Co-Convenors

• Laura Beltrán (Colombia Diveresa) is a political scientist, feminist, and LGBTIQ+ activist convinced of the power of queer and intersectional perspectives to build social justice. Member of the peace and transitional justice team at the NGO Colombia Diversa, where she advocates for the rights of LGBTIQ+ victims of the armed conflict, monitors the implementation of the peace agreement, and positions the importance of memory building by recognizing prejudice as a factor in the persistence of war. Her professional journey has focused on academic research and the implementation of social projects related to peacebuilding, gender issues, participation, and advocacy. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Feminist and Gender Studies.

• Jamie J. Hagen (Queen’s University Belfast) works at the intersection of gender, security studies, and queer theory. Her research in this field is published in the Journal of Gender Studies, International Affairs, Critical Studies in Security, the International Feminist Journal of Politics, and the European Journal of Gender and Politics as well as in the Washington Post, London School of Economics’ Women Peace and Security Blog, the International Peace Institute’s Global Observatory, and other outlets. Hagen is co-editor of the edited volume Queer Conflict Research: New Approaches to Study of Political Violence (BUP) and co-developed the Queering Women, Peace and Security: A Practice-Based toolkit (English/Spanish).

• Samuel Ritholtz (University of Oxford) studies the dynamics of selective violence against sexual and gender minorities during the Colombian internal armed conflict and relate these dynamics to broader patterns of gendered violence during war. Through their dissertation research, they considered the roles of marginality, cruelty, and spectacle in social control strategies during war. In addition to their work on political violence, I also publish on topics related to LGBTIQ+ displacement and collaborate with other scholars at the Refugee Studies Centre.

• Wendy Isaack (International Human Rights Law Expert, Pan African Feminist) is a senior gender justice expert with more than 20 years professional experience in legal, policy and advocacy interventions in women’s human rights and sexual orientation and gender identity issues at national, regional and international levels. Her work has involved research and advocacy for law and policy reform and impact litigation for major human rights organisations in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi and the occupied Palestinian territory, to name a few. Wendy has demonstrated leadership in development and implementation of multi-pronged advocacy strategies in domestic, regional, and international fora as well as program management in the substantive area of gender justice, including research and advocacy on women’s human rights in conflict and post-conflict contexts.

  She has worked at various international organisations including Human Rights Watch (New York), as Adjunct Professor at the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, City University of New York (CUNY), Human Rights Specialist at UN Women responsible for providing technical support to the CEDAW Committee in its elaboration of General Recommendation No. 30 on the protection of women’s human rights in conflict and post-conflict contexts and the Palestine Office where she produced the report, International Legal Accountability Mechanisms: Palestinian Women Living under occupation. In her capacity as Programme Officer in the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Wendy was responsible for preparing the 2019 annual report of the UN Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence covering 19 country situations. Finally, and most recently, she led the development of strategic interventions for Gender at Work – Building Cultures of Equality and Inclusion to support lesbian, bisexual and women’s human rights groups in Tunisia, Rwanda, Benin and Mozambique.

  As an independent consultant, Wendy is an Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, holds a master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a master’s degree in International Law with a focus on Transitional Justice and the Rule of Law from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.

• Artemis Akbery (Founder and Executive Director of ALO/ Radio producer/ LGBTIQ Rights Activist & Refugee Rights Advocate / Journalist / International Relations and European Politics) is an LGBTIQ rights activist and the co-founder and Executive Director of the Afghan LGBT Organization (ALO), and a producer/presenter at Radio Ranginkaman. They have spoken and campaigned at various international gatherings about the plight of the LGBTIQ community in Afghanistan.

• Alexandria Bohémier (Policy & Advocacy Advisor, Humanitarian at Plan International Canada | Co-Founder & Steering Committee Member | Canadian Coalition for Youth, Peace & Security) promotes the YPS agenda by pushing for youth in Canada to be able to create their own solutions to conflict in their communities so that peace efforts are for youth and by youth. Alexandria wants to work in policy and research to support violence and conflict prevention work being done at the local level for children and youth.

• Zeynep Pınar Erdem is a lawyer, who has research and advocacy experience in promoting the rights of persons of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions and sex characteristic (SOGIESC) in conflict and displacement settings. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bremen, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), where she examines the experiences of forced migrant women with SOGIESC in Türkiye and Lebanon, with a particular focus on their vulnerabilities, (in)visibility and agency. Prior to joining InIIS, she worked as a researcher at MOSAIC Mena, on a project examining violence against lesbian, bisexual and trans refugee women in Lebanon and Türkiye and their experiences in accessing services. For three years, she worked as a consultant for two projects implemented by the United Nations Populations Fund Türkiye Humanitarian Programme, on providing tailored services to refugee men and boys subjected to sexual violence, LGBTI refugees, sex worker refugees and refugees living with HIV. She was a fellow at the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, where she focused on conflict-related sexual violence against men, boys and trans women in the Syrian conflict and their experiences in accessing services in Lebanon. In addition to her academic work, she has published articles in PassBlue and the Guardian. Pınar holds an LL.M. from UCLA School of Law, with a dual specialization in International and Comparative Law and in Law and Sexuality. She received the Promise Institute for Human Rights Award. She earned her BA in Law from KOÇ University.