Topic: Human Rights

Amal Clooney

Amal Clooney is a barrister who specializes in international law and human rights. She represents clients before international courts, including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights. Alongside court work, she provides advice to governments and individuals on legal issues in her areas of expertise.

Ms. Clooney is ranked in the legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a leading barrister in international human rights law, public international law, and international criminal law. She is described as “a brilliant legal mind,” a “first-class international lawyer,” a “natural lead advocate” who is “tactically first class” and “a rare combination of intellectual depth and pragmatism.” The directories also spotlight her “superb advocacy” and “commanding presence before courts” and describe her as “a dream performer before international tribunals.” They also emphasize that she is “fantastically innovative,” very sophisticated in pushing the boundaries with an ability to galvanize “heads of state, foreign ministers and business … in a way that is very effective” for victims of human rights abuses. She is described in the legal rankings as having a “passionate commitment to the law and compassion for the people it serves,” “one of the finest advocates for the rights of victims in the sphere of international criminal prosecution” and “in a league of her own at the Bar.”

Ms. Clooney frequently represents victims of mass atrocities, including genocide and sexual violence. She has acted in many landmark human rights cases in recent years including the world’s first and only trials in which ISIS members have been convicted of genocide against Yazidis. Ms. Clooney also represents over 400 Yazidis in the first civil case in a U.S. court seeking to hold ISIS financiers responsible for supporting the terror group while it was committing its well-documented genocide.

She has represented Armenia in a case involving the Armenian genocide and was recently counsel to 126 victims of the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, at the International Criminal Court. She has also led a Legal Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine, established at the request of the government of Ukraine to advise on delivering justice for victims of crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. And she is a member of the Working Group on Compensation for Damage Cause to Ukraine, a group of international legal experts appointed by President Zelenskyy to advise on legal mechanisms for survivors of the conflict to claim compensation. In 2021 she was appointed Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Ms. Clooney also represents political prisoners around the world and has helped to secure the freedom of journalists arbitrarily detained for their work across the globe. In 2020 Ms. Clooney was the recipient of the Gwen Ifill Award for ‘extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom’ from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Ms. Clooney served as a senior advisor to Kofi Annan when he was the UN’s Envoy on Syria, as Counsel to the UN Inquiry on the use of armed drones, and as a rapporteur for the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute on the independence of the judiciary. She is a member of the UK’s team of experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones and the UK Attorney General’s panel of experts on public international law. From 2019-2021 she also served as deputy chair of an International Bar Association Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom chaired by former UK Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger.

Prior to joining the London Bar, Ms. Clooney completed a clerkship in The Hague at the International Court of Justice and worked as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. She was admitted to the New York Bar and practiced as a litigation attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York.

Ms. Clooney is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School and a Senior Fellow at the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute. She has co-authored the leading textbooks The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law and Freedom of Speech in International Law, published by Oxford University Press.

She and her husband George co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which provides free legal support to victims of human rights abuses in over 40 countries. One of their initiatives, TrialWatch, shines a light on injustices by monitoring criminal trials and advocating for the rights of imprisoned journalists, LGBT persons, women, minorities, and human rights defenders. Another flagship initiative, The Docket, gathers evidence of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity to trigger prosecutions and civil suits and advocates for the rights of victims in those trials. The foundation’s recent initiative, Waging Justice for Women, uses strategic litigation to advance women’s rights in Africa.

Nicole Kidman

Academy Award, Golden Globe, SAG, and Emmy Award winner Nicole Kidman first came to the attention of American audiences with her critically acclaimed performance in Phillip Noyce’s riveting 1989 Australian psychological thriller DEAD CALM. Kidman has since become an internationally recognized, award-winning actress and producer known for her range and versatility.

In 2003, Kidman won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s THE HOURS, for which she also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. She has also been honored with Academy Award nominations for her performances in Baz Luhrmann’s innovative musical, MOULIN ROUGE!, John Cameron Mitchell’s RABBIT HOLE, Garth Davis’ LION, and Aaron Sorkin’s BEING THE RICARDOS. Kidman also served as a producer on RABBIT HOLE, the first feature film produced under her production company, Blossom Films.

