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Agenda | Human Trafficking Info | HT Discussion | Speakers | Resolutions
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SPEAKERS' BIOGRAPHIES
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
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Paul Raynault, Founder & Chairman
Student World Assembly
Paul Raynault is the founder of Student World Assembly and President of the Raynault Foundation. Mr. Raynault launched Student World Assembly in September 2003, hoping that it will eventually lead to a world forum where all people can voice their opinions and concerns about global issues in an open and free matter. Born in Montreal, Canada, Mr. Raynault previously served as the Chairman of Computer Leasing Inc., and currently sits on different boards and committees. Mr. Raynault has a B.S from McGill University and a M.A from Princeton University.
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Honourable Papa Owusu-Ankomah
Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Ghana
Honourable Papa Owusu-Ankomah was born at Sekondi. He comes from Dixcove in the Ahanta West. He gained admission to the University of Ghana, Legon in 1976 and graduated with L.L.B. (Hons) in 1979. He later proceeded to the Ghana School of Law in 1979 and became a barrister at law in 1981 and was called to the bar the same year. Between 1981 and 2000, he was engaged in various legal assignments: a law tutor at the Takoradi Polytechnic; Secondi/Takoradi City Solicitor; Managing partner of Owusu-Ankomah, Amanquah & Co;. and Consulting Associate, Ghartey & Ghartey Law firm, Takoradi. Mr. Owusu-Ankomah was elected a Member of Parliament for Sekondi Constituency in 1997.
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He was re-elected to Parliament in 2002 and became a member of several parliamentary Committees including Standing Committee on Subsidiary Legislation and Select Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2001, he was appointed the Deputy Majority Leader and Deputy Minister for Government Business. He was later appointed the Minister for Youth and Sports from August 2001 to September 2001 and was promoted as the Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs from October 2001 to March 2003. In April 2003, Mr. Owusu Ankomah was appointed Attorney General and Minister for Justice. He also served as Interior Minister from January 2005 to April 2006. On 27 April 2006, he was appointed as Minister of Education, Science and Sports. He is a staunch member of the Methodist Church, a class leader, Local Preacher and member of both Synod and Conference of the Church.
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Honourable Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah
Interior Minister, Ghana
Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah enrolled at the North East London Polytechnic,
London, and then at the Emile Woolf College of Accountancy,
where he obtained qualifications in Accountancy. He is a Fellow
of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (U.K.)
and Member of the Ghana Institute of Chartered Accountants. |
| In 1996, he was elected as the
President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana.
Between 1987 and 1995, he held directorship positions at SSB
Consumer Credit Limited, Alternate Board Member of Kabel Metal
Ghana Limited, and New Times Corporation. Mr. Kan-Dapaah was
the Ashanti Regional Representative on the National Council
of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and member of the Finance
and Economic Affairs Committee of the NPP (1992-1996). He
has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya Sekyere
West Constituency since January 1997. He was appointed the
Interior Minister of Ghana on 27 April 2006. |
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Hon. Hajia Alima Mahama
Minister for Women and Children's Affairs
Hon. Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister for Women and Children's
Affairs was born at Walewale in the Northern Region. She entered
the University of Ghana and successfully pursued a Bachelor
of Arts (Hons) degree course in Law and Sociology between
1977 and 1980. She entered the Ghana Law School, Accra, in
1980 and qualified as a Barrister at Law in 1982. She studied
at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, Netherlands
between September 1985 and December 1986 and was awarded a
Master of Arts degree in Development Studies with specialization
in Regional Development Planning. |
| Between September 1990 and August 1991 she
pursued a Post- Graduate Program in Development Administration
and Management at the University of Ottawa. She has also undertaken
Post-Graduate Studies and Institutional Attachments in Urban
Policy Planning and Women Studies at Rutgers University and
the State University of New Jersey, under the Hubert H. Humphrey
Fellowship Program (August 1999 -July 2000). Hon. Hajia Alima
served as Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development
from May 2001 to April 2003. She was also the Deputy Minister
for Trade and Industry from May 2003 to January 2005. |
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Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe
Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana
Mr. Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana. He has been teaching Anatomy for over 25 years in Ghana and abroad and in 2000 he became Professor of Anatomy and Dean at the University of Ghana Medical School. In 2005, he became acting vice chancellor of the University.
