ARTICLE 19 Staff

Dr. Agnès Callamard, Executive Director
Dr. Agnès Callamard took up the post of Executive Director in October 2004. She has evolved a distinguished career in human rights and humanitarian work. Agnès is a former Chef de Cabinet for the Secretary General of Amnesty International, and as the organisation’s Research Policy Coordinator, she led Amnesty’s work on women’s human rights. Agnès has conducted human rights investigations in a large number of countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She founded and led HAP International (the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership) where she oversaw field trials in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sierra Leone and worked extensively in the field of international refugee movements with the Center for Refugee Studies in Toronto. She has written and been published widely in the field of human rights, women’s rights, refugee movements and accountability and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the New School for Social Research in New York.

Paul English, Senior Director (Africa, Europe and Latin America)
Paul English joined ARTICLE 19 in February 2008. He previously worked for Penal Reform International (PRI) as Executive Director from 2001 – 2007. In 1999 and 2000 he was their Nigeria Programme Manager. As PRI’s Executive Director he was their representative on: Expert panels for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Rule of Law and Torture; Member of The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of the Law (HIIL) on their High Level International Panel on Rule of Law; Altus (The Hague), a global alliance working across continents and from a multicultural perspective to improve public safety and justice; The Interagency Juvenile Justice Panel mandated by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), to coordinate policies, projects and activities among international organisations engaged in juvenile justice reform and the NGO Group for the CRC - Subgroup on Juvenile Justice. The Subgroup concentrates on the improvement of the situation of children in conflict with the law.

He had oversight of PRI’s regional programmes and undertook work in Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Eastern and Central Europe and Central Asia. Prior to PRI, he led Concern Universal’s community development work in The Gambia where he lived for three years. He also lived in the north of Peru where he was attached to a Caritas programme.

He has an MSc (econ) in Social Development, Planning and Management from the Centre for Development Studies, University College Swansea.

John Barker, Senior Operations Director
John Barker became Senior Operations Director in October 2007. Prior to that, he was the Director of the Africa programme at ARTICLE 19 from December 2000 - October 2007. Initially managing the ARTICLE 19 Africa Office in Johannesburg South Africa, he returned to the UK office in 2004, after 14 years of living and working in Africa.

Before joining ARTICLE 19, John managed and developed the broadcasting policy and legislation work of the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s regional office in Windhoek, Namibia. He has extensive experience in media freedom and freedom of expression issues and in addition to broadcasting policy has a wide-ranging and recognised knowledge of the community/alternative media sector.

He has an honours degree in Applied Photography, Film and Television from the University of Westminster and a postgraduate diploma in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University.

Toby Mendel, Law Programme Director (based in Canada)
Toby Mendel joined ARTICLE 19 in June 1997 and has worked extensively on media law and freedom of expression issues in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, running training seminars, advising governments and local NGOs, critiquing laws and taking cases to both national and international courts. He has published widely and contributed to numerous ARTICLE 19 and other publications.

Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, Toby Mendel worked for some time in human rights and international development, as a Senior Human Rights Consultant with Oxfam Canada and as a Human Rights Policy Analyst at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). He holds an honours degree in Mathematics from McGill University, a first class LL.B. (law) from Dalhousie University, and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. in International Refugee Law at Cambridge University.


Law Programme

Sejal Parmar, Senior Legal Officer
Sejal Parmar is Senior Legal Officer at ARTICLE 19.  She is also currently Visiting Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary, University of London, and at the University of Edinburgh. 

Sejal holds law degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.B. in Law (Hons), 1998) and the European University Institute, Florence (Ph.D. in Law, 2003).  Before joining ARTICLE 19 in January 2008, Sejal was Human Rights Officer at Doughty Street Chambers.  She was previously Visiting Lecturer in Law at University College London, EU-US Fulbright Scholar and Emile Noël postdoctoral Fellow at New York University School of Law, Marie Curie Fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for International Law and Visiting Scholar at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  She has interned at the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and provided legal advice to a number of organisations including Peace Brigades International, Plan International and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.  Her publications include articles on international and EU human rights law, anti-discrimination law, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and children’s rights. 

Boyko Boev, Legal Officer
Boyko Boev became a human rights activist during his legal studies at Sofia University. Since his admission to the Sofia Bar in 2001, he has represented on behalf of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, victims of human rights violations before Bulgarian courts and the European Court of Human Rights and has worked as an independent consultant on human right projects. He holds an LL.M. degree from Columbia University School of Law, where he studied as a Fulbright fellow. In 2006, Boyko was admitted as a doctorate student at Potsdam University in Germany. Before joining ARTICLE 19 in January 2008, Boyko worked as a Human Rights Officer with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw.


