The Commission

Republic of Korea

Professor Kyong-Whan Ahn was professor emeritus at the Seoul National University Law School from 1987 to 2007. He was Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea from 2006 to 2009 and was Deputy Chair at the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions. He was President of the Korean Constitutional Law Association (1999 – 2001) and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Asian Law Institute (2003 – 2004). From 2003 through 2004, he served as Chairman at the Committee of Legal Policy of the Ministry of Justice and University Reformation Committee of the Ministry of Education. He was a founding chairman of the steering committee of People’s Solidarity for the Participatory Democracy, and since 2013, he has been the President of Gong-gam, a non-profit human rights legal foundation in Korea. Throughout his career, Kyong-Whan Ahn has published extensively in the fields of Anglo-American law, constitutional law, law and literature and human rights law.

The Philippines

Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2002 to 2009, and is Chancellor Emeritus of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PhilJA). He was part of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and served as Presidential Legal Counsel, Press Secretary and Spokesperson for the late President Corazon C. Aquino. Justice Azcuna was the Chairperson of the Philippine National Bank before he was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He has received the Justice Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera Award for the Most Outstanding Professorial Lecturer, and the JCI Senate Philippines-Insular Life Outstanding Filipino (TOFIL) Award in the field of Justice and Law. In September 2016, Justice Azcuna received the Lux in Domino Award from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Australia

A first term commissioner, Dr. Elizabeth Biok has represented asylum seekers and refugees at all levels of Australian immigration determination for more than twenty years. She has appeared before Australian parliamentary committees on immigration law and human rights issues. She has been closely involved with community organisations working on Australian and Southeast Asian human rights issues and refugee law. Her doctoral research was on refugees in the Asia Pacific region. Dr. Biok is the Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists Australia and has regularly written and spoken on human rights in Southeast Asia. Dr. Biok worked as a legal advisor with the United Nations in Timor Leste during and after the conflict of 1999. She has trained lawyers in Indonesia and Timor Leste, and maintains regular contact with civil society groups in both countries. She has also participated in ICJ missions to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Pakistan

Ms. Hina Jilani specialises in human rights and constitutional rights litigation, both in class action and individual cases. She has taught courses on international human rights law at University of Oxford, the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Georgetown University Law School.
In 1980 she co-founded the first all women law firm and the first Legal Aid organisation in Pakistan. She is currently Chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an NGO that she co-founded in 1986. She is also the Founding Trustee of Dastak Charitable Trust, a globally known women’s shelter and Centre for Access to Justice for women and children. Ms. Jilani served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, and was member of international commissions of inquiry on serious human rights violations constituted by the United Nations. She was a member of the ICJ Eminent Jurists Panel on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism in by the ICJ in 2006. She is a member of the Elders, a group of global independent leaders established by Nelson Mandela to work for human rights, peace and democracy. She is currently serving as the President of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT). Ms. Jilani is the recipient of numerous human rights awards for her legal and human rights work internationally as well as in Pakistan and South Asia. These honours include the American Bar Association Litigation Award in 1992, the Millennium Peace Prize in 2001 and the Stockholm Human Rights award 2020. She has been awarded the Honorary Doctorate in Laws (honoris causa) by Trinity College, Dublin in 2016 and by the Roehampton University, United Kingdom, in 2009.

Australia

John Lawrence O’Meally is a mediator accredited by the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators of Australia, and on the New South Wales (NSW) Bar Association’s list of mediators for cases in the Supreme Court of NSW. He is a graduate of the University of Sydney and was admitted to the NSW and Australian Bars in 1964 and then later to the Papua New Guinea Bar and Western Pacific Bar. He has worked as a barrister and judges in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Antigua and Barbados. He has been a Consultant to the Governments of St Lucia on Restructuring the District Court and the Solomon Islands on Restoration of the Legal System. He is a Member of Council of the Australian Section of the ICJ and President of the NSW Branch. 

Kyrgyzstan

Chinara Aidarbekova was a judge of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court from 2013 to 2020. From 2005 to 2007 she worked as a professor of the Kyrgyz State Law Academy. She is a Member of the Association “Lawyers of Kyrgyzstan”, the Kyrgyz Association of Women Judges and the International Association of Women Judges. She was formerly a consultant to the Legislative Assembly, a senior lecturer at the Centre for Magistracy, Postgraduate Studies and other national educational programmes of the Kyrgyz State Law Academy and a senior lawyer in the Ministry of Justice. She is currently serving her second term as an ICJ Commissioner.

