Speakers

Alex Au

Treasurer, Transient Workers Count Too (Singapore)

Alex Au is a volunteer with Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), currently holding the position of Treasurer. Accounting functions come under his supervision. In addition, he heads the organisation’s Communications team, leading a team of volunteers who develop content for the website and social media platforms, spanning text, video and photography. Other portfolios that Alex is responsible for include overseeing the social work team, which handles casework and outreach to worker communities, various computerisation projects within the organisation, and the development of policy ideas as part of TWC2’s advocacy mission.

TWC2 is a non-profit concerned with the rights and treatment of migrant workers. TWC2 has an active research and advocacy side, and a substantial service provision side helping injured, salary-unpaid and laid-off migrant workers with basic needs and casework support.

Alexis Bautista

Project Coordinator, Migrant Forum in Asia

Biog to follow.

Didier Bergeret

Director of Social Sustainability and the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative, The Consumer Goods Forum

Didier Bergeret is Director of Social Sustainability and the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI). The main focus of his work is to develop collaborative and practical solutions for the industry to advance responsible supply chains. He notably supports the implementation of the first industry resolution to fight forced labour in global supply chains launched by the CEOs of the Board of the Consumer Goods Forum. This resolution is supported by Priority Industry Principles stating that Every worker should have freedom of movement; No worker should pay for a job; No worker should be indebted or coerced to work.Didier engages stakeholders, institutions and governments with the industry to coordinate efforts on such issues and to drive positive change for companies’ own operations and supply chains.

With professional experience in both private and public organisations, Didier’s expertise lies in building key partnerships to foster sustainable business performance, NGO management, procurement and consulting services for private and public actors. From an educational background in Political Science and International Economics in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, his international experience and language skills serve him well in his daily work.

Cindy Berman

Head of Modern Slavery Strategy, Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)

Cindy leads ETI’s efforts to tackle forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and modern slavery – working with companies, trade unions, civil society and governments. She provides expertise, produces guidance, manages policy advocacy and specific programmes in regions and countries. She has led the development of ETI’s guidance and training, including on human rights due diligence, modern slavery, child labour, access to remedy. She serves on a number of international expert panels and co-authored research and guidance in partnership with others. Prior to joining ETI five years ago, she spent ten years at the UK Department for International Development where she led and developed DFID’s flagship modern slavery programme, Work in Freedom to prevent forced and child labour for 10,000 women and girls from South Asia and the Gulf States. She was DFID’s Asia Regional Senior Social Development Advisor responsible for policy advisory support and regional programmes in Asia, Somalia, East Africa and also developed DFID’s Social Exclusion Policy. She is also a Southern Africa specialist, having grown up in South Africa, lived and worked in the region for many years and active in the struggle against apartheid. Prior to joining ETI, Cindy worked for the ILO for 3.5 years as Senior Policy Advisor at the ILO UN Liaison Office in New York, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Christian Aid and other non-governmental bodies on social justice, chronic poverty, labour, gender inequality, human rights, HIV/AIDS. 

Kieran Butler

Counsellor (Legal), Department of Home Affairs, Australian Embassy Bangkok

Kieran Butler is the Counsellor (Legal), Department of Home Affairs, Australian Embassy Bangkok. In this role he works with countries in the Indo-Pacific to strengthen efforts to combat transnational crime, particularly people smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering and terrorism, including through regional fora such as the Bali Process.

Kieran has worked in a range of criminal justice and national security related roles for the Australian Government since 2004, and prior to that worked as an Associate to a Judge of the NSW District Court.

Ajda Cevc

Sustainability Development Leader, IKEA

Previously working within civil society, Ajda joined IKEA in 2015, taking on the internal development and external engagement of various topics, such as the updating the approach to child labour prevention and young workers support, ethical recruitment as a mean to eliminate debt bondage and other human rights initiatives in the supply chain.

Currently Ajda is working as a Sustainability Development Leader and is focusing on social issues linked to informal waste collecting sector. Ajda holds a law degree from University of Ljubljana and an LLM degree in International Human Rights Law from Lund University.

Elizabeth Frantz

Senior Program Officer, International Migration Initiative, Open Society Foundation

Elizabeth Frantz leads IMI’s Fair Work programme area, which advances just and equitable working conditions for migrants and refugees in multiple regions. This involves collaboration with civil society, government and private sector actors to identify new solutions to address exploitative labour practices. She previously managed the programme’s grantmaking in Asia and the Middle East. She has been working as a researcher and advocate in the migration field for fifteen years.

