Marcel
van Herpen
Director, Cicero Foundation
The Netherlands |
 |
Marcel
H. van Herpen (*1945) studied Western Sociology at the
University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands). From 1969-1975
he worked as an research assistant for social philosophy
at the Sociology Department. From 1975 to 1979 he was
assistant professor at the Political Science Department
and at the Peace Research Centre of Nijmegen University.
From 1979 to 1985 he worked as director of the international
department at the Europehouse of the Netherlands. Published
in 1983 a book " Marx and Human Rights - Politics |
| and
Ethics from Rousseau to Marx" and was a long time collaborator
of the Dutch weekly 'De Groene Amsterdammer', the Dutch
equivalent of 'The New York Review of Books'. From 1985
to 1992 he was director European Affairs of the Dutch
Driekant Foundation, a government sponsored seminar
institute. At this institute he initiated the Inter-University
Eastern Europe Project, an exchange project for economists
of Dutch and Central and Eastern European universities,
in which participated the universities of Gdansk (Poland),
Budapest (Hungary), and the Lomonossow University of
Moscow. He organised many seminars, i.a. for NATO HQ,
Brussels and gave lectures at different American universities,
as well as at West Point Military Academy (New York/USA).
He was a long time member of the Foreign Affairs Committee
of the Dutch Social-Democratic Party and was chairman
of the Committee for Economic Democracy of the WBS,
the scientific bureau of the Social-Democratic Party.
He was also a member of the Board of FIME, the International
Federation of Europe Houses. Since 1992 he is director
of The Cicero Foundation, a Maastricht and Paris based
pro-EU think tank that on a regular basis organises
seminars for over 90 ministries of the EU member states
and the candidate countries. Website: www.cicerofoundation.org
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Participants...
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| Thommy
Svensson
Director,
Swedish School of Advanced Asia-Pacific Studies
Sweden |
 |
Thommy
Svensson is a historian with experiences from academia,
government, international organisations, museums and
the private sector who has tried to understand developments
in Europe and Pacific Asia for the past thirty years.
He got a PhD in history at the Göteborg University,
Sweden, in 1983 and was appointed professor of economic
history at the University of Bergen, Norway, in 1989.
He is currently director of the Swedish School of Advanced
Asia-Pacific Studies (SSAAPS).
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| Thommy
has previously been director general at the Ministry
of Culture of Sweden (2002-2005), chief executive officer
of the Swedish National Museums of World Culture (1999-2002),
head of the Department of History at Göteborg University
(1997-1999) and director of the Nordic Institute of
Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen, Denmark (1990-1997).
He
has also been chairman of the Asia-Europe Museum Network,
ASEMUS, (2001-2003), chairman of the Asia Committee
of the European Science Foundation (1994-2001) and president
of the European Association of South-East Asian Studies,
EUROSEAS, (1992-2001).
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| Farish
Noor
Zentrum
Moderner Orient (Berlin)
Malaysia |
 |
Dr.
Farish (Badrol Hisham) Ahmad-Noor is a Malaysian political
scientist, writer and activist currently based at the
Zentrum Moderner Orient (Centre for Modern Orient Studies),
Berlin. He has been researching and writing on the phenomenon
of political Islam and transnational religio-political
and educational networks for several years. At present
he is working on the transnational linkages and networks
between religious seminaries in Southeast Asia and South
Asia, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thailand,
India and Pakistan. |
His
activist-related writings have focused on the issues
of human rights, press freedom, the debate on secularism
and democracy, as well as gender issues. He is the author
of Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of
the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS: 1951-2003.
(Two Volumes), Malaysian Sociological Research Institute
(MSRI), Kuala Lumpur, 2004; ' The Other Malaysia:
Writings on Malaysia's Subaltern History', Silverfish
Books, Kuala Lumpur, 2003; and 'New Voices of Islam'
, ISIM International Institute for the Study of
Islam in the Modern World, Leiden, Netherlands, 2002.
