Webinar – Human Rights 2023: To Innovate, To Include.

• Dr. Fernando Leon Garcia, President, International Association of University Presidents

Dr. Leon-Garcia is President of the International Association of University President (IAUP) for 2021-2024. He has also been President of CETYS University since 2010, leading the institution to accreditation in the USA (WASC, ACBSP, ABET) and one of the most internationalized universities in Mexico. Prior to that, he served as Chancellor of City University of Seattle’s International Division, with a presence across the Americas, Europe and Asia.
He currently serves or has served on boards and/or advisory groups: Commission on Internationalization and Global Engagement of the American Council on Education, Council of Presidents of the Association of Governing Boards, Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, NAFSA International Educators Association, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, Mexican Federation of Private Universities, Santander Universidades-Mexico, and Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration.
Dr. León-García holds a doctoral degree in Educational Administration and Policy Analysis and an M.A. in International Development Education from Stanford University, as well as a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from CETYS University. He has been named to the Top 300 Leaders in Mexico (Los 300) from 2019 to 2022. In addition, Dr. León García has received Honorary Doctorates from Vysoka Skola Financni a Spravni (Czech Republic), Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University (Romania), and Caucasus University (Georgia).

• Ambassador Zlatko Lagumdzija, Permanent Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations, former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija, born in Sarajevo on December 26, 1955, graduated in 1973 in Detroit, USA, graduated in 1977, master’s degree in 1980, and doctorate in 1988 in Informatics and Computer Science at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Sarajevo. After a one-year postdoctoral research study he stays in the USA, the University of Arizona, as a Fulbright scholar, returned to Sarajevo, where in 1989 he was elected as a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Economics in Sarajevo. He is still employed there today as a full professor, and since 1995 he has been the founder and head of the Department of Management and Information Technology and the MIT Center.
He is a member of the World Academy of Sciences and Arts (WAAS), the International Board of Directors of Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC), the Board of Directors of the World Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIWS) and the Boston Global Forum (GBF), the Club de Madrid – World Leadership Alliance (CDM-WLA), the Leadership Council of the UN SDSN Network (Agenda 2030) , the International Board of Directors of the Library of Alexandria, the International Council of the Silk Road Think Tank Association.
He is a visiting professor at universities in Europe, America and Asia on international postgraduate studies, in leadership for the era of sustainable development and artificial intelligence. Among others, he was elected to the title of Distinguished Professor. He teaches at the Schwarzman Study of Tsinghua University, the BRI Study (Belt and Road Initiative) and the EMI Study (Institute for Developing Countries) of Beijing Normal University, as well as Amity University, New Delhi.
He is the founder of the Shared Society and Values Foundation Sarajevo, as well as the founder and co-chairman of the UN SDSN network of the Western Balkans and the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bosniak Institute Zurich.
From 1992 to 2015, in the institutions of the Republic of BiH (until 1995) as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, he held the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs, chairman and deputy chairman/prime minister of the Council of Ministers twice, and was elected as a deputy in six convocations of the House of Representatives of BiH , and held the position of president of SDP BiH.

• Cora Weiss, President, Peace Educator and Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Peace Educator and activist in a cascade of movements for human , civil and women’s rights. Has served as President, International Peace Bureau, Board member, Women for a Meaningful Summit, UN Representative of SANE ( Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy) National leader of Women Strike for Peace, Co Director Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam, Co Director Mobilization Against the War in Vietnam and Director of the Disarmament Program of The Riverside Church. She was a founder and director of Airlift Africa of the AASF African American Students Foundation, and a Trustee of Hampshire College and co founder of the Global Campaign, for Peace Education. She was President of the Hague Appeal for Peace which called for Peace is a Human Right and Time to Abolish War.She has been nominated a number of times for the Nobel Peace Prize and is on the Advisory Council of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders which created the Cora Weiss Fellows.

