Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn

Opening Keynote Speaker

Confronting Our Ghosts and Realities

Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn is an international human rights expert and a professor of law at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. He was nominated United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in 2004, a position he held until 2010. In 2004 he was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education. He also served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography from 1990 to 1994.

Mr. Muntarbhorn has been involved in various UN activities, principally as a member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations of the International Labour Organization. He has also worked as a consultant and/or adviser to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, UNESCO, and UNDP. He was a United Nations University Fellow at the University of Oxford in 1986-7. In 2001, he was Chairperson of the (UN) Commission of Inquiry on the Ivory Coast. In 2012, he was appointed a Commissioner of the (UN) Commission of Inquiry on Syria.

Mr. Muntarbhorn has taught at a variety of institutions, including the Faculty of Law at Reading University in the United Kingdom; the Canadian Human Rights Foundation; and the International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg. He established child/youth legal literacy projects to educate children about their basic rights. In 1992, he was the spokesperson for the Campaign for Popular Democracy in Thailand. He helps a number of non-governmental organisations pro bono; he was the co-Chairperson of the civil society Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism and is a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. He has published widely in Thailand and internationally.

A graduate of Oxford University and the Free University of Brussels, Mr. Muntarbhorn is also a barrister at the Middle Temple in London.

Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen

Supreme Court of the Philippines

Closing Keynote Speaker

The Future of Human Rights and Peace in Southeast Asia

12 October 2016

Marvic M.V.F. Leonen is currently an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He is the Former Dean (2008-2011), and Professor of Law at the University of the Philippines College of Law since 1989. He graduated with an AB Economics degree, magna cum laude, from the School of Economics in 1983. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the College of Law in 1987 ranking fourth. Later that year, he cofounded the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc, (LRC-KsK) a legal and policy research and advocacy insitution which focused on providing legal services for upland rural poor and indigenous peoples’ communities. He served as LRC-KsK’s executive director for fifteen years. In 2004, he also earned a Master of Laws degree from the Columbia Law School, Columbia University in New York.

He first joined the UP College of Law faculty in 1989 as a professional lecturer in Philippine Indigenous Law. He became assistant professor during Dean Pacifico Agabin’s term and academic administrator under Dean Merlin M. Magalona’s term. In 2000, he was invited to act as the UP System’s University’s General Counsel. In 2005, he became the first Vice President for Legal Affairs of the UP System, and 2008, he became the Dean of the College of Law at the University of the Philippines.

In July 2010, He was named by Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as the Philippine government’s chief negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. He successfully led the parties into a framework agreement on the Bangsamoro which was signed on October 15, 2012. He was appointed to the Court on November 21, 2012.

Dr. Azmi Sharom

Dr. Azmi Sharom is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. He is the Head of the Human Rights Research Group in his Faculty and he is one of the co-founders of the Southeast Asian Human Rights Studies Network (SEAHRN). He teaches Environmental Law and Human Rights Law.

Dr. Pirongrong Ramsoota Rananantand

Dr. Pirongrong Ramsoota Rananantand is currently Head of the Department of Journalism and Information at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University. She is also Director of the Media Policy C enter (MPC) which is a collaborative project between the Faculty of Communication Arts and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of Thailand. Her research interests include media policy and regulation, social implications of ICTs, and media and democratization.

Dr. Mike Hayes

Dr. Mike Hayes is currently is the Chair of the Masters in Human Rights and Democratization program at the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University. He also teaches in a number of university programs and professional courses throughout South East Asia, mainly in the areas of human rights and development. He is involved in research in non-citizen rights, new media, and capacity development.

Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree

Dr. Sriprapha Petcharamesree is a faculty member at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University, Thailand. She is also the Chair of the PhD Human Rights Program. From October 2009 to December 2012, she was the Thai Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). Since 2009, she has been serving as the convener of the ASEAN University Network-Human Rights Education (AUN-HRE). She is one of the co-founders of SEAHRN.

Dr. Kamarulzaman Askandar

Dr. Kamarulzaman Askandar is a professor in political science at the Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia, and a specialist in conflict resolution. He currently heads the Research & Education for Peace Unit at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, a regional base for the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN), which he also coordinates. He is one of the co-founders of SEAHRN.

