About Us
our team
BAI & IJDH Staff
Interns & Volunteers
Board of Directors
Advisory Council
About Us
MARIO JOSEPH, AV., BAI MANAGING ATTORNEY, has co-managed and managed the BAI since 1996, and has practiced human rights and criminal law since 1993. The New York Times called him, “Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer” in 2006. Mario spearheaded the prosecution of the Raboteau Massacre trial in 2000, one of the most significant human rights cases anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. He has represented dozens of jailed political prisoners, in Haitian courts and in complaints before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2013, Mario was a finalist for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. In 2014, Mario and Brian Concannon were awarded the Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice. In 2009, Mr. Joseph received the Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award from the Center for Justice & Accountability and the Katherine and George Alexander Human Rights Prize from the University of Santa Clara Law School.Mario has testified as an expert on Haitian criminal procedure before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in U.S. courts, and served on the Haitian government’s Law Reform Commission. Mr. Joseph is also an educator and a graduate of Haiti’s Teachers’ College. He has extensive experience teaching human rights and legal issues to grassroots advocacy organizations, human rights groups and victims’ organizations. Contact: mario@ijdh.org
Human rights lawyer and activist Brian Concannon is the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). Brian is a trusted voice on human rights in Haiti and US policy to its oldest neighbor, through his writing and speaking to a wide range of audiences. But he is most proud of his work helping Haitian human rights advocates make their own voices heard, from the lawyers at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux to the victims of the UN cholera in Haiti. Brian lived and worked in Haiti from 1995 to 2004, first with the United Nations, and after 1996 with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port-au-Prince. He returned to the US to start IJDH in 2004, when a US-supported coup d’etat overthrew Haiti’s elected government and demonstrated that no progress in Haiti would be sustainable unless the US and other powerful countries respected Haitian sovereignty. Brian is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Middlebury College. He held a Brandeis International Fellowship in Human Rights, Intervention and International Law from 2001-2003, and was a 2005-06 Wasserstein Public Interest Law Fellow at Harvard Law School. Contact: brian@ijdh.org
Alexandra “Sasha” Filippova, Senior Staff Attorney, focuses primarily on accountability for human rights violations; gender justice, including sexual and gender-based violence; and governance in her work at IJDH.
Sasha started her legal career as an associate at Shearman & Sterling LLP, where her practice included international dispute resolution, public international law, and human rights. While there, she served as one of the lead counsel in a successful lawsuit against the Syrian government for its extrajudicial killing of war correspondent Marie Colvin and advised clients on a variety of legal and policy matters, including interstate territorial disputes and UN Security Council reform. Prior to joining IJDH, Sasha served as a Senior Legal Fellow with the Center for Justice and Accountability, where she worked on litigating a crimes against humanity claim; and as a Legal Advisor and Fellow with the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, where she focused on confronting gender-based violence and promoting women’s empowerment around the globe.
Sasha holds graduate degrees from Georgetown University’s Law Center and Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she focused her studies on human rights and transitional justice, including field work in Liberia and Cambodia. She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and the State of New York. Contact: sasha@ijdh.org
Steve Forester, Immigration Policy Coordinator, leads efforts to win creation of a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (FRPP) to speed entry into the U.S. of 110,000 beneficiaries of approved visa petitions, to give parity with DHS’s Cuban FRPP and help Haiti recover by generating additional remittances. He has won support for this from about 100 congresspersons, 10 editorial boards in 17 editorials, the Miami-Dade County Commission, NY and Philadelphia city councils, the US Conference of Mayors, ABA, NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, MA Gov. Patrick and others. Pre-quake, he secured pro-TPS editorials in major papers and political, legal and media support after devastating 2008 storms. He meets officials and pens op-eds; his January 2009 work won a quiet halt of all non-criminal Haiti deportations formalized by TPS after the quake. A Haiti rights advocate since 1979, he has testified in the Senate, House and other bodies and led the fight to enact the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 (HRIFA), under which 20,000 Haitians became U.S. permanent residents. IJDH has sponsored his work since February 2009. Contact: steveforester@aol.com
Sandra Wisner, Senior Staff Attorney, is a Canadian human rights attorney working to hold international human rights violators accountable for their actions in Haiti. Prior to joining IJDH, Sandra worked as a UN legal consultant assisting with prosecutions of the Khmer Rouge at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. She has litigated plaintiff-side discrimination and tort cases in Toronto, Canada, and spent a year in South Africa assisting the Legal Resources Centre in their representation of victims at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry. Sandra holds Canadian J.D. and Honours Bachelor of Arts degrees as well as an Advanced LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University, specializing in business and human rights.
