Maude Barlow, Canada
Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She is a board member of the San Francisco-based International Forum on Globalization and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council.
Maude is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates as well as many awards, including the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”), the 2005 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, the Citation of Lifetime Achievement at the 2008 Canadian Environment Awards, the 2009 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award, the 2009 Planet in Focus Eco Hero Award, and the 2011 EarthCare Award, the highest international honour of the Sierra Club (US). In 2008-2009, she served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly and was a leader in the campaign to have water recognized as a human right by the UN. She is also the author of dozens of reports, as well as 17 books, including her latest, Blue Future: Protecting Water for People and the Planet Forever.
Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France, France
Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France is the president of the Frantz Fanon Foundation and a United Nations expert. Through her writings and her involvement, Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France has been fighting relentlessly against racism and colonialism, defending peoples’ right to self-determination.
The Frantz Fanon Foundation was born out of the anti-colonial thought and struggle of writer, philosopher, ethno-psychologist and psychiatrist Frantz Fanon. The Frantz Fanon Foundation is a space for memory, exchange and discussion on anti-colonialism. The Foundation uses popular education and fights to build an international society based on solidarity among peoples. Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France works with the Working Group on Afro-descendants in the Council of Human Rights of the UN. She is also a member of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and of the scientific council of ATTAC.
Nicole Kirouac, Québec, Canada
Nicole Kirouac is the daughter of a miner and is from Malartic in origin and in heart. Initially a teacher and subject animator in multi-media, she has spent 22 years as a member of the Quebec Bar, since 1984. The fight for social justice has guided her professional and personal life for over 40 years. For example, she was a board member of the CEQ (Centrale de l’enseignement du Québec) in the early 70s, vice-president of the Provincial Association of non-profit daycares of Quebec in the late 70s, founding president of the Provincial Association of shelters for women in distress in the early 80s, Project Manager in Haiti in 1989 and 1990, Vice-President of the Union of lawyers of legal aid in Quebec and was also president of the Bar in Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Since August 2007, she has done pro-bono work on mining, among other fields, working as an expert for the Comité de vigilance de Malartic and the Regroupement des citoyens du quartier sud de Malartic since August 2010.
Gérald Larose, Québec, Canada
Gérald Larose, a professor and researcher, is an iconic figure in the struggle for workers’ rights in Quebec. After obtaining a master’s degree in theology and social work at the University of Montreal and beginning a career in social work, he made his mark in the Quebec labor movement directing the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) for sixteen years (1983-1999). In 1999, he became a professor at the School of Social Work at UQAM (University of Quebec in Montreal).
As a fervent advocate of social democracy, Gérald Larose is interested in social movements and in civil society’s capacity to develop. He founded the Solidarity Economy Group of Quebec and served as secretary-treasurer of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy. Known for his humanism, his negotiation skills, his sense of communication and commitment, in 2008 he received a medal for graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at the University of Montreal “for his outstanding contribution to the functioning of Quebecois civil society.” He chaired the Commission des États généraux sur la situation et l’avenir de la langue française au Québec (2000-2001). Gérald Larose is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins.
Viviane Michel, Québec, Canada
As an Innu woman, Viviane Michel comes from a culture and tradition that carries with it the pride of its people. She is an activist in her community, Maliotenam. Being bilingual (French and Innu), Viviane Michel makes a point of showcasing the traditional practices of her nation while promoting respect for the identity and culture of nations and indigenous women. From 2007 to 2012, she worked as a social worker for the Missinak Community House, working with female Aboriginal victims of violence and those struggling in urban Québec. This experience provided her with an understanding of the issues Aboriginal women face. She has also worked for four years for a Health Canada program in community health with former residential school students.
Director of the Innu Nation of Quebec Native Women (FAQ-QNW) from 2004 to 2010, which includes nine Innu communities, Vice-President from 2010 to 2012 and President from 2012 to 2013, Viviane Michel is a woman of conviction who values, in all her actions, the traditional culture of her nation and openness to reconciliation between peoples, through an alliance work for wellness and better coexistence. She wants to awaken the leadership of Aboriginal women but also all people, and to raise awareness of impacts of colonization, while de-victimizing and adopting an approach of solidarity and alliance. Her purpose is to educate, raise awareness among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people about the realities and issues relating to indigenous peoples.
Javier Mujica Petit, Peru
Researcher, author and expert in law and political science, Javier Mujica Petit has been interested in human rights since his university years. He is currently president of the Center for Public Policy and Human Rights in Peru (EQUIDAD). For many years, he worked in the Peruvian labor movement as a legal adviser, with the CGTP (General Confederation of Workers of Peru). He was a Regional Coordinator for the Inter-American Platform of Human Rights, Democracy and Development (PIDHDD); responsible for investigation missions for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). More recently, the National Council for Human Rights (NDH) and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MINJUS) of Peru have put him in charge of writing the draft of the National Plan for Human Rights 2012-2016.
He was an advisor to the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). From 2007 to 2010, he represented the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) at the Organization of American States (OAS). In 2013, he was appointed to be the advisor to the World Bank for the drafting of the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Javier Mujica also teaches at the Institute of Democracy and Human Rights at the Catholic University of Peru. Member of the editorial board of Actualidad económica del Perú (Peru Economic News) for many years, he has written approximately thirty essays, articles, books and legal opinions.
Antoni Pigrau Solé, Catalunya, Spain
Antoni Pigrau is Professor of International Law and a specialist in criminal, humanitarian and environmental law. He teaches international law at the University Rovira y Virgili of Tarragona where he has been a co-founder of a Legal Clinic on the Environment. He has been directing the Tarragona Centre for Environmental Law Studies (CEDAT) since 2007 and the Catalan Journal of environmental law since 2009. He is the author of numerous books, including publications on universal jurisdiction “La jurisdicción universal y su aplicación en España: la persecución del genocidio, los crímenes de guerra ylos crímenes contra la humanidad por los tribunales nacionales.” (2009). He is now working in a big European-financed project about environmental justice (www.ejolt.org). Since 1998, Mr Pigrau Solé is the correspondent for Spain for the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, edited by the T.M.C. Asser Institute, in The Hague. He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP), designed by the Catalan Parliament.
Gianni Tognoni, Italy
Gianni Tognoni has been the Secretary General of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) since it was founded in 1979. Physician and Doctor of Philosophy, Gianni Tognoni is one of the world’s leading experts in health policy and pharmaceutical epidemiology. He is the director of the Institute of Pharmacological Research Mario Negri Sud, which conducts independent research in key areas of medicine and drug policy. He has written many books and scientific articles, and has received several honourary doctorates. Permanent advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), his scientific activities are combined with a commitment to justice.