Africa Programme

Cece Fadope, Africa Programme Officer
Cece Modupe Fadope has extensive experience working on social development issues with media and non-governmental organisations in international and U.S contexts. She has managed a USAID-funded HIV/AIDS and media/civil society strengthening programme in Nigeria. She has designed and implemented training programmes for journalists in electronic and print media. Cece was a producer at National Public Radio in Washington DC where she also hosted African public affairs programmes. She has worked as an Africa policy analyst for various U.S non-governmental organisations including Allafrica Global Media, Bread for the World, and the National Black Women’s Health Project. She has appeared on numerous radio and television programs in the United States, Europe and Africa discussing social issues and media development. She’s a graduate of the University of Maryland, USA.

Fatou Jagne-Senghore, Africa Programme Officer (based in Senegal)
Fatou Jagne-Senghore worked for ARTICLE 19 in South Africa from February 2002 to June 2004 and is now based in Dakar, Senegal. She has contributed to numerous advocacy efforts and publications on behalf of ARTICLE 19. She has represented ARTICLE 19 at international forums and worked with governments, African intergovernmental bodies and civil society organisations on a wide range of freedom of expression issues.

Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, she was a fellow at the Institute for Space and Communication Law (IDETCOM) in Toulouse, France from 1997 to 1998. From 1999 to 2001, she worked at the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (a pan-African human rights organisation in The Gambia) as part of the legal team. She holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Law, and a Master’s Degree in International Law and in Economic and Communication Law from the University of Toulouse.

Roxanne Abdulali, Africa Programme Officer
Roxanne has had a long standing interest in human rights issues and joined ARTICLE 19 after previously working as an Assistant Organiser for the Independent Asylum Commission. Roxanne has a Bachelors degree in International History and Politics and a Masters in International Studies from the University of Leeds. Having interned with ARTICLE 19 in September 2006 Roxanne in early 2007 became an administrator for the Africa programme and is now an Africa Programme Officer.


Asia Programme

Santosh Sigdel, Nepal Programme Manager, Nepal
Santosh Sigdel joined ARTICLE 19 in October 2007 and is currently working as the Programme Manager for Nepal. Santosh is a Nepalese lawyer with a Master's Degree in Law from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is a member of the International Media Lawyers Association (IMLA).

Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, Santosh Sigdel worked for a number of national human rights organisations including Freedom Forum Nepal, where he worked as Executive Director. He is also a founding member of the local NGO 'Citizens' Campaign for Right to Information' which has worked for the promotion and protection of right to information in Nepal. He has co-authored a number of publications in Nepali including 'What the King Said and What he did?'.

Jahanur Ebne Awal, Finance and Administration Officer (based in Bangladesh)
Jahanur Ebne Awal joined ARTICLE 19 in January 2008 as the Finance & Administration Officer for the organisation’s Bangladesh country office. He is responsible for the financial project management and administration of ARTICLE 19’s project: “Access to Information for Greater Participation and Government Accountability: Bangladesh”. He also assists in the operational coordination of the country office. With an MBA and a Masters in Accounting, Jahanur has over nine years of experience in management and administration of financial and accounting operations including within multinational NGO and accounting firms. Prior to joining ARTICLE 19, he worked for Transparency International Bangladesh as their Accounts Manager.


Europe Programme

Anoush Begoyan, Europe Programme Officer
Anoush has worked with ARTICLE 19 since April 2006 on freedom of expression projects in the Ukraine and the South Caucasus. She has also participated in the development of ARTICLE 19’s work in CIS countries and Turkey.

Anoush has several years experience with international NGOs working on issues of conflict resolution and democracy building. From 2001 Anoush also worked as a Consultant and Researcher for organisations such as International Alert (UK), Armenian International Policy Research Group (Washington and Yerevan) and DiploFoundation (Malta and Switzerland) on issues including multi-stakeholder diplomacy, energy resources, democratic development and conflict resolution.

Anoush holds an MA in Politics and Political Economy of Post-Communist Countries from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary and a Bachelors degree in History of International Relations from the Yerevan State University.

Chris Burnett, Programme Officer (Russia, Azerbaijan and Central Asia)
Chris joined ARTICLE 19 in January 2008. Prior to this, he worked as Project Manager for the British East West Centre, focussing on parliamentary development and transparency in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. He has worked extensively with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe as an election observer, participating in eight missions across Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus.

Chris holds a Bachelors degree in European Studies from the University of Bath, for which he worked in Russia for a year researching the role of the media in shaping public perceptions. He is fluent in Russian and French.