Kidman took home her first Golden Globe for her performance in Gus Van Sant’s TO DIE FOR. Her next Golden Globe came in 2002 when she was nominated for both Best Actress in a Musical for MOULIN ROUGE! and Best Actress in a Drama for Alejandro Amenabar’s psychological thriller, THE OTHERS, winning for Best Actress in a Musical. Most recently, Kidman took home the Golden Globe for her performance as Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s BEING THE RICARDOS. She has also received Golden Globe nominations for the films BILLY BATHGATE, COLD MOUNTAIN, BIRTH, RABBIT HOLE, THE PAPERBOY, LION, and DESTROYER.

Her other feature credits include EYES WIDE SHUT, NINE, KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, BEGUILED, BOY ERASED, AQUAMAN, BOMBSHELL, and THE PROM. In 2021, Kidman earned a Golden Globe, and Academy Award, SAG, and Critics Choice Award nominations for her portrayal of Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s BEING THE RICARDOS, starring opposite Javier Bardem. Kidman is most recently seen in Robert Eggers’ THE NORTHMAN opposite Alexander Skarsgard. Kidman will next be seen in the upcoming romantic comedy for Netflix, A FAMILY AFFAIR, in which she is starring opposite Zac Efron and Joey King, and she has recently wrapped production on thriller film HOLLAND, MICHIGAN for Amazon Prime Video.

In television, Kidman starred in HBO’s HEMINGWAY AND GELLHORN alongside Clive Owen in 2012 (Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe nominations). In 2017, Kidman returned to the small screen with the limited series BIG LITTLE LIES alongside Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Zoe Kravitz, and Shailene Woodley for HBO, co-executive produced by Blossom Films. Kidman received Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild awards for her portrayal of Celeste. BIG LITTLE LIES also received an Emmy Award, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award for Outstanding Limited Series. The second season of the series premiered in June 2019.

In 2021, Nicole was nominated for a Golden Globe and SAG Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series for her role in HBO’s THE UNDOING opposite Hugh Grant, where she also received recognition for her role as an executive producer on the series along with her Blossom Films, nominated for a PGA Award in the category Outstanding Producer of a Limited Series. Kidman released two limited series, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS and ROAR, on which she also served as co-executive producer along with her Blossom Films, in 2021, and 2022, respectively. Kidman can most recently be seen in Paramount+ original series SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS, on which she executive produced and appeared opposite Zoe Saldana, and recently wrapped production on upcoming Netflix series THE PERFECT COUPLE, which she executive produces and stars in opposite Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning. She is also in pre-production for “The Perfect Nanny” where she will star alongside Maya Erskine for an HBO limited series adaptation of the novel with the same name. Next, Kidman will be seen in EXPATS, an upcoming drama series for Amazon Prime Video on which she also executive produces, which will be premiering at the 2023 Toronto Film Festival.

In theater, Kidman made a highly-lauded London stage debut in the fall of 1998, starring with Iain Glen in THE BLUE ROOM, David Hare’s modern adaptation of Schnitzler’s LA RONDE. For her performance, Kidman won London’s Evening Standard Award and was nominated in the Best Actress category for a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2015, Kidman was seen on the West End stage in Anna Ziegler’s PHOTOGRAPH 51, for which she received a London’s Evening Standard Award.

In addition to acting and producing, Kidman announced her partnership with Vegamour in May of 2022, joining the Los Angeles-based wellness hair care company as an investor and its Wellness Advocate.

Kidman was awarded Australia’s highest honor, the Companion in the Order of Australia and was also named, and continues to serve, as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women. Along with her husband, Keith Urban, she has helped raise millions over the years for the Women’s Cancer Program which is a world-renowned center for research into the causes, treatment, prevention, and eventual cure of women’s cancer. In 2017, the Cannes Film Festival honored Kidman with a special award for her body of work and longstanding history with the festival. She is one of only eight people to ever receive this honor in the 70-year history of the festival. In 2022, it was announced that Kidman would be the 49th recipient of the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, their highest honor for a career in film.