Uzbekistan

Gulnora Ishankhanova heads the “Oila” NGO in Uzbekistan working on family and women’s rights in particular. Earlier she worked as a legal expert with the Legal Problems Centre in Uzbekistan. A leading lawyer in Uzbekistan she served as Chair of the Tashkent City Branch of the Uzbek Bar Association from 2000 to 2008. In addition she served as a member and co-chair of the Uzbek Bar Qualification Committee, as an expert of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislation and Judiciary and as a member of the Public Expert Council of the Uzbek Ombudsman’s Office.

Norway

Åsne Julsrud is a Judge at the Oslo District Court of Norway. She graduated with a law degree from the University of Oslo in 1995. She also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Southampton where she focused on Human Rights and Civil Liberties. Thereafter, Ms. Julsrud went on to work at the Norwegian Institute on Human Rights under the University of Oslo, and she worked as a barrister for the Counsel of Oslo. From 2005, she has worked as a judge, both in Drammen and Oslo District Courts and in the High court of Hålogaland. From 2012 until 2013, she was one of the secretaries for the 22 of July Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya. From 2019 to 2021 she was secretary for a Commission in the Norwegian Parliament looking into the parliamentary control mechanisms of the Executive Government. Ms. Julsrud has been a board member of ICJ-Norway and is now in ICJ-Norway’s committee for Independence in the Judiciary and from 2017 to 2019, she was the chairperson of the board for the Norwegian National Human Rights Institution. Ms. Julsrud has been a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Norwegian Judges Association since 2005, is a member of the council of the Norwegian Helsinki committee and is also now a member of the board of the Norwegian Judges Association.

Russia

Tamara Morshchakova is a former Judge of the Constitutional Court in Russia between 1991 and 2002. She is a Professor of law, an honorary lawyer and an honorary scholar of the Russian Federation and a recipient of many legal awards in Russia. Tamara Morshchakova specialises in the judiciary, criminal process, constitutional and judicial review, comparative jurisprudence and others. She was an author of “Conception of the Judicial Reform of the Russian Federation”, adopted in 1991 after the break-up of the Soviet Union. She also served as a member of the Constitutional Council and the Working Commission on the development of the 1993 Constitution. She is a co-author of the laws On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, on the Status of Judges of the Russian Federation and the Law on Appeal in Court Against Actions, Decisions which Violate Rights and Freedoms of Citizens. Currently, Morshchakova is a member of the Scientific Consultative Council under the Supreme Court and Deputy Chair of the Council on Legislation Improvement. She works as the head of the Department of the Judicial and Organisation of Justice at a State University (High School of Economy) and is a member of the Council for Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation. She is an author of more than 130 publications on the justice system, constitutionalism, constitutional rights, judiciary and the judicial procedure, criminal process and rights in the process. She is also an active participant in public discussions on legal and constitutional reform and human rights issues in Russia.

Netherlands

Judge Myjer served as a Judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg from November 2004 until October 2012. He is an Emeritus Professor of Human Rights at the Free University of Amsterdam. Previously, he was Deputy Prosecutor-General/Chief Advocate General at the Court of Appeal, Amsterdam (1996 – 2004); Advocate-General of the Court of Appeal, The Hague (1991 – 1995); Vice-President of the District Court of Zutphen (1986 – 1991); and Judge of the District Court of Zutphen (1981 – 1986). Judge Myjer holds a Masters degree in Law from the University of Utrecht and has also served as Associate Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Leiden. Judge Myjer has written and contributed to over forty books, conference papers and commentaries; has co-edited several books including Human Rights Manual for Prosecutors (2003) and was a founding member of the editorial board for the Netherlands Humans Rights Law Review (NJCM-bulletin – 1976 – 2004). He is also a member of the board of Amnesty International the Netherlands, the UAF (Foundation for Refugee Students) and the International Service for Human Rights. In 2000, Judge Myjer was honoured as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau, for work undertaken in the Netherlands in the field of human rights, and in 2012 he was promoted to Commander. In 2001 he received the Medal of Merit of the Council of Europe, for his contribution to the human rights education for members of the Dutch Judiciary. In 2004 he was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the International Association of Prosecutors. In 2012, he was made an honorary bencher of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, United Kingdom.

