Governance

The OMCT benefits from a broad and diverse expertise through its Executive Council, OMCT’s main governing body, constituted of individuals sharing a deep commitment towards human rights.

All Council members are also part OMCT's General Assembly, composed of 40+ members, representing all regions of the world and guiding OMCT’s long-term strategy.

Our standards of governance

The OMCT commits to good governance and strives for the highest standards of management. Through systems of internal and external controls, we ensure responsible and efficient financial management of our resources (see our latest audited accounts here). We have clear policies preventing fraud, corruption, theft and conflict of interest.

The well-being of our staff is our priority. As part of our policy framework, we ensure effective child safeguarding measures and protection from sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse.

Should you have any query on any of our policies, want to raise a concern or report a complaint, please contact us via this confidential email address: policies@omct.org

Executive Council

Hina Jilani

President

OMCT’s President since 2016 and a leading women's rights activist, Hina Jilani has been advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 1992. She has, among other, founded the country’s first all-women law firm, worked as UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders and has been a member of The Elders since 2013.

Mokhtar Trifi

Vice-president

Former president of the Tunisian Human Rights League, an organisation that won the Nobel Peace Prize, Mokhtar Trifi is a prominent Tunisian lawyer. He played a key role in the democratic transition of his country and was ordained Commander of the Order of the Republic of Tunisia in 2018.

Claudia Samayoa

Vice-president

Founder and Chair of the Board of the Unidad de Protección de Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos Guatemala (UDEFEGUA), Claudia Virginia Samayoa is a philosopher who’s dedicated her life to the defence of human rights in Guatemala and beyond.

Olivier Peter

Treasurer

Olivier Peter joined OMCT’s Executive Council in 2019, acting as treasurer. A partner at the Geneva law firm Peter Moreau SA, Mr. Peter is highly engaged in the human rights and associative fields.

Stephanie Brewer

Member

Stephanie Brewer is the Director for Mexico and Migrant Rights at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and a board member of Centro Prodh (Mexico), where she previously worked as Coordinator of the International Department. Ms. Brewer has extensive experience documenting, litigating, and advocating for justice for victims of torture, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions in Mexico.

Sevan Doraisamy

Member

Sevan Doraisamy is the Director of Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) and has worked for over two decades on a range of human rights issues, including liberty and security of the person, freedom of expression and indigenous rights. Mr. Doraisamy is also involved in the Asian Alliance Against Torture.

Helen Keller

Member

Helen Keller is an international judge at the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a law professor at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Ms Keller has also served as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee and as a judge at the European Court of Human Rights.

Samwel Mohochi

Member

Justice Samwel Mohochi is judge at the High Court of Kenya. Previously, Senior Partner at Mohochi & Co Advocates and a consultant on human rights, governance and transitional justice in Eastern Africa.

Olga Sadovskaya

Member

Deputy Chairperson of the Crew Against Torture (CAT), a non-governmental organisation based in Nizhny Novgorod exposing torture cases in the Russian Federation, Olga Sadovskaya is a lawyer specialised in human rights and a recipient of the 2017 Sakharov Freedom Award.

Peter Zangl

Member

Peter Zangl is an economist by training, with an extensive career in various fields such as the economy, social affairs, international relations and humanitarian aid. He is a former Director General of DG ECHO (Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) in the EU Commission.

Osman Işçi

Member

A member of the İnsan Hakları Derneği/Human Rights Association (İHD), based in Turkey, since 2006 and has become a member of its Executive Committee in charge of international relations from 2006-2017 (July) based in Ankara. He was elected by the İHD executive committee as the General Secretary in July 2017 and served as in this office until August 2020. Currently, Osman is the president of the Human Rights Academy, an autonomous body of the IHD. In addition to his position as the president of the Human Rights Academy, he is still an executive committee member of IHD.

General Assembly

Sardorbek Abdukhalilov

Kyrgyzstan

George Abu Al-Zulof

Palestine

André Afanou

Togo

Ernesto Alayza

Peru

Luis Arriaga

Mexico

Georges Assaf

Lebanon

Nigina Bakhrieva

Tajikistan

Abdel-ilah Ben Abdeslam

Morocco

Stephanie Brewer

United States of America

Sopheap Chak

Cambodia

Oumar Diallo

Senegal

Aminata Dieye

Senegal

Panayote Dimitras

Greece

Sevan Doraisamy

Malaysia

Nassera Dutour

Algeria

Hadi Ghaemi

Iran

Vrinda Grover

India

Osman Işçi

Turkey

Yared Hailemariam

Ethiopia

Teresa Harris

United States of America

Hina Jilani

Pakistan

Helen Keller

Switzerland

Ghislain Koffi Nyaku

Togo

Lucas Lecour

Argentina

Mohamed Lotfy

Egypt

Susanna Marietti

Italy

Justine Masika Bihamba

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fatia Maulidiyanti

Indonesia

Celia Medrano Amador

El Salvador

Boubacar Messaoud

Mauritania

Samwel Mohochi

Kenya

Armel Niyongere

Burundi

Benson Olugbuo

Nigeria

Liliana Ortega

Venezuela

Márta Pardavi

Hungary

Luis Pedernera

Uruguay

Mar Pérez

Peru

Olivier Peter

Switzerland

Alexandru Postica

Moldova

Jahel Quiroga Carrillo

Colombia

Adilur Rahman Khan

Bangladesh

Olga Sadovskaya

Russia

Elsy Sainna

Kenya

Claudia Samayoa

Guatemala

Osamu Shiraishi

Japan

Tal Steiner

Israel

Henri Tiphagne

India

Rosemarie Trajano

Phillippines

Mokhtar Trifi

Tunisia

Renee Xia

China

Leyla Yunus

Azerbaijan

Peter Zangl

Germany