Contact: sandra@ijdh.org
Kristina Fried, Bertha Justice Fellow, prior to joining IJDH, worked as a Legal Fellow with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC. During her fellowship, Kristina worked with stateless persons on administrative and legislative advocacy, as well as intervention on individual stateless and refugee cases. She also spent a semester working with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights on strategic litigation and advocacy concerning violent push-backs of migrants at Europe’s external borders, in particular assisting with a submission to the Human Rights Committee. Prior to that, Kristina worked with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies representing victims of gender- and gang-based violence in their asylum claims. Kristina holds a B.A. from the University of Melbourne in Islamic Studies and Arabic and is a 2020 graduate of Boston University School of Law, where she specialized in international human rights law. During law school, Kristina served as a student attorney with the International Human Rights Clinic, where she worked with civil society to map stateless populations in Lebanon, identify the root causes of statelessness, and propose an advocacy strategy to address those causes.
Catherine Chang, Operations Coordinator, before assuming her current role, served as an intern at IJDH providing administrative support and conducting research on United Nations sexual exploitation and abuse. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Political Science and Economics and worked on research on international conflict and human rights violations. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native and has volunteered with organizations serving those facing homelessness in her local community. Contact:Â catherine@ijdh.org
Rebeca J. Blemur, Intern, is a current graduate student at the American University in Cairo where she is studying International Human Rights Law. Her current thesis project is focused on understanding and establishing a decolonial historic perspective of the creation of Haiti, the nation state. Prior to this Rebeca attended the University of Massachusetts: Dartmouth where she majored in Philosophy. Due to her academic background Rebeca has developed a strong interest in Francophone studies as it pertains to the Caribbean. After the completion of her degree she hopes to continue her education and receive a Doctorate degree in Africana Studies. Rebeca is very excited to have the opportunity to work with IJDH and learn more about human rights advocacy in Haiti.
Geraldine Loukouayou, Intern, is completing her second year of graduate studies at Rice University. She is pursuing a Master in Global Affairs with a focus on International Political Development. Through her internship with IJDH, she hopes to expand her knowledge on global governance by examining the ways in which nations’ governments and economies grow continues to affect pressing issues such as Human rights Violations & democratic crisis. She looks forwards to gaining a rich understanding of human rights advocacy and holding state leaders accountable.
Mataya Philbrick, Intern, is a second-year undergraduate at Harvard College concentrating in Linguistics and Romance Languages and Literature on the pre-law track. On-campus she is a member of Harvard College Consulting Group (HCCG), and a small claims advisory service (SCAS). Off-campus she is a volunteer with the Petey-Greene program. As an intern for IJDH, she looks forward to developing her knowledge of the global legal landscape.
Maeliss Guillaud, Volunteer, started practicing law in Luxembourg and France in various fields after studying international law in France, South Korea, and the U.S. She also helped a charity foundation promote children’s rights in Bangladesh and Madagascar. She is now living in Boston and assisting an association in the field of sexual violence in civil society and in the incarcerated population. Maeliss is also a pro bono attorney helping permanent residents from vulnerable communities to access US citizenship. Finally, she is an active legal fellow and ally of UnitedStateless, a nonprofit organization promoting human rights for stateless individuals in the US. Maeliss has a strong interest in ethics and justice and wishes to further structural changes to prevent civil rights violations. She hopes for marginalized communities’ empowerment to claim and affirm their rights.