Prior to joining IMI, she served as a consultant for the Open Society Foundations’ Arab Regional Office and UN Women in Amman developing strategies to advance the rights of migrants. She also worked at the American University in Cairo’s Center for Migration and Refugee Studies on the first comprehensive study of the livelihood strategies of Palestinians in Egypt. Elizabeth has a PhD in anthropology and a master’s degree in anthropology and development with first class honors from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her doctoral work looked at migrant domestic workers from Asia working in Jordan. She was a Fulbright Fellow in Sri Lanka in 2007 and a Global Public Policy Fellow at the National University of Singapore in 2010. She has published work in peer-reviewed academic journals and other media and has carried out field-based research on issues relating to migration in Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Earlier in her career, she worked as an editor and journalist in Jordan and Egypt, as well as a paralegal with a criminal defense firm in New York. Elizabeth is based in London.

William Gois

Regional Coordinator, Migrant Forum in Asia

William Gois is the Regional Coordinator of the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), a regional network of migrants' organizations, NGOs, advocates, grassroots organizations and trade unions working to promote the rights and well being of migrant workers and members of their families. As MFA’s regional coordinator he also leads MFA’s recruitment reform campaign through the Open Working Group on Labour Migration and Recruitment a platform working on collective advocacy to bring about positive change in recruitment regimes. He is also the current chair of the Global Coalition on Migration, a coalition of regional and international networks of migrant associations, migrants rights organizations and advocates, trade unions, faith groups and academia, covering every region around the world.

Over the last twenty years, he has been at the forefront of international advocacy efforts engaging and influencing international and multilateral organisations to promote equitable and fair migration and development policies. He works closely with UN Treaty Bodies, with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Committee on Migrant Workers and other special mandates. He also heads a team of MFA members to the International Labour Conference (ILC) of the International Labour Organization to monitor the development of labour migration issues within the ILO framework.

Houtan Homayounpour

Head of Project Office for the State of Qatar, International Labour oderatganization (ILO)

In February 2018, Houtan was appointed as the Head of the ILO project Office for the State of Qatar. In this capacity, he oversees the implementation of a comprehensive three year program on labour rights, and acts as the Focal Point of the ILO Regional Office for Arab States. Previously, he was based at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland providing daily support to field colleagues on development cooperation projects combatting forced labour and human trafficking, and was the focal point for private sector engagement, as well as donor relations for the ILO's Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch (FUNDAMENTALS). He was also a member and the 2013 chair of the UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT). Previous to joining the ILO, he worked at the Canadian Ministry of Health in Ottawa.

Houtan holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) with a concentration in Marketing & International Management from the University of Ottawa, as well as a Master of Science (MSc) with a specialisation in International Negotiation from Groupe École Supérieure de Commerce de Rennes.

Frances House

Deputy Chief Executive, Institute for Human Rights and Business

Frances has twenty years’ experience in the field of business and human rights and brings an important blend of strategic planning and practical programme delivery on the ground in a number of regions. In her current role, Frances is responsible for the overall operational management of IHRB as well as having a particular focus on delivery of IHRB’s Migrant Worker programme and its leadership activities with global brands around tackling modern slavery in supply chains. She works closely with IHRB’s trustees on strategy, governance and financial oversight.

Before joining IHRB, Frances was Policy Director at the International Business Leaders Forum, Vietnam Researcher with Human Rights Watch, and worked with the European Commission in Brussels and Vietnam on humanitarian programmes with asylum-seekers. A former trustee of Amnesty International UK, Care International UK and Streetkids International UK, she also sits on IKEA’s Stakeholder Advisory Board.

Kevin Hyland

Chair of the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment

Former UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner. 

Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna

Our Journey (Malaysia)

Sumitha Shaanthinni Kishna is the Co-Coordinator of Migration Working Group #Malaysia, a coalition of NGOs and individuals who advocate for the rights and protection of migrant workers, human trafficking victims, and other vulnerable populations. She has been an activist for labour rights in Malaysia and regularly brings together NGOs and rights groups from across Malaysia to coordinate on key issues. Sumitha is also a member of the Malaysian Bar Council and advocates for improved worker rights with governments throughout the Southeast Asia region.