François Hollande

A consummate statesman who led France through many of the greatest threats and challenges of the 21stcentury, François Hollande brings insights gained from a lifetime spent at the highest levels of public service to the most pressing issues of our time. From terrorism to climate change, to the global economy and beyond, he has faced them all with a measured calm cultivated by years of experience.

The presidency of François Hollande was marked by the action he took against the twin scourges of international terrorism and climate change. By deploying French troops to Mali in early 2013, Hollande stemmed the tide of violence caused by terrorist groups. It was also under his presidency and leadership that the Paris Agreement of 2015 was signed by an overwhelming majority of the global community.

A true patriot, President Hollande took historic steps to promote equality in France, lowering the unemployment rate, creating a "millionaire's tax," and legalizing same-sex marriage. He has made it his life's work to stand up for those who could not do so for themselves. President Hollande once famously said that "Each country has a soul, and France's soul is equality."  In his five years at the helm of the French Republic, President Hollande led by example.

Waris Dirie

Waris Dirie was born as a daughter of Nomadic family in the region of Gallacaio, in the Somali desert on the border with Ethiopia. At the age of five, she suffered the inhumane procedure of female genital mutilation. This terrible crime against women is practiced worldwide by Muslims and Christians. According to WHO estimates, 8,000 girls become victims of this incredible brutality every day.

At the age of 13, Waris fled from a forced marriage with a man who could have been her grandfather. After an adventurous escape, she arrived in London and worked as a housemaid and at McDonalds.

At the age of 18, she was discovered as a model by the famous British Celebrity- Photographer, Terence Donovan, and photographed for the Pirelli Calender.

She moved from London to New York and became one of the first African Supermodels receiving an exclusive agreement with the cosmetic group Revlon. She also graced the front pages of all the major magazines. She appeared as a James Bond Girl, alongside Timothy Dalton in “The Living Daylights”.

The BBC commissioned the programme “A Nomad in New York”, based on Waris Dirie for their series “The day that changed my life”.
The US based famous journalist, Barbara Walters, interviewed her on behalf of NBC. Waris was also interviewed by Laura Ziv for the magazine Marie Claire, in which she decided to tell about the cruel ritual of female genital mutilation and also her own destiny resulting in a wave of sympathy and protest worldwide against FGM.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appoints Waris as goodwill ambassador in the fight against female genital mutilation. She travels on behalf of the United Nations around the world, participates in conferences, meets presidents, Nobel Prize winners and movie stars and gives hundreds of interviews to draw attention to her mission.

Waris Dirie has received many prestigious prizes and awards for her work and books, such as the “Women’s World Award” by President Mikhail Gorbachev (2004), the “Bischof Oscar Romero Preis” by the Catholic Church (2005), the “Woman of the Year Award” by the magazine “Glamour”(2000), the “Afrika Preis” by the German Federal Government and the “Corinne Award” by the holding organization of the German Book Trade for the best factual book.
In 2007 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented her with the “Chévalier de la Légion d’Honneur”. The World Demographic Association nominated her as the first woman for the “Prix de la Gènèration” and the Martin Buber Foundation nominated her as the first woman for the “Martin Buber Gold Medal”.

In 2002 she founded her own foundation, called "Waris Dirie Foundation" to support her work as a campaigner against FGM.
In 2010, the Foundation was re-named “Desert Flower Foundation” to reflect the broader approach to addressing Female Genital Mutilation though economic projects in Africa.
Currently, the organization has international headquarters in Vienna, Austria and has regional offices in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Monaco, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Djibouti , Sierra Leone and Poland. The official languages are English, German, Polish, Dutch, French and Spanish.
The foundation’s team is made up of men and women committed to gender equality, human rights and all of them share Waris Dirie’s ideal: Ending Female Genital Mutilation.
The Desert Flower Foundation and all its campaigns, projects and activities are financed by private donations.

Shirin Ebadi

The Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi was born in 1947. She received a law degree from the University of Tehran. In the years 1975-79 she served as president of the city court of Tehran, one the first female judges in Iran. After the revolution in 1979 she was forced to resign. She now works as a lawyer and also teaches at the University of Tehran.