Latin America Programme

Darío Ramírez, Project Coordinator (based in Mexico)  
Before joining ARTICLE 19, Darío was the Deputy General Director of the Unit for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights at Mexico’s Ministry of Interior. In this post, he helped design and implement the National Human Rights Programme, drafted public policies with a human rights dimension, coordinated government action plans for compliance with human rights standards and facilitated relations with the Inter-American System of Human Rights. Prior to his role at the Ministry of Interior, Darío worked for 5 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) within the Regional Office in Mexico (covering El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba and Belize) and in Angola. Darío holds a B.A. in International Relations and an LL.M. in Public International Law from the University of Amsterdam.

Paula Martins, Brazil Project Coordinator (based in Brazil)
Paula joined ARTICLE 19 in 2007 to coordinate the organisation's project on access to information in Brazil. Paula is a Brazilian lawyer with an LLM in Public Interest Law from New York University. Before joining ARTICLE 19, she worked as a researcher on Angola with Human Rights Watch and as a focal point on housing rights with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. As a fellow, Paula spent some time with the Federation Internationale des ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) in Paris and with the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), in Budapest. Paula has worked for many years with local NGOs in Brazil on issues such as housing rights, indigenous land rights and disability rights, as well as developing human rights capacity building programs and materials.

Cyntia Cárdenas, Legal Adviser (based in Mexico)
Before joining ARTICLE 19 in October 2007, Cyntia was the Director of the Protection Unit at the Mexican Commission for Refugees of Mexico’s Ministry of Interior. In this post, she coordinated refugee application process, headed the legal department, drafted refugee and human rights law amendments and bills, and facilitated relations with national and international counterparts. She also supervised the public information request process. Prior to her role at the Mexican Commission for Refugees, Cyntia worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) within the Regional Office in Mexico (covering El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba and Belize). She has also undertaken external consultancies on migrants and internal displaced persons. Cyntia holds a Bachelors Degree in Law.
Gabriela Morales, Consultant (based in Mexico)
Before joining ARTICLE 19 in December 2006, Gabriela was Head of the Department for Supervision and Assessment at the Federal Institute of Access to Public Information (IFAI) where she was responsible for implementing the evaluation criteria for the publication of transparency obligations, the construction of the Transparency Index and the design of the Public Federal Administration’s Transparency Obligations webpage. Prior to her work at IFAI, Gabriela worked as a political consultant for civil associations. Gabriela holds a Bachelors degree in International Relations and Political Science, and a Diploma in Electoral Law and Educative Planning.

Jamila Venturini, Programme Assistant (based in Brazil)
Jamila joined ARTICLE 19 in July 2007 to manage the LivreAcesso.Net project, feeding the website and articulating joint actions and campaigns with Brazilian partners and networks. Her current activities also include follow-up of the situation of community radios in the country. Before joining ARTICLE 19, Jamila worked as a communications assistant at the Brazilian NGO Ação Educativa and as a journalist for local outlets.

Maíra Magro, Programme Officer (based in Brazil)
Maíra joined ARTICLE 19 in December 2007 to coordinate the communications activities of the Brazil office and research issues related to freedom of expression, including infringements on press freedom. After working as a reporter for the Brazilian daily newspapers Valor Econômico and Gazeta Mercantil, she attended the University of Texas, United States where she received a Master’s in Latin American Studies, focusing on International Relations and Political Science. Before joining ARTICLE 19, Maíra worked as a Consultant for Human Rights Watch, researching police violence and other human rights violations in Brazil. She also worked for the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, where she monitored issues related to journalism and press freedom, and participated in capacity building efforts involving Latin American journalists.

Mila Molina, Programme Officer (based in Brazil) 
Mila joined ARTICLE 19 in February 2007 to work in the Access to Information in Brazil project. She also assists in the coordination of operations of the country office. She graduated in International Relations at the University of São Paulo and, before joining ARTICLE 19, worked with the Centre for Research in International Relations of the University of São Paulo. Mila has also coordinated a number of educational programs carried out in poor communities in the City of Sao Paulo.

Ricardo Gonzalez, Programme Officer (based in Mexico)
Ricardo Gonzalez is responsible for the Freedom of Expression and Journalist Protection projects in Mexico. Prior to joining ARTICLE 19 in May 2007, Ricardo worked as Deputy Director of Political Analysis and Communications at the Department for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights of Mexico’s Ministry of Interior.  In this post, he assisted in the implementation of the National Human Rights Programme and dealt with information requests. Prior to this, he worked at various national human rights organisations on a number of campaigning and advocacy projects on themes such as indigenous rights and humanitarian assistance in the context of natural disasters. Ricardo has also served as a member of the citizen board of the Mexico Human Rights Commission and holds a Bachelors degree in International Studies specialising in International Policy.