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| Ilze
Brands Kehris
Director,
Latvian
Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies
Latvia |
|
Ilze
Brands Kehris is since 2002 the Director of the independent
non-governmental organization the Latvian Centre for
Human Rights and Ethnic Studies ( www.humanrights.org.lv
) in Riga, Latvia, where she has also previously
worked as a researcher and policy analyst. |
Her
main research interests are minority rights, citizenship,
anti-discrimination, racism, xenophobia and intolerance
and the processes of democratization in post-socialist
societies, although the institution also researches
and monitors legislation and situation in closed institutions
like prisons, mental health institutions, illegal
migrant camps and police detention cells (and other
issues relating to law enforcement). Ilze Brands Kehris
served as a candidate country observer from Latvia
at the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism
and Xenophobia in 2003-2004, and was in 2004 appointed
the management board member from Latvia. In June 2004,
she was elected Vice-Chair of the EUMC Management
Board. In addition, she has participated variously
as discussant, moderator, chair, rapporteur, lecturer
or expert in various international conferences and
seminars organized by the OSCE, Council of Europe,
the European Union and the United Nations. She is
presently also participating in a working group tasked
with elaborating recommendations on policing and minorities,
which was formed under the aegis of the OSCE High
Commissioner for the Protection of National Minorities.
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William
Gois
Migrant
Forum in Asia
Philippines |
|
Mr.
Ashley William Gois is an educator, sociologist and
human rights advocate. He has been working on Human
Rights education for more than a decade and has been
teaching social consciousness among University students
across the Asia Pacific Region. From 1990 to 1995 Mr.
Gois has worked extensively with Religious and cross
cultural dialogues in Pakistan. He was a member of the
Pax Romana Asian Regional Team from 1995-2000. |
| Mr.
Gois has completed his Masters Degree in Sociology and
is currently working on his PhD on Cosmic Anthropology.
He is also a team member of the Center for Conscious
Living.Currently
Mr. Gois is the regional coordinator of the Migrant
Forum in Asia, 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. |
Falk
Pingel
Acting
Director
Georg
Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research
Germany
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Falk
Pingel is Acting Director of the Georg Eckert Institute
for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig,
Germany. In 2003, he was the first Director of the OSCE
Mission's Education Department in Sarajewo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
He
formerly taught contemporary history as well as theory
and didactics of history at Bielefeld University where
he got his doctorate. His thesis has dealt with the
Nazi concentration camps. |
He
is a member of the Education Committee to the German
Commission for UNESCO. He takes the chair in the Internet-based
project www.holocaust-education.de
and represents the Georg Eckert Institute in the
Council of Europe's project group "Learning and teaching
about the history of Europe in the 20th Century". He
acts as a consultant to Ministries of Education and
scientific institutions on curriculum and textbook development
in history and civics. He has been involved in reconciliation
projects in South Africa and Israel/Palestine.
He
publishes widely on German and European contemporary
history and is currently the editor of the Georg Eckert
Institute's journal "Internationale Schulbuchforschung
/International Textbook Research" . |
| Sondang
Simanjuntak
Executive
Director, Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa
Indonesia
|
 |
Sondang
Simanjuntak got her Bachelor of Law from University
of Indonesia in 1997. In 2003, she won the Fulbright
scholarship to attain a Master in International Human
Rights Law in School of Law Northwestern University,
Chicago.
She
has been the Executive Director of Solidaritas Nusa
Bangsa (SNB) since June 2005. |
Prior
to this position, she was the Head of the Advocacy
Division in SNB from 1999. The concern of this organization
is to campaign for pluralism and specifically advocate
the elimination of racial and ethnic discrimination
in Indonesia. The activities including handling discrimination
cases, publishing books, journals, series' about pluralism
and human rights values, lobbying the government and
parliament and building networks with national and
international NGO's. The organization is deeply involved
in initiating the legal reformation of the practice
of discriminative regulations in Indonesia.
Right
now, Sondang Simanjuntak is appointed as a member
of the anti Discrimination Commission under the Indonesian
National Human Rights Commission. This commission
is tasked to identify discrimination cases and find
the root causes of discrimination problems in Indonesia.
