Tinatin Tsertsvadze

Open Society European Policy Institute


Tinatin Tsertsvadze is a senior policy analyst on EU foreign policy at the Open Society Foundations Europe and Central Asia Programme. Tinatin is responsible for EU sanctions policies analyses and advocacy. She also has thematic expertise in EU’s human rights policies in external action and civil society space. Prior to joining Open Society, she worked for the International Partnership for Human Rights, focusing on Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia as an Advocacy Director and Gender Adviser for five years. She worked at FRIDE, a European think-tank based in Brussels and Madrid between 2010 - 2014, as Central Asia programme manager and conducted research and advocacy on EU policies towards Central Asia and the South Caucasus. She co-managed 50-member network of Brussels-based HRDN network between 2016-2019. Prior to that Tinatin worked for the European Socialist Party, assisting in the 2009 European Parliament Election campaign. She was involved in the pan-European youth network AEGEE, and served one year as its Brussels director for European Institutions.

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Amanda Strayer

Supervising Staff Attorney, Accountability
Human Rights First

As Supervising Staff Attorney for Accountability at Human Rights First, Amanda Strayer (she/her) coordinates the targeted human rights and anticorruption sanctions coalition, a group of more than 330 NGOs using the Global Magnitsky Act and other legal authorities to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable. In this role, she serves as the primary liaison with U.S. government personnel and assists NGOs and pro bono attorneys working to produce recommendations for sanctions in Africa, the Near East, and Europe and Eurasia. Previously, Amanda worked with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights as the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow focused on human rights advocacy in South and Southeast Asia. She received her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. During her time at Georgetown, she co-authored a report on violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons in Guyana as part of the Human Rights Fact-Finding Practicum. She prepared a strategic litigation case to challenge child marriage laws in Botswana with the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and participated in the Guantanamo Observers Program. During her summers, Amanda worked with the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Prior to law school, Amanda worked with Women for Women International on communications and advocacy focused on challenges faced by women in conflict-affected countries. She has a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and a minor in French from the University of Virginia.

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Natalie Lucas

Redress

Natalie coordinates REDRESS’s work on corruption sanctions in collaboration with the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition. In this role, Natalie assists partners in the development of sanctions recommendations promotes the effective use of the UK’s sanctions regime to relevant stakeholders and conducts workshops for civil society organizations. Prior to joining REDRESS, Natalie worked as a Visiting Professional in the Trial Chambers of the International Criminal Court. She also spent 5 years practicing in an international law firm in London, Paris and Singapore where she represented clients in complex arbitration and litigation proceedings before domestic courts and international tribunals. Throughout her career, she has maintained a busy pro bono practice including, most recently, managing a project preparing submissions and urgent appeals to the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of victims of serious human rights abuses in South-East Asia. Natalie is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales and holds a LLB (Hons) from the University of Exeter and a LLM in International Law from the University of Cambridge.

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Brandon Silver

Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights

Brandon Silver is an international human rights lawyer, and Director of Policy and Projects at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. In this capacity, Brandon serves on the legal teams of prisoners of conscience, representing some of the world's leading dissidents and statespeople. He also provides strategic counsel to governments, parliaments, and international organizations on rule of law and public policy reforms. He formerly served in the office of then Liberal Party of Canada Leader and now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and currently acts as Chief Advisor to former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and longtime Parliamentarian Irwin Cotler. Brandon’s work has been featured in major publications, including TIME magazine, Canada's national news-magazine Maclean's, the Globe and Mail, Foreign Policy, and the Washington Post, and is a past nominee of the Quebec Literary Awards and winner of the CBC Reader’s Choice Prize. In 2016, the World Economic Forum named him a “Global Shaper,” and in 2022 he was named one of Canada's "Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers" by Canadian Lawyer Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law, and received a Masters of Law from UC Berkeley on a scholarship for excellence in Public Law.