H.E. Mr. Edmund Bon Tai Soon

H.E. Mr. Edmund Bon Tai Soon is the new Representative of Malaysia to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) for the term 2016-2018. He is presently the Head of Chambers (Civil), practicing under AmerBON Advocates. Mr. Edmund Bon is currently a Member of Bar Council Malaysia. He previously chaired a number of Committees under the flagship of the Bar Council Malaysia such as the Committees of Constitutional Law, National Young Lawyers and Human Rights.

Ms. Melizel Asuncion

Ms. Melizel Asuncion, a lawyer by profession; Melizel has been involved in human rights work for the last 16 years. She is the Research and Stakeholder Engagement Programs Manager in Verité Southeast Asia. She is a co-founder of SEAHRN and is currently the Secretariat Director of the SHAPE-SEA Programme. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

Mr. Naderev ‘Yeb’ Saño

Mr. Naderev ‘Yeb’ Saño is a veteran and high-profile climate activist and is the newly appointed Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA). Before taking the helm at GPSEA, Yeb embarked on a 930-mile People’s Pilgrimage from Rome to Paris to demand world leaders to take climate action at the Paris COP. Yeb was the Philippines’ Chief Negotiator in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). His impassioned speech in Warsaw in 2013 on the effects of climate change following Typhoon Haiyan touched hearts and minds around the world.

Ms. Marion Cabrera

Ms.  Marion Cabrera is a Programme Officer of Feminist Law and Practice at the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development where she handles the Feminist Law and Practice Programme and the Feminist Learning Institute.  Marion is a feminist activist, has been working in the area of development and human rights. She has worked with both national and regional organisations as a trainer, researcher, campaigner and manager and helps strengthen women’s knowledge and capacity on feminist analysis, leadership and advocacy building.

Ms. Wanun Permpibul

Ms. Wanun Permpibul is currently the Director of Climate Watch Thailand, a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, focusing on climate policies and actions, covering both mitigation of greenhouse gases, resilience building, and adaptation towards a just and sustainable society. She is the coordinator of the Asia Climate Change Consortium (ACCC) – an Asia regional platform of more than 20 CSOs in Asia that advocates for global temperature limit of 1.5 Degrees Celsius. She is the coordinator of Climate Action Network (CAN) Thailand, which is a part of the global CAN network of more than 900 climate NGOs in more than 100 countries.

Mr. Edgardo Legaspi

Mr.  Edgardo Legaspi is the Executive Director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). He serves as the Alerts and Communication officer and is in charge of monitoring and publicizing incidents of freedom of expression violations in the sub-region, with a focus on press and internet freedom.

Ms. Maureen Penjeuli

Ms. Maureen Penjeuli is the Director of Greenpeace Australia-Pacific and Coordinator of the Pacific Network of Globalisation

Mr. Chad Patrick Osorio

Mr. Chad Patrick Osorio currently works as a Research Associate at UP Law Center’s Institute of International Legal Studies, focusing on the application of international law policies for the marginalized, particularly in post-disaster areas. He has worked as a United Nations Legal Intern in Cambodia with the Virtual Tribunal, under its international public affairs division. He teaches online courses for Careerline Courses in Asia and Australia, including Criminal Psychology and Legal Terminology.

Mr. Arthit Suriyawongkul

Mr.  Arthit Suriyawongkul is co-founder of the Foundation for Internet and Civic Culture and a coordinator for Thai Netizen Network (TNN), based in Bangkok. With TNN and their partners, including human rights lawyers and academics, he helps fight court cases related to freedom of expression online, produces recommendations for Internet and information policies, and organizes forums on technology and current issues. Before joining TNN, Arthit was in software industry and linguistic research, receiving training in artificial intelligence and anthropology.

Mr. Rafendi Djamin

Mr. Rafendi Djamin is the Regional Director for South East Asia and Pacific of Amnesty   International, and the former Executive Director of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), a permanent coalition of Indonesian NGO’s for International Human Rights Advocacy based in Jakarta. He served as the first Indonesian Representative for the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) from 2009-2015, and held a position as the Chair of AICHR in 2011.