Darian McBain

Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Thai Union

As the Global Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Thai Union, Darian McBain is responsible for implementing change that will drive sustainability through the entire global seafood industry. Darian also leads the company’s communications efforts. Since joining Thai Union in 2015, Darian has taken the company from a commodity focus to a wholistic ecosystem approach with a focus on oceans and people. Working within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Darian developed and has driven Thai Union’s sustainability strategy SeaChange® since its inception. The sustainability strategy addresses many of the sustainability challenges that Thai Union and the wider industry face.

Darian has spent her career working in business, government and non-governmental organizations delivering strategies and campaigns to contribute to a more sustainable society. In addition to running her own strategy and sustainability consultancy in Australia advising government and NGOs, she was the Sustainable Procurement Lead for the National Health Service in the UK and has advised the United Nations.

Darian holds a PHD in global supply chain analysis from the University of Sydney and remains an adjunct to the university’s Integrated Sustainability Analysis unit. She has published numerous academic articles and books. Before joining Thai Union, she was Managing Director of the consultancy Blue Sky Green, Sustainable Development Executive for the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and worked for the UN as well as WWF. In 2017 she was awarded Thai Union’s Most Exceptional Effort Award, and in 2018 she was named Edie Sustainability Leader of the Year as well as Ethical Corporation’s Responsible Business Leader of the Year. In 2019, Darian was honoured in the Vision category of the Seafood Champion Awards at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit.

Hans Mielants

Human Resources Director, Qatari Diar Vinci Construction (QDVC)

Hans Mielants started his career at Ghent University. After working as Training Coordinator in London he moved in 2002 to the construction materials industry with Holcim.

Hans worked as Training and Recruitment Manager in France and Benelux and in 2005 became Regional HR Director for Asia working mostly in the Indian subcontinent, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

In 2014 he moved to Nigeria as Supply Chain Director and Integration Manager for the merger of Lafarge and Holcim. He joined QDVC as HR Director in 2017.

He holds a Master degree in History and a Post-Master degree in Psychology from Ghent University, an MBA from National University of Singapore and an MBA from University of California Los Angeles.

John Morrison

Chief Executive, Institute for Human Rights and Business

John Morrison has extensive experience working with leading companies on issues of corporate responsibility and human rights. He worked previously with The Body Shop International plc and led the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights from 2003 to 2009. He has also worked for a number of civil society and governmental organisations on issues of migration, human trafficking and forced labour.

John has acted as an advisor to a number of governments during their presidencies of intergovernmental organisations and has chaired a wide range of conferences and initiatives in many parts of the world.

Cimarron Nix

Senior Director of Labor, Health and Safety, Sustainable Manufacturing and Sourcing, Nike

Cimarron Nix is the Senior Director of Labor, Health and Safety in Nike’s Sustainable Manufacturing & Sourcing team. In this role she overseas Nike’s supply chain labor, health and safety policies and global strategy. Cimarron and her team continuously evaluate emerging risks and work with suppliers to implement proactive standards and approaches to mitigate risks while also supporting suppliers’ development of progressive human resources and health and safety management capabilities.

Before joining Nike she led policy and program development in human rights, ethical sourcing and environmental sustainability at Hewlett Packard/Hewlett Packard Enterprise and J.Crew. Prior to her work in CSR Cimarron worked for several years in corporate development and finance. She holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs as well as a B.S. in Business Administration and B.A. in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Mohammed Hassan Al-Obaidly

Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry for Labour Affairs, Qatar Ministry Of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs

In his current position, H.E Mr Al-Obaidly is leading a team from the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (ADLSA) responsible for the comprehensive implementation of a Technical Cooperation Programme between the State of Qatar and the International Labor Organization.  

Before being appointed as Assistant Under- Secretary, He spent more than two years as Head of the Labour Sector at the ADLSA Ministry. Previously, he occupied several positions including Director of the Minister of Justice’s Office for two years, after serving as Director of the Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry of Labour & Social Affairs from 2008 to 2014. He also occupied the position of Assistant -Director of the Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry of Civil Service and Housing from 2001 to 2006.

Mr Al-Obaidly has an extensive experience in the field of national labour laws and international labour instruments, as well as of cooperation with international workers’ organixations and human rights organisations. For instance, he participated in the proposals and drafting of new legislations and procedures for the development of the labour sector and the promotion of workers’ rights in the State of Qatar.

