George Andreopoulos
Director

The Center for International Human Rights is currently being directed by Professor George Andreopoulos. George Andreopoulos is Professor of Political Science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Professor Andreopoulos studied history, law, and international relations at the Universities of Chicago and Cambridge. Before coming to CUNY, he taught for several years at Yale University, where he was the founding Associate Director of the Orville Schell Center for International Human Rights. He has written extensively on international security, international human rights, and international humanitarian law issues. His recent publications include Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe (with Zehra Arat and Peter Juviler) Kumarian Press, Concepts and Strategies in International Human Rights (ed.) (Peter Lang); The Laws of War: Constraints on Warfare in the Western World (with Sir Michael Howard and Mark Shulman, Yale University Press); and Human Rights Education for the Twenty-First Century (with Richard Pierre Claude, University of Pennsylvania Press). The Human Rights Education book has appeared in a Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese translations and has been nominated for the Grawemeyer Award in Education. Professor Andreopoulos is currently completing a book on Humanitarian Intervention for Yale University Press and serves on the Editorial Board of Human Rights Review. Over the years, he has participated in several human rights missions, most recently in Sierra Leone to study and prepare recommendations on accountability mechanisms in that country. Professor Andreopoulos was President of the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association from 2003 to 2004.

 

 

Aferdita Hakaj

Assistant Director

Aferdita Hakaj is the Assistant Director for the Center for International Human Rights. She has studied Law, International Affairs and Economics at Pennsylvania State University, Cambridge University and John Jay College. Prior to joining the Center, Aferdita worked at the United Nations with the following divisions: the Department of Management, the Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) where she researched and explored issues related to human resources, central emergency assistance projects, small developing islands security issues post 9/11, as well as humanitarian policy and economic development topics. Aferdita has held various leadership positions in the past, such as: Vice President of the United Nations Student Association and the Founder and President of the Albanian Students Association at John Jay College. She participated and published background material as Former Director, Assistant Director and delegate for the National Model United Nations Conference during 2003 to 2006. Aferdita was also a Panelist on the importance of speech communication courses for the CUNY League of Active Speech Professors.

Rosemary Barberet

Associate Professor

Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

Rosemary Barberet is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and director of the Master of Arts Degree Program in International Crime and Justice.  A native of Connecticut and trained in criminology in the United States (PhD, University of Maryland, 1994), she has spent most of her academic career in Europe (Spain and England). Dr. Barberet's publications have dealt with self-reported youth crime, violence against women, business crime, crime indicators and comparative methodology. Dr. Barberet's research interests include the use of criminal justice data and research in policymaking, crime indicators, victimization, gender and crime and cross-cultural methodology. From 2001-2005 she chaired the International Division of the American Society of Criminology. She is actively involved in a number of criminology associations around the world and is fluent in Spanish and French. Dr. Barberet has been awarded the Herbert Bloch Award of the American Society of Criminology for service to the society and to the professional interests of criminology, as well as the Rafael Salillas Award of the Sociedad Española de Investigación Criminológica.  She represents the International Sociological Association at the United Nations in New York and Vienna and is a founding member of Criminologists Without Borders. 

 

 

Richard Falk

Emeritus Professor of International Law

Princeton University

Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus Princeton University and since 2002, Research Professor, Global Studies, University of California- Santa Barbara. He is currently UN Special Rapporteur on behalf of the Human Rights Commission with respect to Israeli violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. His most recent books are ACHIEVING HUMAN RIGHTS (2009); THE COSTS OF THE IRAQ WAR (2007). He also directs a project on Climate Change, Human Security, and Democracy.    

 

 

John Kleinig

Professor

Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

John Kleinig is Director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics and Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and in the PhD Programs in Philosophy and Criminal Justice, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. He is also Strategic Research Professor at Charles Sturt University and Professorial Fellow and Program Manager in Criminal Justice Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (Canberra, Australia). Prior to coming to John Jay College in 1986, Kleinig taught for 17 years at Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia). His early and continuing interests have been in moral and social philosophy, though he has also done extensive work in philosophy of education, bioethics and, more recently, criminal justice ethics. He is the author/editor of 16 books.   

 

 

J. Paul Martin

Professor and Director of the Human Rights Studies Program

Barnard College, Columbia University

Since leaving his position as executive director of Columbia's Center for the Study of Human Rights, Paul Martin has been teaching and directing human rights studies at Barnard College, Columbia's undergraduate College for women. Without his past administrative duties, he has been writing more, notably on capacity building as an alternative to traditional patterns of economic and political development. His current research includes human rights education in post conflict zones, post-secularism and eventually a book on human rights education. He has also become increasingly interested in the human rights in Caribbean and especially Haiti where he is helping to develop a masters' program in human rights for young professionals in teaching, the military, the police, religious ministry and the law.  

 

 

Susan Waltz, Professor

Gerald Ford School of Public Policy

University of Michigan

Susan Waltz is Professor of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan and a specialist in human rights and international affairs. She is author of Human Rights and Reform: Changing the Face of North African Politics (1995), numerous articles on North African politics, and a series of articles on the historical origins of international human rights instruments. Susan was the first American to serve as chair of Amnesty International's international governing board (1996-1998), and for several years she has been involved with international efforts to promote a treaty to regulate the small arms trade. She has also served as a board member for the American Friends (Quaker) Service Committee (2000-2008) and in June 2009 began a 3-year term on the board of Amnesty International-USA. 

