Board – Netherlands

Ms. Pari Ibrahim, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF). Ms. Ibrahim is Yezidi and originally from Iraq. She fled Iraq as a child with her family in 1991 during the Saddam Hussein regime, eventually settling in the Netherlands. Ms. Ibrahim created the Free Yezidi Foundation to provide support for Yezidi survivors in the aftermath of the Yezidi Genocide perpetrated by ISIS. The Foundation’s fundamental values include women’s rights, justice for gender-based violence and sexual violence, and the rights of ethno-religious minorities. Ms. Ibrahim and FYF have tackled some of the most difficult cases, particularly in defense of Yezidi women.

Ms. Ibrahim seeks an Iraqi society where Yezidis are considered equal and enjoy equal access to opportunity and rights. Similarly, she advocates for women’s empowerment and equal rights for women and girls in Iraq. Ms. Ibrahim is an advocate of heightened attention to and appreciation of gender issues in the Yezidi community, and seeks respect and acknowledgment of women’s rights in the broadest sense.

Ms. Ibrahim established FYF in August 2014 in the Netherlands. The Foundation has implemented programs funded by the United Nations, the United States Government, European governments, and various foundations and international organizations. On behalf of the Foundation, Ms. Ibrahim has spoken at the United Nations Security Council, British Parliament, US Holocaust Museum, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and at countless universities, media outlets, and think-tanks.

After the ISIS attacks on Sinjar and the Yezidi population in August 2014, Ms. Ibrahim founded the Free Yezidi Foundation to help Yezidi civilians in need and raise awareness of their plight. She has been active in organising protests and outlining the challenges facing Yezidis, with articles appearing in the Washington Post, Telegraaf, Al-Monitor, the Guardian, the Sunday Times (UK), Middle East Eye, and others. Ms. Ibrahim and her team established the FYF women’s and children’s centers, the FYF justice project, FYF’s Enterprise & Training Center, the combating GBV office, and various other projects, also conducting general advocacy to promote greater humanitarian and human rights support to Yezidi civilians.

Ms Ibrahim studied law at the University of Amsterdam. She speaks Kurmanji, Dutch, English, and German.

Ashley Jordana is a Canadian international lawyer and consultant. Her specialized interest lies in the strategic investigation and prosecution of international crimes committed against children. Between 2016-2021, Ashley was the Secretary and Senior Legal Advisor for Global Rights Compliance. In this capacity, Ashley managed GRCs investigations and strategic litigation portfolio across Syria, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, The Gambia, Bangladesh, The Philippines, Venezuela, and Ukraine. In May 2016, Ashley joined the Stanisic and Simatovic legal team as a senior legal consultant before the United Nations International Residual Mechanism which concluded in July 2021. Ashley is currently a consultant with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Emergent Justice Collective, a feminist-led, trauma-informed organisation currently in its founding phase. Ashley is a rostered expert with Justice Rapid Response for international crimes against children. She holds a bachelor’s degree (B.A.) and Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from the University of Notre Dame.

Alisa Jamalyan is a young Armenian scholar at the Democracy Study Center at GPUS and a researcher at the Yerevan State University. She graduated with a Master’s degree from the Center for European Studies at the Yerevan State University and School of Liberal Politics. Since childhood, she has always been interested in human rights, especially minority rights. Alisa has been surrounded by national and gender minorities who face discrimination in her neighborhood on a regular basis. Her scope of academic interests include refugee rights and migration policies, national minority rights and gender equality, democracy-building processes in the South Caucasus, and women’s participation in civic life. Alisa has worked at the Economic Research and Development Support Centre NGO, GIZ Armenia, and a number of NGOs striving for establishing equality in Armenia and in the region. She has contributed to fundraising in an effort to increase democratic practices in Armenia. She has also been a facilitator/tutor during different trainings and seminars on women’s rights, children’s best interests, and European policies organized in Armenia and abroad. Alisa is a Young European Ambassador in Armenia and she is passionate about tolerance towards diversity, equality, and acceptance of every person and advancing a liberal society in Armenia and beyond.