• Nguyen Anh Tuan, Co-founder and CEO, Boston Global Forum

Nguyen Anh Tuan is a visionary leader and co-founder of Michael Dukakis Institute, Boston Global Forum (BGF) and AIWS City.
Named Person of Year 2018 by Vietnam National Television (VTV) for his pioneering initiative on AI-Government and AI World Society (AIWS).
As the Founder, CEO, and first Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet, Vietnam’s premier online newspaper, he pioneered the country’s online media and Internet landscape. He was Shorenstein Fellow on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Tuan served on Harvard Business School Global Advisory Board and chaired the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO-UCLA Chair on Global Learning and Global Citizenship Education. He co-authored the Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security (ECCC), Social Contract for the AI Age, and the book “Remaking the World – Toward an Age of Global Enlightenment”. Tuan is co-founder of the Shinzo Abe Initiative for Peace and Security on July 10, 2022.

• Dr. Mihir Kanade, Academic Coordinator of the University for Peace (UPEACE), the Head of its Department of International Law, and the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre; independent expert of the UN Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development

Dr. Mihir Kanade (India) is the Academic Coordinator of the University for Peace, the Head of its Department of International Law, and the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. Dr. Kanade was elected in 2020 by the United Nations Human Rights Council as a member of its Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development. He is currently serving his second term on this Expert Mechanism. He also chairs the drafting group of international experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Office for preparing a legally binding instrument on the right to development. His principal area of academic research and study is the interface between globalization, governance, development, public international law, and human rights. Prior to academia, Dr. Kanade practiced for several years as a lawyer at the Bombay High Court (Nagpur and Bombay benches) and at the Supreme Court of India. He holds a LL.B from Nagpur University (India) and a Master degree and Doctorate from UPEACE.

• Dr Ş. İlgü Özler, founder and director of the SUNY Global Engagement programme, New York

Ş. İlgü Özler is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at SUNY New Paltz. She is the founder and director of the SUNY Global Engagement Program in New York City. Her research focused on civic engagement as it relates to political parties, non-governmental organizations and social movements. She has conducted research in Turkey, Spain, Mexico and Chile. Her most recent work examines civil society participation, Sustainable Development Goals, human rights and global governance at the United Nations. Her publications appeared in various academic journals including Sociological Perspectives, Ethics and International Affairs, Representation, Journal of Civil Society, Democratization, Latin American Perspectives, Global Environmental Politics, Mexican Studies, and Turkish Studies. Her teaching incorporates innovative experiential learning in courses related to the United Nations and global engagement through civil society organizations. She was a Fulbright scholar to Spain in Spring 2022 and a Charles E. Scheidt Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention during 2022-23. Özler is the recipient of the 2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service. She has been an active member of the United Nations Association and Amnesty International in various capacities. She served as an officer on the Board of Amnesty USA (2017-2020) focusing especially on global strategic planning and policy work and is currently serving another term (2023-2026). Özler received her Ph.D. in Political Science from University of California, Los Angeles (2003).

• Juliana Cesar , Vice President Civil-20 engagement group of the 2024 G-20 chaired by Brazil, affiliated with Gestos – HIV+, Communication and Gender Issues NGO, Recife, Brazil

Juliana Cesar is a lawyer who works as a senior advisor on Gender and International Relations at Gestos (@gestospe) and is a member of the Civil Society Working Group for the 2030 Agenda in Brazil (@gtagenda2030). For more than 20 years, she has been working to promote and defend human rights and gender equality, especially in the context of addressing gender-based violence and in favor of health and sexual and reproductive rights.

In the international area, she acted as coordinator for the gender area of the Mercocidades Network and was a consultant on the piloting of the inclusion of gender in national responses to HIV in countries of Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa for UN agencies and programmes. She also took part in international monitoring and advocacy activities, such as the Brazilian Monitoring Committee of CEDAW – Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and was an expert member of the Brazilian delegation in sessions of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD) of the UN, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and similar events. Today she has been dedicated to articulating the Civil Society Working Group for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is the vice president of the C20 in Brazil.

• Beth Nielsen Chapman, Twice Grammy-nominated Nashville based singer and songwriter

Beth Nielsen Chapman is an American singer and songwriter who has written hits for country and pop music performers. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016. Beth is two-time Grammy Award and ACM Award nominee and won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year in 1999 for writing Faith Hill’s “This Kiss”. As a breast cancer survivor and speaker on grief and creativity, Beth has taught at universities internationally. Her stories and delivery illustrate the power of music to heal.

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