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Martina Vandenberg

Human Trafficking Legal Center


Martina E. Vandenberg is the founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center, which she established in 2012. For more than two decades, Vandenberg has worked to fight human trafficking, forced labor, rape as a war crime, and violence against women. Vandenberg has represented victims of human trafficking pro bono in immigration, criminal, and civil cases. She has obtained T-visas for trafficking survivors and won significant civil judgments in federal cases. Vandenberg has trained more than 5,000 pro bono attorneys nationwide to handle human trafficking matters. She provides technical assistance and mentoring to legal teams handling trafficking cases nationwide. Vandenberg has also testified before multiple House and Senate Committees on issues ranging from human trafficking and peacekeeping to forced labor in global supply chains. She gave the keynote address at the first NATO ambassadorial-level conference on human trafficking in Brussels, and has worked to combat trafficking of third country nationals onto U.S. military bases for forced labor. Her work has been cited in The Washington Post, the New York Times, the New Yorker, NPR, CNN, and the BBC. Vandenberg previously served as a partner at Jenner & Block LLP, where she focused on complex commercial litigation and internal investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. She served as a senior member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and handled multiple human trafficking matters pro bono while at the firm. A former Human Rights Watch researcher, Vandenberg spearheaded investigations into human rights violations and war crimes. She conducted HRW investigations in the Russian Federation, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Kosovo, and Ukraine. She is the author of two Human Rights Watch reports, “Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia & Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution,” and “Kosovo: Rape as a Weapon of ‘Ethnic Cleansing.’” As a researcher for the Israel Women’s Network, she investigated and published the first report documenting human trafficking into Israel. While living in the Russian Federation in the 1990s, she co-founded Syostri, one of Russia’s first rape crisis centers for women. Vandenberg has received multiple awards for her leadership against human trafficking. In 2012, the Freedom Network USA presented Vandenberg with the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award for her “outstanding leadership and dedication in working to combat human trafficking and slavery in the United States.” In 2013, she received the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation’s Stevens Award for outstanding service in public interest law. In 2015, she received the Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize. She also received Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Pro Bono Award for her successful representation of trafficking victims in United States federal courts and her advocacy before Congress. In 2020, Vandenberg received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Pomona College. In 2021, she received the Blaisdell Award, Pomona College’s highest honor for alumni of the college. She previously co-chaired the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force’s Forced Labor Subcommittee. A Rhodes Scholar and Truman Scholar, Vandenberg has taught as an adjunct faculty member at the American University Washington College of Law and at the Oxford University Human Rights Law Summer Program. She is a graduate of Pomona College (B.A.), Oxford University (M.Phil), and Columbia Law School (J.D.).

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Duncan Jepson

Liberty Shared


Duncan Jepson is the founder and managing director of Liberty Shared. In 2020, Liberty Shared was awarded the first Executive Associate Director Award of Homeland Security Investigations for “Exemplary Partnership” for work on forced labor. Duncan taught at Princeton University for four years, is an affiliated scholar at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International and teaches strategic leadership at the Eisenhower School in the National Defense University. Previously, he was Regional Head of Legal for BNY Mellon Investment Management Asia Pacific and for nearly a decade was Regional General Counsel and Head of Compliance at ING Investment Management Asia Pacific, one of Asia’s largest investment businesses, responsible for M&A, governance, compliance, litigation and internal investigation. In the 1990s, prior to becoming a lawyer, he ran a supply chain consultancy based in the UK and China.

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John Richmond

U.S. Ambassador (ret.)


Ambassador Richmond is an attorney and diplomat focused on ethical business, human rights, democracy, and rule of law. His career has taken him to the front lines in the global battle against human trafficking. Ambassador Richmond currently serves as a Partner at Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, where he focuses on the intersection between business and human rights. He advises companies on how to keep their supply chains free of forced labor and their workforces free of sex trafficking. Previously, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Ambassador Richmond and he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2018 to 2021. Serving in the nation’s highest-ranking position dedicated to human trafficking, he led U.S. foreign policy related to modern slavery and coordinated the U.S. government’s response to the crime. Ambassador Richmond also served for over a decade as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, where he prosecuted numerous victim-centered labor and sex trafficking cases. He also lived in India for three years pioneering International Justice Mission’s slavery work. Ambassador Richmond has received numerous honors and commendations, including being named a “Prosecutor of the Year” and receiving the “Wilberforce Award for Exceptional Leadership in the Fight Against Human Trafficking” and the “David Alred Award for exceptional contributions to civil rights”. Ambassador received his undergraduate degree from the University of Mary Washington and his law degree from Wake Forest University. Ambassador Richmond is also a speaker, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and Senior Advisor to Love Does.

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Moderator: Amanda Strayer

Supervising Staff Attorney for Accountability
Human Rights First


As Supervising Staff Attorney for Accountability at Human Rights First, Amanda Strayer (she/her) coordinates the targeted human rights and anticorruption sanctions coalition, a group of more than 330 NGOs using the Global Magnitsky Act and other legal authorities to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable. In this role, she serves as the primary liaison with U.S. government personnel and assists NGOs and pro bono attorneys working to produce recommendations for sanctions in Africa, the Near East, and Europe and Eurasia. Previously, Amanda worked with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights as the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow focused on human rights advocacy in South and Southeast Asia. She received her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. During her time at Georgetown, she co-authored a report on violence and discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons in Guyana as part of the Human Rights Fact-Finding Practicum. She prepared a strategic litigation case to challenge child marriage laws in Botswana with the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and participated in the Guantanamo Observers Program. During her summers, Amanda worked with the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Prior to law school, Amanda worked with Women for Women International on communications and advocacy focused on challenges faced by women in conflict-affected countries. She has a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and a minor in French from the University of Virginia.