In addition to his position as Assistant Under-Secretary for Labor Affairs, Mr. AL-OBAIDLY is currently:

• Member of the National Human Rights Committee since 2010
• Coordinator and Secretary of the National Committee against Trafficking in Human Beings.
• Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Labor Support Fund
• Director of a National Recruitment Company (WIZA).

Mahendra Pandey

Investments Manager, Humanity United

As Investments Manager, Mahendra supports Humanity United’s Human Trafficking in Labor Migration portfolio.

Prior to joining HU, Mahendra worked in Saudi Arabia as a migrant worker and experienced first-hand the poor working conditions that many Nepali migrant workers face. While in Saudi Arabia, he developed a Nepali migrant rights network which he then turned into a leading Nepali NGO, Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC). Previously, he served as the Founding Chairperson of PNCC, establishing groups in destination countries with the goal of helping workers stranded in detention centers across the Arab Gulf region, as well as advocating for labor migration reforms in Nepal.

Mahendra holds a master’s degree in digital media and storytelling from American University at Washington D.C.

Anbinh Phan

Director, Global Government Affairs, Walmart

Photo to follow.

Anbinh Phan is a Director of Global Government Affairs at Walmart. She is responsible for government relations to advance Walmart’s sourcing goals, focusing on responsible and global sourcing, trade, sustainable development and human rights. Joining Walmart in 2017, Anbinh has led and been a part of key advocacy initiatives to promote the responsible recruitment of migrant workers and combatting forced labor and human trafficking.

Anbinh has a background in law, human rights and international trade. She has worked for various NGOs including Human Rights First and launched Washington, D.C.’s first benefit corporation. She also worked as an Economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of International Trade and Investment, focused on trade preference programs and U.S. free trade agreements. She sits on the Board of Chab Dai, a non-profit in Cambodia combatting human trafficking.

Anbinh received her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy, where she focused on economics and international relations. Anbinh holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Pomona College, where she studied abroad at University College, Oxford University.

Madhu Rajesh

Director, International Tourism Partnership

Madhu began her career working in operations, sales and marketing across the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the UK for a range of hotel groups. She has spent the last decade working in the not-for-profit sector on a range of development issues including education, water & sanitation, sustainable cities and human rights. She joins ITP from WSUP (Water & Sanitation For Urban Poor) where she was Director for Partnerships & Development, before which she worked for The British Asian Trust, another Prince’s Charity.

Mahmood Abdulla Al-Siddiqi

Representative of Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and social Affairs, Permanent Mission (PM) of Qatar in Geneva

Mahmood Abdulla Al-Siddiqi is Representative of Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and social Affairs at the Permanent Mission (PM) of Qatar in Geneva.He is responsible for the International Labour and International Migration related issues, through the active participation and contribution to the different meetings, consultations and activities of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration, the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD, and any other international organisations' activities related to labour and/or migration issues. 

Mahmood works on strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation between the Government of Qatar and the aforementioned organisations with regard to labour related issues. This has contributed to the development and signature of a Technical Cooperation Project (TCP) between Qatar’s Government and the ILO and bilateral cooperation agreements with a number of countries in particular Switzerland.

Before joining the Permanent Mission of Qatar in Geneva, Mahmood acted as Head of Legal Research and Studies Department, at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs in charge among other to study and report on the application of the International Labour Instruments, ratified by the State of Qatar, to the ILO and its supervisory bodies.

Previously Mahmood worked as a Legal Advisor at the Ministry of Labour. He graduated from Qatar’s University (law College).

U Tun Min Latt

Managing Director, International Focus Recruitment Agency (Myanmar)

Mr Tun Min Latt is Managing Director of International Focus Overseas Employment Agency. He worked in Malaysia for ten years as a migrant worker. In 2012, he founded his own recruitment agency International Focus Overseas Employment Agency which is based in Yangon, Myanmar. 

Since then, his agency has been sending workers from Myanmar to Thailand and Malaysia. In 2016, one of Thailand’s biggest seafood production companies Thai Union Group PLC and Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) collaborated and implemented an ethical recruitment system. Until now, his agency has sent total 30,000 workers. 

