Developing the organisation’s strategy, capacity and reach in the area of advocacy. Progressing strategic objectives and ensuring client’s voices are heard and reflected in what we advocate for in seeking to make positive/sustainable differences in people’s lives through changes in public policy and practice.

Policy and Research Officer conducting research and writing chiefly on discrimination, minority ethnic group human rights issues and violence against women.

Awarded the prestigious Irish Research Council Doctoral Scholarship for research begun in the UN, on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), analysing the extent to which UN Security Council Resolution 1325 has been an effective tool to facilitate increased gender equality and power sharing in UN peacekeeping and beyond. Thesis title: 'Gender Equality in UN Peacekeeping: Fact or Fiction? A Review of the Extent of Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 via Gender Mainstreaming in UN Peace Operations.' Submitted Thesis in December 2021 and successfully defended in January 2022. The research takes into account the significance of structures, (societal, organisational and other) which allow for more equal relationships of power between women and men. The study showed that although conflict exacerbates existing inequalities, that cultural spaces in conflict contexts are also wider, more malleable and thus, more susceptible to change. Conflict/post conflict scenarios can therefore potentially provide enhanced opportunities to obtain a positive shift in the share of women’s overall power. The research illustrated that contention, with examples that proved, that minimal UN action and advocacy in local contexts resulted in concrete, long-term gains for gender equality at the national levels, in several instances. The implications for practice of the UN/other international actors are clear. They should purposefully and precisely advocate for the achievement of increased gender equality gains in their mission planning, mandates and projects if they are committed to the achievement of gender equality writ large, the underlying value of the WPS framework. This is vital as gender equality in a country, impacts upon sustainable peace in future, enough of a reason for the UN and the international community to draw a line in the sand with the Taliban today.

This first semester module provides an introduction to human rights for the MA in Public Advocacy and Activism. It provides a theoretical and philosophical introduction to both the de jure and de facto human rights framework and moves on to a discussion of the practical problems involved with the implementation of human rights norms via consideration of global challenges to their protection. It also examines various models of advocacy and activism in the human rights realm and considers current best practices.

This module examines the gender dimensions of armed conflict, peace and security issues with a focus on the role of the United Nations and the UN Security Council. Initial sessions introduce a cross-disciplinary literature on gender and conflict, drawing on scholarship in feminist sociology, international relations and socio-legal studies. This includes consideration of the role of gender norms and identities in shaping meaning and practice in the nexus of conflict, peace and security.

Instructor of Human Rights/Ethics & Academic Writing at the undergraduate level at Koc University in Istanbul, Turkey. My undergraduate human rights class was ranked at the top of the university's classes. (See attached email from the President of the Koc University.) Human Rights classes provided a theoretical and philosophical introduction to human rights and moved on to a discussion of the practical difficulties involved with their implementation. Areas of concentration: women's human rights issues (trafficking, violence against women, harmful cultural practices), freedom of expression, torture, corporate global responsibility and humanitarian intervention. Writing classes were also done via the theme of Human Rights viewed through the lens of justice, power and human nature.

• Extensive provision of training/lecturing in international human rights/law/gender issues (conceptually and practically), to all categories of UN staff (civilian, military and police), local and international NGOs and universities. • Provision of daily political analysis and oral briefings, drafting of political reports, policy papers; provision of guidance and direction to other sections of the mission on civil, political and gender issues. • Engagement with all parties, within the terms of the UNFICYP mandate, towards the long-term goal of societal reconciliation and normalization of the situation on the ground in line with UN directives and priorities. • Responsible for the initiation and facilitation of bi-communal projects and activities on both sides of the island in the areas of education, culture and gender, among others, and the mobilization of financial resources for such activities.• Member of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations Gender Advisory Team, representing UNFICYP. • Responsible for: the bringing together of Turkish and Greek Cypriot children for the first time in thirty years in the bi-communal village of Pyla; the first bi-communal football match since 1968 when the teams separated along ethnic lines, and the first bi-communal women’s panel in 2005 which lead to the Women’s Bi-communal Policy Group

• Overall responsibility for assisting the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HC) in all aspects of work, including provision of policy guidance/oral briefs. • Assisted the HC in liaison with the diplomatic community, the UN system, international organizations and NGOs.• Responsible for the preparation of policy statements, speeches, talking points, briefing notes and lectures for delivery by the HC in addition to the finalization of drafts prepared by others; Participation in OHCHR Gender Group• Drafted substantive correspondence for the signature of the HC; ensured accuracy, coherency and correct protocol, in drafts prepared by others; analysis of political issues of note affecting the office in correspondence and daily press.

• Responsible for writing, communications and fundraising as part of the donor relations/resource mobilization team.• Wrote updates of prevailing emergencies and initial draft of the 2003 annual report of UNICEF humanitarian action. • Engaged in substantial donor outreach, oral briefing and wrote report of major Government donors to UNICEF with suggested strategies for increasing the percentage of their contributions to emergency programs.• Contributed to broadening the donor base by initiating contact and liaison with non-traditional Government donors to increase prospects of potential fundraising along regional lines.

• Responsible for all public communications promoting the multi-country study on violence against women.• Developed/drafted a comprehensive advocacy, external relations and communications strategy.

• Responsible for researching and writing the Director-General’s speeches for UN and external functions. • Addressed public fora including international, academic, and community organizations.• Conducted topical issue analyses/briefings/notes for Director-General, Cabinet Chief, and Senior Officers.• Represented Office of the DG on the UNOG Arts and Culture Committee; prepared DG’s cultural addresses and vetted content of Member State’s exposition materials for political appropriateness. • Represented the Office of the DG at Inter-Agency, community and academic meetings and functions; particular involvement with the Focal Point for Women; liaised with UN Secretariat on the Director-General’s behalf.

• Developed/implemented programs/policies to promote reconciliation in the areas of religious tolerance, women’s issues (increase in violence against women as combatants returned), cultural preservation, and educational aspects of the peace-building process. • Lectured on international human rights and international legal standards applicable to context. • Managed reintegration process in eight minority villages, entailing substantial community outreach. • Facilitated reintegration and reconciliation of post-conflict ethnic communities as Co-chair (with Principal Officer) of the bi-lateral, Joint Implementation Committee for educational and cultural issues (Education and Culture JIC). • Negotiated minority representation in regional educational curricula and systems in conjunction with Council of Europe (COE).• Facilitated joint Serb/Croat identification of cultural goods towards preservation/reconstruction with UNESCO and the COE.

• Interviewed/evaluated Haitian refugee asylum applicants and assessed/recommended approval of asylum claims.

• Monitored, investigated and reported on human rights violations and analyzed criminal justice system abuse. • Recommended policy and programmatic human rights remedies. Interviewed prisoners and reported on the conditions of the region’s prisons. • Lectured/conducted information sessions with local communities on the areas of human and women’s rights.• Established and maintained cooperation with military and judicial bodies, NGOs, religious and local groups.• Responsible for regional women’s/children’s rights issues in area of operations. Public outreach