United Kingdom

Sir Nicolas Bratza is a British lawyer and a former President of the European Court of Human Rights. He took silk as Queen’s Counsel in 1988 and in 1993, was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court, elected a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. and appointed as the UK Member of the European Commission of Human Rights, part of the European Convention on Human Rights system of the Council of Europe. In 1998, the European Court of Human Rights was established and he was elected to represent the UK. He was a vice-president of the court from 2007 to 2011, then succeeded Jean-Paul Costa as President. His term ended in October 2012. He is a member of the Advisory Council and former Vice-Chairman of the British Institute of Human Rights, a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and a member of the Editorial Board of the European Human Rights Law Review.

Serbia

Judge Radmila Dragicevic-Dicic was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Serbia from 2013 to 2023. In 1994, she was elected judge of the District Court of Belgrade, and in 1997, during the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, Judge Dicic was one of a number of judges that established the Association of Judges of Serbia to improve the judicial system, promote the independence of judges, and resist attempts to violate basic constitutional principles. Members of the Association were harassed by authorities and in early 2000, the National Assembly of Serbia dismissed 15 judges, including Judge Dicic. Until the fall of the Milosevic regime, Judge Dicic worked as a lawyer and consultant for NGOs, including the Helsinki Committee of Human Rights in Serbia, the Humanitarian Law Centre, and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights. After elections in 2000, the Parliament of Serbia annulled the dismissal and Judge Dicic retook her position in the Belgrade District Court. In May 2003, she was assigned to the Special Chamber for Organized Crime of the Belgrade District Court and oversaw many high-profile cases, both as a member of the Panel and as its Chairman.

Jordan

Hadeel is a leading activist and human rights defender in Jordan. She is the Executive Director of the Justice Center for Legal Aid. Established in 2008, JCLA is a Jordanian NGO that’s the largest legal aid provider in Jordan, providing legal aid services at 16 clinics located across all 12 governorates to marginalised groups, including refugees, migrants and domestic workers.

Syria

Mazen Darwish is a Syrian lawyer and human rights defender, and graduated from the Law faculty at the University of Damascus-Syria. He is the founder and General Director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) and the Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC), and a Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights. Darwish has been awarded over 12 international awards including “Roland Berger Human Dignity Award”, “UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize” and “Four Freedoms Award”, and was named in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022. Darwish has been arrested several times in Syria due to activism on defending human rights, the last of which was for more than three years (until 2015). He has been an Advisory Member of the Myanmar Expert Committee, a member of the Constitutional Experts Committee formed by the UN Special Envoy to Syria, a member of “Geneva Talks”, a member of the national working group reviewing Syrian media legislation, the Deputy of the Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity and the leader of the Observation Team in the Moroccan and Jordanian Parliamentary Elections 2007.

Egypt

A prominent lawyer and human rights defender in Egypt and the Arab world, Gamal Eid is the founder and director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, founded in 2003 to promote freedom of expression, campaign against censorship in the Arab region and provide legal assistance to journalists and free speech activists. As a result of his work as a lawyer and human rights defender, including his legal representation of those suspected of opposing the military regime in Egypt, Eid was subjected to a constant campaign of harassment and intimidation, including arrest, travel ban, defamation campaigns and unfair criminal proceedings. His office, telephone communications and e-mails have also been under constant surveillance by Egyptian security forces.

Lebanon

Nahla Haidar is the Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and was a member of the Working Group on Communications under the Optional Protocol to the Convention (2015 – 2016 & 2019 – 2020) and of the Working Group on Inquiries (2017 – 2018). She has been CEDAW’s Rapporteur on Reprisals since July 2018. Nahla has over 35 years of professional experience mainly within the United Nations System, in various capacities, both at headquarters and in the field, ranging from social development, to relief coordination, to peace-building and to development cooperation. She holds an LLM in Law from Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, and Law degree in International Law from Saint Josef University in Beirut Lebanon and a licence in Sociology.

Libya

Marwan Tashani is a Judge and former President of the
Nepalese Commission for Cairo, Commissioner of the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights.

He is a legal researcher and human rights expert specializing in human rights and judicial justice issues.