She is also involved in several professional organizations
which include APHI (Indonesian Lawyers and Human Rights
Defender Association ) as a Head of International
Affairs and recently she worked to established a new
organization ADHAM (Human Rights Lecturer Association)
as a medium for human rights lecturers to share ideas
and discuss human rights problems in Indonesia.
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| Farid
Mirbagheri
Director
of Research, Center for World Dialogue
Cyprus
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SM
Farid Mirbagheri completed his secondary and tertiary
education in the UK. He graduated in International Relations
from Keele University, England, where he also earned
his PhD in the same field. He currently holds the Dialogue
Chair in Middle Eastern Studies at Intercollege, Nicosia
and is the Director of Research at the Centre for World
Dialogue in the same city. Editor of the Cyprus
Review , an academic internationally refereed journal
published by Intercollege and the University of Indianapolis,
he is also an Associate editor of Global Dialogue
. |
Author of numerous publications his book on Cyprus
and International Peacemaking was published
by Hurst & Co in the UK and Routledge in the USA
in 1998. He is now working on War & Peace
in Islam and A Historical Dictionary of
Cyprus.
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| Chaiwat
Satha-Anand
Professor,Thammasat
University
Thailand |
 |
Born
in Bangkok 1955, Thai, holds a PhD in political science
from University of Hawaii at Manoa, professor of political
science at Thammasat University, Bangkok and director
of the Thai Peace Information Centre which conducts
studies and activism in relation to the Thai military
and social issues.Satha-Anand is an expert on non-violence,
theory as well as activism, and on Islam. He has published
numerous articles and book chapters on the military,
alternative defence, religion and peace, Islam and nonviolence,
and modern political philosophy. |
For
several years he directed the International Peace
Research Association's (IPRA) commission on non-violence
and he serves at the Scientific Committee of the International
University for Peoples' Initiative for Peace, IUPIP,
in Rovereto Italy.
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Karen
Chouhan
Chief
Executive,1990 Trust
UK |
 |
Karen
Chouhan is currently the Chief Executive of 1990 Trust
a Human Rights NGO working for race equality in the
UK. Karen is one of the 7 visionaries selected in May
2005 by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust with ideas
to change the world. Karen aims to build a UK-wide Black-led
alliance for race equality.
Karen
is a founder member of: the Black members' organisation
of NALGO (now UNISON); |
| National
Black Caucus; The 1990 Trust and of Belgrave Baheno
women's organisation, Leicester, now owners of a multi-million
pound organisation called The Peepul Centre to which
she is chair. Karen is the Vice chair of: Black Londoners
forum; UK Race in Europe Network and an executive member
of the National Assembly Against Racism. Karen was a
senior Lecturer at Leicester's De Montfort University
for 12 years where she was the programme leader. Karen
worked in local government for 7 years where one of
her principal interests was the development of civic
engagement of local communities. |
| Chung
Daekyun
Professor
of Social Anthropology
Tokyo
Metropolitan University
Japan |
 |
Professor
of social anthropology, Tokyo Metropolitan University.
His interests focus on the ethnicities and nationalism
of East Asian countries. He is also interested in the
mutual images between Japan and neighboring countries
like Koreas and China. His publications include Japanese
images of South Korea (1995), South Korean images of
Japan (1998), The End of the Koreans in Japan (2001),
Nationalism of South Korea (2003) and Koreans in Japan:
The Myth of Forced Migration (2004). |
Born
in 1948, he studied at Rikkyo University in Tokyo and
University of California, Los Angeles. Before moving
to the present university in 1995, he taught in South
Korean universities for 14 years. |
Francesc
Rovira
Unescocat - UNESCO Centre of Catalonia
Spain |
|
Francesc
Rovira works for the interreligious dialogue division
of Unescocat - UNESCO Centre of Catalonia, where he
was coinitiator of the interreligious committee in 1997.
