CANADA
Mohawk Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, Bear Clan
Dr. Beverley Jacobs is Associate Dean (Academic) at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor and she practices law part-time at her home community of Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. Her research focuses on Indigenous Legal Orders, Indigenous Wholistic Health, Indigenous Research Methodologies, and Decolonization of Eurocentric Law. Beverley has obtained a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Windsor in 1994, a Master of Law Degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 2000 and a PhD from the University of Calgary in 2018. Beverley is also a consultant/researcher/writer/public speaker. Her work centres around ending gendered colonial violence against Indigenous people and restoring Indigenous laws, beliefs, values, and traditions. A prolific scholar, her published work has earned her numerous awards; her research combined with her advocacy has translated into national and international recognition.
CHAIRPERSON
AUSTRALIA
Sandra is a Waanyi/Kalkadoon Indigenous woman from Australia. She is the CEO of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance, Lawyer and Adjunct Professor in Public Health at the University of Queensland. She was awarded a Member of the Order Of Australia (AM) award on the Queens Birthday 2019 by the Attorney General of Australia for her work with Indigenous women and peoples.
VICE CHAIRPERSON
SWEDEN
Lars is a Saami and reindeer herder from Sweden. He served as the president of the Saami Parliament in Sweden in 2001 and chairperson of the Union of the Swedish Saami (Svenska Samernas Riksforund, SSR) from 1993 to 2001.
SECRETARY
KENYA
Naomi is a Maasai from the Kajiado District of Kenya. She speaks Maa (Maasai language), Kiswahili, and with reading knowledge in French. She attended the University of Nairobi with a degree in B. Ed. Education, major in Literature and Linguistics in 1975. She is a graduate of Temple University in Philiadelphia, USA with an MA and PhD in Anthropology in 1989.
TREASURER
COLOMBIA
Leonor is an indigenous activist from Arhuaco Organization in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, del Cesar, Colombia. She is the Human Rights Commissioner of the Tayrona Indigenous Confederation (Confederacion Indigena Tayrona) and representative of the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia.
PHILIPPINES
Wilfredo is a Kankana-ey Igorot and Ilocano with roots from Sabangan, Mountain Province and Tayug, Pangasinan, Philippines.
He is a professor of Mathematics at the University of the Philippines in Baguio City (UP Baguio). His education and academic training in mathematics from UP Baguio and the University of Auckland has brought him to a whole field of human ideas and activities that impact math learning, encompassing disciplines like philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history and ecology. His research interest is on the interplay of mathematics/mathematics education, and culture, Indigenous Peoples’ education and Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
PHILIPPINES
Vicky is an indigenous activist from the Kankana-ey Igorot people of the Cordillera Region in the Philippines. She is a social development consultant, civic leader, human rights expert, public servant, and an advocate of women’s rights.
As an indigenous leader, she actively engaged in the drafting and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. She served as the chairperson of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2005 to 2010, and as the chairperson-rapporteur of the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. She was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples from 2014 to 2020.
PHILIPPINES
Joan is an indigenous activist from the Cordillera with more than 20 years of working on indigenous issues from the grassroots to the international level. Her expertise includes areas like human rights, sustainable development, the environment, climate change, and additionally the application of Free, Prior and Informed Consent.
RUSSIA
Pavel Sulyandziga (Russian: Павел Васильевич Суляндзига) is Russian indigenous peoples rights activist of Udege nationality.
He was a teacher of mathematics at the Math and Physics Department of the Khabarovsk State Pedagogical Institute in Khabarovsk City and a Legislative Faculty at the University of Marx-Lenin in Vladivostok City. With a PhD in Economic Science, he also served as Honorary Professor and UNESCO Faculty at the Novosibirsk State University in Russia. He served as Associate Researcher at the Bowdoin College in Maine, USA.
INDONESIA
Rukka, a Torajan from the highlands of Sulawesi, is the first female Secretary General of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), the world’s largest Indigenous Peoples organization at the national level.
She is known for her fiery oratory and her longtime dedication to the indigenous rights movement. Her parents hosted a meeting in 1993 that is often cited as its genesis in Indonesia.
Rukka completed her bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Agriculture, Hasanuddin University, and her Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Chulalongkorn, Thailand.