committee of the UN Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes, and also serves on the AI Faiths and Civil Society Commission.

  • Samuel Jayakumar has a master's in Social work and has worked with ecumenical movements for two decades. He was the General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement of India and the Executive Secretary for the Policy, Governance, and Public Witness Commission of the National Council of Churches in India. He is the founding director of the South Asian Forum for Freedom of Religion or Belief (SAFFoRB), which is based in Geneva and works on FoRB concerns in six South Asian countries. 

  • Peter Jacob is a human rights expert, researcher, and a freelance journalist based in Pakistan. He has been associated human rights organizations since 1988 in different capacities including Amnesty International Pakistan, Forum Asia and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He was the Executive Director of National Commission for Justice and Peace (1995-2013).

    Jacob works closely with an Implementation Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the implementation of the judgment of 19 June 2014 on the protection of minorities. He served as Member of the National Curriculum Council, of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training of Pakistan. Jacob focuses on the rights of minorities, women and labour. Jacob has published research work and articles in newspapers, magazines and other publications in Pakistan and abroad extensively in daily, Express Tribune, The News International, and Dawn. He published articles with Oxford University Press as well.

    Jacob studied Political Science, Rural Development and Law in Pakistan. He earned an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law (2014) from the University of Notre Dame (USA).  Jacob has lectured at universities in and outside Pakistan.  

    He is currently working as the Executive Director of Centre for Social Justice (www.cskpak.org), a Pakistan based research and advocacy organization. He is also Chairperson of Peoples’ Commission for Minorities Rights.  He can be reached through email: CSJPJ@proton.me.

    His documentary film Humsaya won the International Film Festival Award at Venice for the best documentary on Human Rights in 2023. The US State Department bestowed on him the Secretary’s Religious Freedom Award on the January 18, 2024 in recognition of his work.

  • Wade Kusack is a prominent religious freedom builder and founder of the non-profit Love Your Neighbor Community (LYN Community), which enhances multi-faith dialogue and cooperation across former Soviet space and beyond. Leveraging his vast network within government, academia, and civil society, Wade has orchestrated numerous discussions and roundtables to promote cross-cultural religious literacy and address key regional challenges such as religious persecution and social hostility.

    Wade's initiatives have not only led to significant development but have also created environments where mutual understanding can flourish. His leadership at LYNC has facilitated high-level exchanges and conferences, contributing to global discussions on religious freedom and social cohesion. In 2022, the US State Department recognized LYNC's role in improving relations between religious organizations and government authorities in Kazakhstan, a testament to Wade's global impact.

    Wade's extensive work in expanding LYNC’s reach involves nurturing key partnerships that solidify the organization as a pivotal player in regional peacebuilding efforts. His scholarly contributions to academic journals and policy forums further demonstrate his deep understanding of the intricate dynamics of post-Soviet space, garnering him widespread respect and acknowledgment in the field of international religious freedom.

  • Professor Mark Hill KC practises at the Bar in London specializing in ecclesiastical law and religious liberty. He has represented clients in the UK Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, and has contributed to amicus briefs in the Supreme Court of the USA and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He is Global Professor of Law and Distinguished Fellow at the University of Notre Dame London Law Programme. In addition, he is Visiting Professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa and the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College, London. He has undertaken training for judges in Nigeria, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kenya. He delivered the Annual Religious Liberty Lecture at the University of Notre Dame, Australia in February 2023 at its Law School in Sydney.

    His recent publications include: Islam, Religious Liberty and Constitutionalism in Europe (2024), Religious Confession and Evidential Privilege in the Twenty-first Century (2022); Religion and Law in the United Kingdom (3rd edn, 2021); The Routledge Handbook on Freedom of Religion or Belief (2020); Christianity and Criminal Law (2020); Religion, Law and Security in Africa (2018); Ecclesiastical Law (4th edn, 2018); Great Christian Jurists in English History (2017); Magna Carta, Religion and the Rule of Law (2015); Religion and Discrimination Law in the European Union (2012). He is Vice-President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), a founding member of the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS), and a former President of the European Consortium for Church and State Research.