Both in her research and as an activist, she is known for promoting peaceful, democratic solutions to serious problems in society. She takes an active part in the public debate and is well-known and admired by the general public in her country for her defence in court of victims of the conservative faction's attack on freedom of speech and political freedom.

Ebadi represents Reformed Islam, and argues for a new interpretation of Islamic law which is in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy, equality before the law, religious freedom and freedom of speech. As for religious freedom, it should be noted that Ebadi also includes the rights of members of the bahai community, which has had problems in Iran ever since its foundation.

Ebadi is an activist for refugee rights, as well as those of women and children. She is the founder and leader of the Association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran. Ebadi has written a number of academic books and articles focused on human rights. Among her books translated into English are The Rights of the Child. A Study of Legal Aspects of Children's Rights in Iran (Tehran, 1994), published with support from UNICEF, and History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran (New York, 2000).

As a lawyer, she has been involved in a number of controversial political cases. She was the attorney of the families of the writers and intellectuals who were victims of the serial murders in 1999-2000. She has worked actively - and successfully - to reveal the principals behind the attack on the students at Tehran University in 1999 where several students died. As a consequence, Ebadi has been imprisoned on numerous occasions.

On 10 October 2003, Shirin Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts for democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children.

With Islam as her starting point, Ebadi campaigns for peaceful solutions to social problems, and promotes new thinking on Islamic terms. She has displayed great personal courage as a lawyer defending individuals and groups who have fallen victim to a powerful political and legal system that is legitimized through an inhumane interpretation of Islam. Ebadi has shown her willingness and ability to cooperate with representatives of secular as well as religious views.

Garry Kasparov

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet Union in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the under-18 chess champion of the USSR at the age of 12 and the world under-20 champion at 17. He came to international fame at the age of 22 as the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985. He defended his title five times, including a legendary series of matches against arch-rival Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov broke Bobby Fischer’s rating record in 1990 and his own peak rating record remained unbroken until 2013. His famous matches against the IBM super-computer Deep Blue in 1996-97 were key to bringing artificial intelligence, and chess, into the mainstream.

Kasparov’s outspoken nature did not endear him to the Soviet authorities, giving him an early taste of opposition politics. He became one of the first prominent Soviets to call for democratic and market reforms and was an early supporter of Boris Yeltsin’s push to break up the Soviet Union. In 1990, he and his family escaped ethnic violence in his native Baku as the USSR collapsed. His refusal that year to play the World Championship under the Soviet flag caused an international sensation. In 2005, Kasparov, in his 20th year as the world’s top-ranked player, abruptly retired from competitive chess to join the vanguard of the Russian pro-democracy movement. He founded the United Civil Front and organized the Marches of Dissent to protest the repressive policies of Vladimir Putin. In 2012, Kasparov was named chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, succeeding Vaclav Havel. Facing imminent arrest during Putin’s crackdown, Kasparov moved from Moscow to New York City in 2013.

The US-based Kasparov Chess Foundation non-profit promotes the teaching of chess in education systems around the world. Its program already in use in schools across the United States, KCF also has centers in Brussels, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Mexico City. Garry and his wife Daria travel frequently to promote the proven benefits of chess in education and have toured Africa extensively.

Kasparov has been a contributing editor to the Wall Street Journal since 1991 and is a regular commentator on politics and human rights. He speaks frequently to business and political audiences around the world on innovation, strategy, individual freedom, and achieving peak mental performance. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford-Martin School with a focus on human-machine collaboration. Kasparov’s book How Life Imitates Chess on decision-making is available in over 20 languages. He is the author of two acclaimed series of chess books, My Great Predecessors and Modern Chess.

Kasparov’s new book, Winter Is Coming: Why Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped, was released by PublicAffairs in October 2015. He describes the book as a mix of “one part history of the rise and fall of Russian democracy and the West’s role in both, from Gorbachev’s retreat from Eastern Europe to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014; one part current events with an analysis of the current security crisis and how and why the countries of the free world must unite to fight back against thugs and dictators; and one part personal memoir of my life as a citizen, witness, and activist in the USSR, democratic Russia, and Putin’s Russia.”