Meet the 2018 participants:

CARRINGTON CHRISTMAS
MI’KMA’KI

Carrington is a 25-year-old Black Scotian-Mi’kmaw-German woman from the Crow Clan. As the Director of Youth Advocacy & Development with the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Carrington has spearheaded programming and initiatives to increase youth engagement and amplify the voices of young Indigenous women and gender diverse youth at the national level. Carrington aims to improve her advocacy for equality and the realization of rights for all Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and gender-diverse people.

ENAS ABDALJAWWAD
PALESTINE

A graduate of the Faculty of Law at An-Najah National University, Enas is a devoted women’s rights activist. She works at the Advocacy Desk for the Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD) and is a member of the Women’s Coalition for Justice and Equality that recently led the adoption of civil rights for women by the Palestinian Prime Minister. Concerned with gender and conflict within the context of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, she is committed to refining her expertise on women’s rights, the Women, Peace, and Securityagenda, and the application of international mechanisms to promote rights, justice and development for all Palestinians. In 2017, Enas and her team won first place at the Palestinian level in the Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition in Washington D.C., one of the largest and most prestigious moot court competitions in the world.

IVETTE ESTEFANIA GALVÁN GARCÍA
MEXICO

Ivette is continually sharpening her legal analysis from theory to practical application. Self-taught in Tseltal, a Mayan language, Ivette is passionate about defending indigenous rights as outlined in the Mexican constitution. She envisions a world where indigenous peoples are both the ‘subjects and writers of their own history.’ Ivette hopes to be an effective interlocutor of strategies to meet the needs of the Tseltal people. Ivette is currently the Coordinator of the Strategic Litigation Committee with The Center for Indigenous Rights. She lives and works in Chiapas, Mexico.

PAMELA OKOROIGWE
NIGERIA

Pamela is a human rights activist committed to changing societal perceptions of violence against women. She believes that ending violence against women cannot be accomplished without careful interrogations into power relations and patriarchy. As a Senior Programmes Officer with the Legal Defence and Assistance Project, she oversees advocacy and strategy for the provision of pro bono legal services, especially for women. Pamela has provided training for members of the Nigerian Police force on the provisions of the Domestic Violence Law of Lagos 2007, and torture prevention strategies, and has led the development of guidelines for community based organizations to support survivors of sexual and gender based violence. She has vigorously campaigned for creative and impactful means of generating awareness of gender-based violence as a human rights issue in Nigeria. Pamela holds an LLM from the University of Lagos.

THINZAR SHUNLEI YI
BURMA

Committed to ensuring that the voices of youth and minority groups are both listened to and valued, Shunlei works tirelessly to advance democratic principles at the local and national level. In 2016, she received the Emerging Young Leaders Award by the U.S. State Department. As Advocacy Coordinator, she is responsible for overseeing the activities of youth, farm workers and minority groups in Burma. Shunlei speaks globally on the development of democracy in Burma and the important role of youth.

KINDA OMARAIN
SYRIA

A steadfast advocate for women as full and equal participants in peace, Kinda has unlimited energy for building a world beyond conflict. For Kinda, full actualization of the rights of women is inextricable from achieving a lasting peace for Syrians and the wider Middle East. Trained in translation and project management, she has lead humanitarian relief efforts, supported rehabilitation programming for refugee children, and worked with emergency response teams in southern Turkey along the border with Syria. As Project Manager with the Syrian Women Network, Kinda has firsthand knowledge of the skills and expertise that refugees bring to peacebuilding.