  

Ksenia Armstrong

 

Ksenia Armstrong is currently a junior at John Jay College, majoring in International Criminal Justice and minoring in Spanish. She grew up and attended school in Russia with advanced learning studies in foreign languages. Ksenia is fluent in Spanish, familiar in basic German and currently attending the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF) to study French. During her time in Russia, she participated in exchange programs at her university that tutored students from around the world who came to study politics and economics. Ksenia moved to the United States five years ago and changed her field of study because she intends to be more involved in international relations. She is particularly interested in the following issues: humanitarian assistance to third world countries, raising awareness of human rights, world poverty, lack of information and insufficient coverage of international problems in the media. Ksenia plans to apply to graduate school in International Relations (IR). Her studies in IR combined with her linguistic background will enable her to pursue her career goals in the field of human rights. 

Shawna M. Brandle

Shawna Brandle is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an Instructional Technology Fellow at the CUNY School of Professional Studies. She holds a BSFS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and an MA from Brooklyn College. She is currently finishing her dissertation on television news coverage of human rights in the US and UK. Her interests include international human rights, international law, and media and politics.

Lydia Boyer

 

Lydia Boyer is a Masters student in the International Crime and Justice program at John Jay. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College cum laude with a BA in International Relations. She received High Honors from the International Relations Department for her honors thesis “Arms Sales, the Legislative Veto and the American Public: An Examination of the Impact of the Legislative Veto on American Foreign Policy in the Middle East from 1974 to 1983.” After graduation, she worked with Global Policy Forum, a UN focused NGO, in New York. While with Global Policy Forum, she worked on issues related to the Security Council, particularly Council Reform, and worked with members of other NGOs as the coordinator of the NGO Working Group on the Security Council. She has travelled to France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Greece, and Egypt. She speaks French and some Arabic. Her interests include international human rights, international law, transitional justice and conflict resolution. She is currently CIHR's webmaster.

 

Syeda Fatima

 

Syeda Fatima is a sophomore in the CUNY BA program majoring in International Human Rights and Oriental Studies. She is interested in incorporating her background in post-colonial literature, history and anthropology with her study of international human rights and its discourse within the international community. Syeda is currently a Peer Mentor, Peer Ambassador and member of the Debate Society at John Jay College. She is also a College Assistant and Stage Manager for the Communication and Theatre Arts Department and would eventually like to combine her experience in theater to write a play on modern day genocide.  She hopes to attend law school in the future and pursue a legal career in humanitarian law. 

 

Trisha Gangadeen

Trisha Gangadeen, a graduate from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, earned her B.A. in International Criminal Justice with minors in Gender Studies and English. Trisha is interested in all aspects of human rights. However, she is particularly concerned with political violence and the politics of refugees and forced migration. Trisha is also interested in foreign policies and their effects on the infringement of human rights. Her long term goals are to pursue a career in human rights documentary-making and eventually a doctorate. 

Daniel Golebiewseki

Daniel Golebiewski is a senior at John Jay, majoring in Political Science and double minoring in English and History. His interests in human rights began when he took a course on international human rights and he has sought ways to expand both his knowledge and his engagement. As a Polish immigrant, he values how people dissent and demand to achieve their civil, political, economic, and social rights. He plans on going to graduate school to earn a Ph.D. in International Relations. He is interested in terrorism and human rights.

Sarah Guillet

Sarah Guillet is currently a junior at John Jay College and a Honor's Program student. She is a CUNY BA student majoring in International Human Rights and Anthropology. Sarah is an executive member of the Amnesty International Student Chapter at John Jay College and plans to work for a non-profit organization after graduating. 

Kemar McIntosh

Kemar McIntosh is a senior at John Jay, majoring in Philosophy with minors in the Humanities and Justice, and Law. Kemar is also a Ronald.E.McNair scholar and a former executive member for Artists United. He is a fierce advocate for human rights and other striking issues surrounding justice. He recently won the Perry-Moore Hero Fund Scholarship, which is granted to students whose literary artistic presentation evokes inspiration. Kemar plans to attend graduate school to continue studying philosophy in the fall of 2013.

Shelby Prue

 

Shelby Prue graduated from Central Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of the Arts in Criminology. She is currently a candidate for a Master of the Arts degree in International Crime and Justice at John Jay College. For the past year, Shelby worked as a Collections legal assistant and learned about the processes of civil lawsuits. Prior to this position, she worked with youth offenders in Hartford, assisting with job preparation and education and acting as their representative in Community court. Shelby is interested in all aspects of human rights and the overlapping relationship with international law. In her future career plans, she would like to incorporate her current studies in human rights with her background in criminology, in particular, crimes affecting children and adolescents worldwide.

 

Leena Widdi 

 

Leena Widdi is finishing her first year in the Honors Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She is majoring in International Criminal Justice, and is applying to CUNY BA to pursue majors in International Human Rights and Middle Eastern Studies. She is fluent in Arabic and hopes that, as a Palestinian, her studies, linguistic background, and personal relationships will help her to pursue a career that incorporates her interests in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, worldwide poverty, humanitarian assistance, and media. She plans to go on to law school after graduation and work for a non-profit organization in the Middle East.  

 

Ania Witkowska

 

Emigrating from Poland six years ago, Ania Witkowska recently graduated John Jay College with bachelors in International Criminal Justice and a minor in Political Science. As an undergraduate, she took was a member of the Model United Nations team at John Jay and previously worked with CIHR. She has interned at the Kosciuszko Foundation where she helped raise awareness to lower visas for poles. In addition, as a McNair Scholar, she is currently writing a paper on “The Effect of the Transculturalism on the Educational Goals of Immigrant Students”. She plans to attend graduate school in the areas of human rights and comparative politics.