Middle East & North Africa Programme

Sarah Richani, Middle East Programme Officer (based in Lebanon) 
After graduating with degrees in English Literature, Education and Philosophy from the American University of Beirut, Sarah moved to the UK to pursue her Masters degree in Journalism from the University of Westminster as a Quentin Hogg Scholar. During her studies both in London and Beirut, Sarah interned and worked at several publications of which the most notable was the Lebanese Daily Star, the Middle East’s leading English newspaper. In the UK, Sarah interned with ARTICLE 19’s Middle East and North Africa programme where she wrote a report on vulnerable communities in Lebanon and Palestine. She has since then joined ARTICLE 19 as MENA Programme Officer.

Hoda Rouhana, Middle East and North Africa Programme Officer
Before joinin ARTICLE 19 in March 2007, Hoda worked for several years on Palestinian Women & Human Rights for various Palestinian organisations inside Israel including the Arab Organisation for Supporting Victims of Sexual Violence (Assiwar), The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) and The Arab Human Rights Organisation. Subsequently, Hoda worked for four years as a Programme Officer for the Middle East and North Africa in the London International Coordination Office (ICO) of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). Hoda holds a Masters degree in Gender and Ethnic Studies from the University of Greenwich, London and has published a number of articles mainly on issues relating to gender, identity and family laws.


Executive Office

Stephen Osieyo , Financial Accountant
Steve joined ARTICLE 19 in September 2007. Steve is an overseas trained Accountant and also holds an Msc in Public Service Management from the University of Southbank, London. He has over 20 years financial administration experience in the charity sector, including 8 years in the UK, and 13 years with development and emergency relief NGOs in Eastern Africa. Steve worked for nine years as the Chief Accountant for the Red Cross, Kenya where he managed the financial administration of relief and development projects in Great Lakes and Horn of Africa region. In his last position prior to joining ARTICLE 19, Steve worked for 7 years for Age Concern as Finance Manager at Tower Hamlets. In his private time Steve supports other charities through, among other means, volunteering his financial administration skills.

Jade McLeod, Finance Assistant
Jade McLeod joined ARTICLE 19 2 years ago as a trainee to our former accountant. On completing her training, she became the organisation’s financial assistant. Jade enjoys the challenges of dealing with the variety involved in her position and the satisfaction that comes from the strong support of the financial department.


ARTICLE 19 Board of Trustees

Heather Rogers (Chair)
Heather Rogers joined the ARTICLE 19 board of trustees in September 2004. She is a leading media lawyer specialising in defamation and has appeared in several high profile cases, including acting on behalf of BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan (the Hutton enquiry); Mohamed Al Fayed (the 'cash for questions' libel action) and George Galloway v. Telegraph Ltd.

Anne Howarth
Mark Hengstler
Liz Kennedy
Catherine Smadja

George Alagiah
George Alagiah joined ARTICLE 19 as a trustee in 2003. He has worked as a BBC journalist since 1989 and currently presents the BBC Six O’Clock News. Before going behind the studio desk, George was one of the BBC’s leading foreign correspondents, recognised throughout the industry for his reporting on some of the most significant events of the last decade, including the Rwandan genocide, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, the NATO liberation of Pristina and the aftermath of September 11th. He has won several notable awards and has interviewed numerous prominent figures including Nelson Mandela; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat; President Robert Mugabe and Tariq Aziz.

Louise Christian
Louise Christian was admitted as a Solicitor in 1978. She is co-founder of Christian Khan – a leading international human rights law firm, based in London – and has acted for victims of the Lockerbie, Hatfield and Potters Bar disasters as well as detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Louise Christian is the Chair of Inquest; former Chair of the Civil Liberties Trust and current Member of the Council of Liberty. She has been awarded Legal Personality of the Year 2004 and a special award from Liberty/ Law Society/ Justice for “outstanding contribution to defending the rule of law” for her work defending detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

Richard Sambrook
Richard Sambrook is the Director of the BBC’s Global News Division, responsible for leading the BBC’s overall international news strategy across radio, TV and new media. From 2001-2004, he was Director of BBC News, the worlds biggest broadcast news operation. During his time with the BBC, he has covered a wide range of news events from the collapse of the Berlin Wall to the Bosnian war to the UK general elections.

Simone Pennie
Simone is the Finance Director at BBC World. She is responsible for the financial operations of the channel, health and safety, and business continuity. Simone joined BBC World in January 2003 as Financial Controller. Prior to this, she worked in BBC Worldwide for eight years in various roles, including Group Financial Accountant, Corporate Strategy & Planning Manager and Head of Financial Accounting Services.

Simone qualified in Exeter, England, as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1991. She then worked in Toronto, Canada, for 18 months before returning to the UK, where she took up a client secondment in Yorkshire. Then in 1994, Simone joined P&O as a Financial Accountant.