  • Alexandre R.M. Gueiros is the Coordinator and Facilitator of the Brazilian Roundtable for Religious Freedom. Representative of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable in Brazil. A career Foreign Service officer, he has served as Brazilian Ambassador or Consul in the United States, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland, as well as Brazilian Alternate Representative to the OAS. Co-founder of Libertas, an association engaged in promoting Religious Freedom. He has degrees in Law and Diplomacy.

  • Dr Khataza Gondwe is already an adviser to the IRFBA Africa Vision Working Group and has worked on freedom of religion or belief issues for over 20 years and is currently Joint Head of Advocacy and Team Leader for Africa and the Middle East at CSW.

    Dr Gondwe has been a panelist on African and Middle Eastern issues in events held at the UN Human Rights Council, where she has also chaired side events and lobbied successfully alongside Human Rights Concern-Eritrea for a special rapporteur and a commission of inquiry on Eritrea, the UK Parliament, and the European Parliament.  She presented a paper during the 14th EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights on Freedom of Religion or Belief in the African context, and spoke at a pre-Prayer Breakfast seminar in Nigeria’s National Assembly on Current Challenges to FoRB.

    Dr Gondwe has drafted and co-written articles on FoRB related country issues that have been published in the UK and Arabic press, and more recently, featured on the Berkley Forum.  She has provided expert commentary on FoRB-related country issues on BBC News, BBC World Service, RFI and Al Jazeera, and played a key role in the creation of The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) Toolkit and a FoRB Toolkit for UK Parliamentarians.

    In June 2020 Dr Gondwe was invited to take part in a meeting of Africa experts convened by former Religious Freedom Ambassador-at-Large Brownback where she gave the opening remarks on the key considerations for a prospective resolution at the African Union on freedom of religion or belief.

  • Cole Durham is Professor of Law and Founding Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, and is a founding Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion.

  • Bani Dugal is the Principal Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the UN. As part of the community of international NGOs at the UN since 1994 she  has previously served as President of the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Ms. Dugal holds a Master's degree (LL.M) in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law, New York and a law degree (LL.B) from the University of Delhi, India. She has authored published articles, statements and papers.  Prior to relocating to the U.S. in 1988, she practiced law before the Supreme Court of India.

  • Dr. Ketty W. Chen is the Taiwan Country Representative for the National Democratic Institute. She was Vice President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) from 2016 to 2023. Dr. Chen is also Director of Research for the Association of Public Issues and Studies. Dr. Chen was the Chairperson of Liberal International’s Human Rights Committee’s Women’s Rights Working Group. Dr. Chen recently joined the National Bureau of Asian Research as a member of its board of advisors and is an expert associate for the National Security College of the Australia National University. 

    Dr. Chen is a political scientist and received her doctoral degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma, specializing in Comparative Politics (Democratization), International Relations (Regional Security) and Political Philosophy.

  • Fernanda San Martin Carrasco, is Director of International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFORB) based in Norway. She holds an honours degree in Law from Universidad Complutense of Madrid and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne of France. She holds a master’s degree in management and public policies form Universidad Catolica of Bolivia and a diploma on Negotiation and Alternative Methods of Conflict Resolution. She is a former Bolivian member of Parliament and former Chair of the Committee on Gender’s rights of the Chamber of Deputies.

    She was member of the Steering Group of IPPFORB and later Project Manager for Latin America. Previously she was a professor of Law for different Universities and training programs held by cooperation and international organizations. She is fellow from Vital Voices Foundation and International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) from the U.S. Department of State.

  • David Campanale is a multi award winning journalist who spent 30 years in BBC News. He has long reported FORB issues, from Lviv in Ukraine in 1989 up to breaking the news in 2021 of the brutalisation of Uyghur women in the Xinjiang camps.

  • Henrietta Blyth spent 20 years as a senior leader in relief and development NGOs before becoming CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland in 2018.  Open Doors exists to strengthen the church in countries where it faces the most severe persecution; its annual research creates the World Watch List, identifying the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians. 

    Henrietta is passionate about promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief around the world, seeing this as a foundational human right.  She is a founder member of the UK FoRB Forum Steering Group and a keen advocate for the rights of women and girls.