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Andrea Gillespie

Senior International Policy Advocate
Human Rights Campaign


Andrea Gillespie (she/her) is the Senior International Policy Advocate with the Human Rights Campaign. In her position, Gillespie focuses on building a U.S. foreign policy that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ rights. She routinely interfaces with Congress, the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, the Department of Treasury, and other foreign assistance agencies to highlight the needs of LGBTQ+ communities around the world. Prior to joining HRC, Gillespie was the Sexual Health and Rights Policy Advisor with American Jewish World Service and served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Turkey. Gillespie earned both her bachelor's degree and Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan.

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Simon Henderson

Simon Henderson is an international human rights lawyer and foreign policy analyst based in Tokyo, with extensive experience in policy and advocacy in Australia and across the Indo-Pacific. He is Head of Policy at Save the Children Australia, where he is responsible for providing leadership on domestic and international child rights issues. Simon has been heavily involved in legal policy and advocacy on targeted human rights sanctions, especially in the development of new laws in Australia, the potential establishment of such laws in Japan, and their use as an accountability measure in response to violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law. Simon's previous experience includes roles at Justice Centre Hong Kong, Law Council of Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He is currently a Visiting Lecturer at The Education University of Hong Kong. Simon is a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales and the LAWASIA Human Rights Committee. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws and Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from The Australian National University, and a Masters in International Law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Simon is admitted as a lawyer to the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia.

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Lucía Chávez

Lucía Chávez has a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Master in Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy in Ibero-America from the University of Alcala de Henares. Since 2008 she has been working in the field of human rights. She is the author and co-author of books and academic journal articles. She has participated in conferences, congresses, training and diploma courses related to human rights, security, justice, gender, feminisms, international law and transitional justice. Currently, she is a professor at the Latin American Technological University, Vice-president of International Federation of Human Rights and Executive Director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.

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Mai El-Sadany

Managing Director; Legal and Judicial Director
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy


Mai El-Sadany is a human rights lawyer with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. She is currently the managing director and legal & judicial director at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP). Her work focuses on cultivating respect for the rule of law and fostering accountability in the region in coordination and collaboration with lawyers, advocates, and activists on-the-ground and around the world.

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Sarah Yager

Washington Director
Human Rights Watch


Sarah (Holewinski) Yager is the Washington Director at Human Rights Watch, and leads the organization’s engagement with the United States government on global human rights issues, with a particular focus on national security and foreign policy. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, she was the first senior advisor on human rights in the Chairman’s Office at The Joint Staff of the U.S. Department of Defense and, prior, served as deputy chief of staff for policy at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations under Ambassador Samantha Power. For nearly a decade Sarah was executive director of Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), leading efforts to advise warring parties on civilian protection and responsible use of force. In that role, she worked extensively with the U.S. military and its allies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, CAR, Burma, and elsewhere. Sarah was named in Top 100 Most Influential People in Armed Violence Reduction by Action on Armed Violence and received the Truman National Security Project’s award for Extraordinary Impact. She was a member of the (Bill) Clinton Administration’s White House AIDS Policy team, a senior associate at West Wing Writers, and consulted for Human Rights Watch, Ford Foundation, the William J. Clinton Foundation, and International Committee of the Red Cross. She was a senior fellow on security issues at Open Society Foundations and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Sarah holds degrees from Georgetown and Columbia Universities, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior fellow at New America, a board director at Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC), and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Sarah lives with her adorable daughter, handsome husband, and very large cats in Washington, DC.

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Chloe Zoeller

Program Manager
Pan American Development Foundation


Chloe Zoeller is a Program Manager for Democracy, Governance, and Human Rights at the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF). Chloe is the Targeted Sanctions Lead and, in this capacity, oversees programming that builds and strengthens the capacity of civil society organizations to document human rights violations and corruption across Latin America for international accountability mechanisms. As part of this work, Chloe represents PADF as the Sub-Chair for Latin America on the Targeted Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Coalition. Chloe holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and BAs in Spanish and Political Science, with a specialization in Latin American affairs. A former Fulbright Scholar, Chloe has lived in and out of Latin America for the past 10 years and is currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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