Category Archives: Equitas50

HERLAMBANG PERDANA – Indonesia. Teaching about human rights at the university level has Herlambang Perdana perfectly positioned to network with human rights educators and activists throughout Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations.  

GLORENE DAS – Malaysia. Malaysia has one of the fastest-growing economies in South-East Asia, with a population of approximately 30 million people. The economic situation of the country makes it appealing to the surrounding countries, where large parts of the population are seeking a better life.

SAMSON SALAMAT – Pakistan. When Samson Salamat was a child in Pakistan, neither he nor his seven brothers and sisters could use the same plates or glasses as their classmates. They were not the same as the other 2,000 families in their village—they were among Pakistan’s 1.5 percent Christian minority.

MONIQUE DAUPHIN – Montreal. Monique Dauphin is a key figure in the Haitian community of Montreal thanks to her many achievements, especially for women’s rights. Monique started questioning inequality early on: “When my mother discovered the significance of the word “feminist”, she told me that I had always been one”. 

ASAMA JAHANGIR – Pakistan. Asma Jahangir has been a prominent human rights lawyer and activist in Pakistan for the last 40 years. She learned the importance of freedom of expression early on in life, as her father was a political prisoner. When she began practicing law in early 1980, there were few women in court and there were no women judges on the bench.

ROMAN KOVAL – Ukraine. Roman Koval of the Institute for Peace and Common Ground recognized the participatory approach to conflict resolution as a clear path toward a nonviolent civil society. An experienced mediator, Roman began working with the Equitas participatory human rights education program as a training facilitator in 2002.

JORGE SAMANEZ – Peru. Early in his career, Jorge was interested in alternative teaching methods, as opposed to traditional education, which he compared to a “military cartel” in his country because of its strict practices. 

Adriana Correa was born into conflict. In her homeland of Colombia an armed conflict has been going on for 52 years with more than 220,000 dead—81 percent of them civilians, according to ¡Basta ya! of Centro Nacional de Memoria Historica, the National Centre for Historic Memory, or NCHM where Adriana serves as communications coordinator. 

SALLY SALEM – Egypt. At 22, Sally Salem seemed to be heading down the path expected for many women in Cairo, Egypt. It was 1999 and she had just graduated with a degree in English literature and, through family connections, had landed a secure job in a local company. But she was restless. And she couldn’t stop quietly questioning the social inequalities and discrimination she observed.