In 2017 he worked with the Southeast Packing and Canning factory and Issara Institute on a collaboration to implement an Ethical Recruitment System. In Myanmar his agency is trying to get the Ethical Recruitment Standard Certificate and for other companies, agencies, factories and buyers to respect the Code of Conduct.

Dan Viederman

Managing Director, Humanity United

Dan Viederman is a Managing Director at Humanity United, focused on efforts to engage entrepreneurs and tech innovators in pursuit of new tools to scale improvements for vulnerable workers in global supply chains.

Before joining HU, Dan was CEO of Verité, a leading non-profit organization working against global forced and child labor through in-depth research and corporate engagement. In recognition of Verité’s impact, Dan was winner of a 2007 Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship and was named Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011. He has also managed China offices for World Wildlife Fund and Catholic Relief Services.

Dan is a graduate of Yale University, the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and the Chinese language program at Nanjing Teacher’s University.

Neill Wilkins

Programme Manager, Migrant Workers, Institute for Human Rights and Business

Neill specialises in the human rights challenges faced by migrant workers and the companies who recruit and employ them. He has undertaken a number of initiatives with the apparel, construction and hospitality sectors and the international employment industry to promote responsible recruitment. Neill also helped oversee the development of the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity, a key framework for responsible business practice relating to migrant workers.

Neill is responsible for the strategy and day to day management of the IHRB migrant workers programme along with matters relating to forced labour, trafficking and other abuses of workers rights. Currently much of his focus is on promoting responsible recruitment and the prohibition of recruitment fees being paid by migrant workers.

Neill worked for 15 years as a forestry contractor before returning to education as a mature student. After university he joined the Campaigns Team at The Body Shop International working on a number of environmental and human rights campaigns. Neill also owns and manages a popular website providing fundraising ideas to charity groups, schools and sports teams.

Barbara Wettstein

Public Affairs Manager, Nestlé

Barbara Wettstein is Public Affairs Manager at Nestlé. In this role, she is responsible for driving the communications and stakeholder engagement work related to Nestlé’s actions in responsible sourcing. 

Barbara has been with Nestlé for ten years holding different roles in Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, including four years in Central and West Africa. She holds a MA in Political Science from the University of Lausanne.  

Brent Wilton

Global Head of Workplace Rights, The Coca-Cola Company

Having trained as a labour lawyer in New Zealand, Brent has spent the last 28 years representing companies and their representative organisations across a range of labor and human rights issues in countries around the world.

Prior to joining Coca-Cola as director of Global Workplace Rights in April of 2015, for the last 15 years, Brent has been based in Switzerland with the International Organization of Employers (IOE) representing the interests of business in 150 countries on global labor and social policy matters across the UN and wider multilateral system, particularly within the International Labour Organization. As a result, Brent has directly engaged with Global Union Federations, NGOs, Governments, other stakeholders and opinion makers in the negotiation and resolution of issues.

In particular, Brent was engaged from the outset in the stakeholder discussions that led to the creation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, working closely with Professor John Ruggie and his team, and more recently with the UN Human Rights Working Group on their follow up to the implementation of the Principles. Brent also served on the Board of the UN Global Compact in his last role as IOE Secretary General and was co-chair of their multi-stakeholder Labor and Human Rights Working Group.

Lara White

Senior Specialist for Labour Migration and Human Development, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Lara White is the Senior Labour Migration Specialist for the Labour Mobility and Human Development (LHD) division of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), based in Geneva, where she provides technical and policy guidance related to temporary and permanent labour migration. She also acts as the division’s primary liaison with the private sector and other governmental, intergovernmental or civil society stakeholders on the protection of migrant workers’ rights throughout the labour migration process, including the promotion of ethical labour recruitment practices. In this capacity, she is one of the principle architects of the International Recruitment Integrity System (IRIS), a voluntary multi-stakeholder certification process for international labour recruiters.

Before joining IOM, Lara worked for the Government of Canada, bringing with her extensive experience in policy development and implementation of labour market programs administered by Economic and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Most recently she was manager of the operations unit of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), charged with the national implementation of federal legislation, regulations and policies governing the program.  Prior to this, she was the senior policy analyst for the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a bilateral managed migration program designed to facilitate the movement of temporary foreign workers in the Canadian agricultural sector.  Additionally, she has worked in several divisions of the Employment Insurance program as a policy analyst, adjudicator and training development officer.