FRANCISCKA LUCIEN, MA, FORMER IJDH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, joined IJDH as Executive Director in July 2019. She is a committed advocate for social justice, and an experienced international development professional skilled in strategic management, fundraising, communications, and advocacy. Her work focuses on the intersection of equity, health, and a rights-based approach to development. She served as Deputy Director of Policy and Partnerships for Partners In Health (PIH) in Liberia, coordinating with under-served communities, non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Health, and international organizations to improve the delivery of critical health services in the wake of Liberia’s Ebola epidemic. She worked extensively in Haiti, leading key projects to strengthen public delivery systems for health care, and implementing the human right to health for rural, marginalized communities. Before entering the nonprofit field, she worked in advocacy and communications, helping clients across sectors on communications, issues management, and advocacy strategies. Franciscka’s role as Executive Director worked to advance accountability and recognition of human rights, in collaboration with the Institute’s Haiti-based partner organization, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux. She holds an M.A. from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Science from the Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She speaks English, French, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. Contact: franciscka@ijdh.org
Irwin Stotzky, Esq. is a Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights at the University of Miami. He has advised the Haitian and Argentine governments on transitional justice issues, and represented Haitian refugees in U.S. courts. Professor Stotzky has written books on transitional justice in Haiti and Latin America.
Joia Mukherjee MD, MPH, IJDH Board Chair, is the Chief Medical Officer for Partners In Health, since 2000. She is an internist, paediatrician and infectious disease specialist and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mukherjee’s clinical focus in resource-poor settings has been HIV/AIDS, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, mental health and most recently, ebola. She builds the capacity of healthcare professionals and emerging leaders in the Global Health Delivery discipline by teaching infectious disease, Global Health Delivery and human rights to health professionals and students from US and international institutions. Dr. Mukherjee serves on the board of directors for Last Mile Health, Village Health Works and Project Muso. She advises many other grassroots organizations in their efforts to deliver health care with a human rights approach to the poorest of the poor. In addition, Dr. Mukherjee consults for the World Health Organization and other international agencies on health systems strengthening, human resources for health, the treatment for HIV and more.
Blaine Bookey is Co-Legal Director at the UC Hastings-based Center for Gender & Refugee Studies where she works to advance protections for survivors of gender-based violence and other forms of persecution. Blaine also coordinates the College’s Haiti Justice Initiative and Chairs the Board of Directors of the international women’s rights organization, MADRE. Previously, Blaine served as a legal fellow with IJDH and BAI and as a federal appellate law clerk. Before attending law school, Blaine worked as an immigration paralegal for several years advocating for many Haitian refugees. The American Constitution Society recognized Blaine for her work on behalf of marginalized communities with the 2016 David Carliner Public Interest Award.
Herby Duverné is Principal and CEO of Windwalker Group (2012 to present), a Boston-based risk management firm that focuses on cyber and physical security solutions. Mr. Duverné has served as the Deputy Director of Aviation Security (2006-2011) and Director of Emergency Management (2011-2012) for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which oversees Logan International Airport.
Fran Quigley is a clinical professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, where he directs the Health and Human Rights Clinic. Students in the Health and Human Rights Clinic advocate for the rights of the poor, with a special focus on representing low-wage workers. He is the author of Walking Together, Walking Far: How a U.S. and African Medical School Partnership Is Winning the Fight against HIV/AIDS (Indiana University Press, 2009) and How Human Rights Can Build Haiti: The Lawyers, the Activists, and the Grassroots Movement (Vanderbilt University Press, forthcoming 2014), which profiles the work of IJDH and BAI. Fran has served as the executive director of ACLU of Indiana and as a public defender and civil rights attorney. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife Ellen and their three children, Sam, Katie, and Jack.
Mary H. White, M.D. is an infectious diseases physician who conducts medical evaluations of persons seeking asylum in the United States for persecution or torture in their home country at the Global Health Program of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She has joined advocacy groups at the Department of Homeland Security to improve health conditions and standards in U.S. detention centers, and she has delivered medical care in Haiti.
