From ‘Small Places’ to New Frontiers - Marking 75 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Julia Batho, Moderator (Part I)

Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

Julia Batho, IHRB's Deputy CEO, is a human rights expert with over 15 years’ experience in the areas of international labour standards and labour migration. 

Julia is a qualified lawyer, and holds a Masters’ Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation from the Global Campus on Human Rights, Venice, and a post-graduate diploma in international law from the University of Florence. 

Prior to joining IHRB, Julia worked with the International Labour Organization in Southeast Asia and Geneva on forced labour and labour migration programmes.

Lucas Benitez

Coalition of Immokalee Workers/Fair Food Program

Lucas Benitez is a co-founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers movement: a worker-based human rights organisation internationally recognised for its achievements in fighting human trafficking and gender-based violence. Lucas has played a critical role in the investigation of several slavery cases, helping to free over 700 workers in one case alone.

Lucas has won numerous national and international awards, including: The “Ohtli” Award, the highest distinction conferred by the Mexican Government on citizens living outside of the country; the Distinguished Mexican Citizen Award from the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior in 2019; the Rolling Stone Magazine Brick Award for “America’s Best Young Community Leader”; the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Bernardin New Leadership Award; the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Luca is also a recipient of the Wallenberg Medal.

Lucas is currently a key organisational leader and member of the Fair Food Program worker education team, leading international expansion of the Fair Food Program in countries such as Chile, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

Jason Judd

ILR Global Labor Institute, Cornell University

Jason Judd is Executive Director of the ILR Global Labor Institute at Cornell University.

Previously Jason led the Ship to Shore Rights Project at the International Labor Organization in Bangkok.

He served as Vice President of the Fair Labor Association in Washington, DC, and has worked in senior roles for the ILO's Better Factories Cambodia, Demos (New York), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center, and the Industrial Areas Foundation. 

Marcela Manubens

Roxbury Global, former Unilever and PVH Corp

Marcela Manubens is CEO of Roxbury Global, a sustainable business advisory firm, and former Global VP for Integrated Social Sustainability at Unilever. 

While at Unilever, Marcela led the creation of its social sustainability strategy and global goals, its human rights policy framework, and responsible sourcing policy, helping to mainstream sustainability and human rights in one of the most complex and diverse supply chains in the industry. 

Prior to Unilever, Marcela led the vision, strategy and implementation of one of the first Global Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility programs in the fashion industry, including environmental stewardship and social impact, at PVH Corp.

Marcela is also a member of the Responsible Investment and Business Advisory Group at Sierra Global Management; a member of the Advisory Board of the Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights, Geneva School of Economics and Management; and faculty member at The Competent Board and Adjunct Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University (New York College campus).

Marcela has served in both industry and not-for-profit boards such as the Fair Labor Association, chaired the Global Social Compliance Programme at the Consumer Goods Forum, co-chaired the Council on Human Rights at the World Economic Forum and has represented business in various U.N. fora (Global Compact, UN Women and UN Business and Human Rights Forum) and the International Labour Organization. 

Salil Tripathi

Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

Salil Tripathi is a writer and policy adviser with experience in researching corporate activities in diverse environments to identify human rights abuses.

Salil curates and lectures a course on business and human rights at the University of Bergen, in a joint IHRB initiative with the Rafto Foundation. 

Salil previously worked at the London-based secretariat of Amnesty International (1999-2005) where he conducted research missions to Nigeria and Bosnia, and developed organisational policies and thinking on complicity, privatisation, and corruption. He represented Amnesty International in the forming of the Global Compact, the Kimberley Process, and the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights.

An award-winning journalist, Salil has reported out of Asia, based in India, Singapore, and Hong Kong. He is the author of three works of non-fiction, and chaired PEN International's Writers-in-Prison Committee for six years, ending in 2021. He is now a member of PEN International's board. 

John Morrison, Moderator (Part II)

Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB)

John Morrison has been CEO of IHRB since its formation in 2009 under the leadership of Mary Robinson - former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

John advises a number of governments, intergovernmental organisations, and businesses on human rights and wider issues of sustainability, development, and international affairs. John sits on the UK Foreign Secretary's Human Rights Advisory Group and has been a Harkness Fellow to the USA. He has been named one of the 100 most influential people worldwide on the issue of eliminating modern day slavery.

His most recent book is "The Social License”, published by Palgrave MacMillan, and he has been published widely on issues relating to global governance, corporate responsibility, human rights, climate action, refugee protection, and human trafficking.

Mandy Rambharos

Environmental Defense Fund

Mandy Rambharos is Vice President of the NGO Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), leading its work to promote more ambitious and effective global climate action.

Prior to joining EDF, Mandy worked for two decades at Africa’s largest electric utility, Eskom Holdings, delivering its strategy to transition the South African electricity sector from coal to renewables. Mandy is a former negotiator for South Africa at the United Nations climate talks, and chaired negotiations on carbon markets. She was instrumental to the Just Energy Transition Partnership agreed at COP26 in Glasgow between South Africa and Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.  She has also served on South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission.

Iain Levine

Meta

Iain Levine is a director on the human rights policy team at Meta where he works on implementation of the human rights policy, human rights due diligence and disclosure.

Iain began his career in humanitarian work including ten years with UNICEF, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and then worked as Amnesty International's UN director and Human Rights Watch Head of Program.

Priyanka Motaparthy

Columbia University Law School Human Rights Institute

Priyanka Motaparthy is the Director of the Armed Conflict, Counterterrorism, and Human Rights Project at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute, leading work on accountability for conflict-related abuses, and advocacy for a rights-respecting U.S. foreign policy.

Priyanka's work includes documenting torture and widespread abuse in Syrian detention centers; potential war crimes in Yemen; and sexual and gender-based violence in South Sudan and Myanmar.

Priyanka is also a Senior Instructor in the School's Human Rights Clinic. Prior to joining HRI, Motaparthy served as acting Emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, leading investigations and reporting on global atrocities and human rights crises.

Professor Usha Ramanathan

Independent Human Rights Scholar

Professor Usha Ramanathan works on the jurisprudence of law and poverty, and is recipient of the AccessNow Human Rights Heroes Award 2018.
 

Usha researches, writes and speaks on issues that include the nature of law, the Bhopal Gas Disaster, mass displacement, eminent domain, manual scavenging, and civil liberties including the death penalty, beggary, criminal law, custodial institutions, the environment, judicial process. 

She has been tracking, and engaging with, the Indian national ID project and has written, and debated extensively, on the subject. She has been writing and debating issues of technology and the human conditions of freedom and liberty over the years.