He is currently serving as coordinator of the Interreligious
Centre of Barcelona and as editor of the journal Dialogal
. In the past he also served as activity coordinator
of the UNESCO Association for Interreligious Dialogue
and was in charge of national outreach for the 2004
Parliament of the World's Religions. |
He
has published a number of articles on topics related
to religion, such as "The Challenges of the Contemporary
World and the Contribution by Religions", "God and War",
"Language in Interfaith Relations", "Religions in School
in an Intercultural Context", "Dialoguing with Islam"
or "Paradoxes of Interreligious Dialogue". He has a
degree in Philosophy and teaches at the Higher Institute
of Religious Studies "Sant Fructuós" (Tarragona;
Catholic) and at the Centre for the Study of Religious
Traditions (Barcelona; secular).
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Yu
Hai
Professor
of Sociology
Fudan
University
China |
 |
Mr.
Yu Hai is Professor & Ph.D of Sociology, Vice-director
for Centre for Youth Studies and Researcher of Nordic
Centre at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He is holder
of MA of Philosophy from the same university, and BA
of History from Beijing Normal University. He also joined
the Fort Foundation Program on sociological training
in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In addition,
he is a visiting scholar to a number of universities,
e.g. University of Bergen and Oslo University in Norway,
Queen's |
University
in Canada, C.N.R.S-Sociologue in France, University
of Toronto and Carleton University in Canada, Yale University
in U.S., Lund University in Sweden. He is also a consultant
to YMCA and Shanghai Charity Foundation and Guest Commentator
for Shanghai Dragon TV and Columnist for Shanghai Star,
an English Newspaper.
Of
all his academic endeavours, Mr. Yu has a clear focus
on the disadvantageous group and inequality in the
society, from which he has targeted his criticism
at cultural protectionism, hatred and prejudice among
different people. He is the recipient of History of
Western Sociological Thoughts Award by Ministry of
Education (1995), Best Course Award by Chinese Central
Government (2002) and Shanghai Municipal Government
(2001).
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| From
the Asia-Europe Foundation... |
Bertrand
Fort
Director, Intellectual Exchange, ASEF
France |
 |
Bertrand
Fort, Director for Intellectual Exchange, Asia-Europe
Foundation (2002-pres). He attained his bachelor degree
in economics from Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne University
and in communications and information (Paris II Assas)
in 1985. He also received a diploma and a postgraduate
diploma in sociology of organisations at the Institute
of Political Sciences (IEP-Paris) in 1988. Bertrand
Fort became Deputy-Counsellor for Press Relations for
the French Defence Minister from 1989-1990 and was Communications
Chief in the French Parliament from 1991-1996.
|
In
1996, he went on a year-long sabbatical as a journalist
travelling through countries such as India, Nepal,
Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia for several
newspapers and radios and was one of the founders
of L'Asie Magazine.
He
joined the staff of the French Foreign Affairs Minister,
Hubert Vedrine, as Counsellor for Political Affairs,
in charge of relationships with parliamentarians (French
and European), think-tanks, foundations and civil
society organisations from 1998-2002 - a post he held
while concurrently a postgraduate lecturer on international
affairs at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris
and Lille for three years.
He
has co-edited the book "Paths to Regionalisation:
Comparing Experiences in East Asia and Europe",
published by Marshall-Cavendish in early 2005. Forthcoming
later this year are "Regional Integration in
Europe and East Asia: Convergence or Divergence?"(co-editor)
from Routledge as well as "Democracy in Asia, Europe
and the World: Toward a Universal Definiton?" (co-editor)
and "Overcoming Vulnerability:
Managing New Security Challenges in Asia and Europe"
from Marshall-Cavendish.
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Sohni
Kaur
Project
Executive, Asia-Europe Foundation
Singapore |
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Sohni
Kaur is a graduate of McGill University (Canada) where
she majored in Political Science and Economics, with
a special focus on international organisations and the
developing world. She has worked with the Singapore
Institute of International Affairs, and now works with
Intellectual Exchange in the Asia Europe Foundation,
where she manages the Cultures & Civilisations Dialogue
Programme. |
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