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Dr. Reza Fakhari
Academic Advisor and Member of the Board of Directors
Student World Assembly
Dr. Reza Fakhari is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and
Professor of Political Science at Kingsborough Community College
of the City University of New York. Professor Fakhari holds
a Ph.D., with honors, in International Relations from the
New School for Social Research in New York City. His doctoral
dissertation dealt with the emergence of Mikhail S. Gorbachev
in the Soviet Union and his key role in ending the Cold War.
Before joining Kingsborough in August 2005, Dr. Fakhari served
as an Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and a Professor
at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New
York. |
| He has also been an adjunct professor of International
Politics at Fordham University in New York since 1985 and
has taught at Vassar College and the International Pacific
College in New Zealand. He was a faculty presenter at the
Salzburg Seminar in Salzburg, Austria, in 2004 and 2006. He
has lectured widely on Islam and the Middle East and has appeared
on TV and radio. |
PANELISTS
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Tatiana Kotlyarenko, Outreach Coordinator
Student World Assembly
Topics: Overview of Human Trafficking - Cases from Around
the World
Also: Panel III - What Can Students Do About Human Trafficking?
Tatiana moved to New York City from Moldova in 1989. She received her B.A. from Brandeis University and her M.A. in Human Rights and Economic Development from Columbia University. In her MA thesis she examined the supply and demand issues of sex trafficking from and into Russia. Besides working with Student World Assembly, Tatiana was recently an intern at Human Rights Watch, where she prepared cases for European Court of Human Rights on human rights abuses in Russia and currently works as a consultant for Russian Justice Initiative.
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Mr. Prize FY McApreko, Director
Amnesty International - Ghana Section
Topic: Labor Trafficking
Education: Prize F.Y. Mc Apreko received a combined degree in French & English. He currently serves as Director, Amnesty International-Ghana Country Action Program Coordinator for Sudan & Nigeria. His past positions include Country Co-ordinator: West Africa Human Rights Defenders Network and Lead Human Rights Facilitator: Journalist for Human Rights. Prize F.Y. Mc Apreko is married with one son.
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Nana Osei Boakyewa Yiadom II, President and Founder
Apeadu Children's Peace Center, Ghana
Topic: Trafficking of Children for Labor
A noted African leader and one of Ghana's queen mothers, Nana
Osei Boakyewa Yiadom II is the first among African women to
be elected village chief. She has dedicated her life to serving
diverse people around the world. Nana holds a Master of Arts
degree from New York's Queens College and is a fellow with
the UN Institute for Training and Research, working on a project
on refugee women. She has served since 1986 as consultant
on the UN Decade for Women, advisor of the Committee on African
Women's Affair, and president of the New-York-based Pan African
Human Rights Association. Based on her knowledge and working
experience with women and children in Africa, and the impact
of ethnic conflicts, she founded the Apeadu Children's Peace
Center to "build skills for self-sustenance, promote the issue
of tolerance, and preserve and enhance the national culture,
identity and tradition of Africa." |
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Mr. Eric Appiah Okrah, Project Officer
UNICEF - Ghana
Topic: Poverty & Child Trafficking: The African Case
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| Mr. Eric Appiah Okrah has previously worked
in the capacity of Research Officer - Ghana National Commission
on Children, Head of Census Analysis Section - Ghana Statistical
Service, and National Programmes Coordinator - ILO Action
Programmes on Child Trafficking and Center on Human Trafficking
and Forced Labor. He is currently working as a Project Officer
- Child Protection Unit, UNICEF-Ghana. Mr. Eric Appiah Okrah
is married and has three children. |
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Eddie Dane Donton, Executive Director
West Africa AIDS Foundation
Topic: Children and Sex Trafficking/Sex Tourism
The West Africa AIDS Foundation is a registered NGO and a partner of the Ghana AIDS Commission. We believe in providing education, counseling, care and support for the purpose of inducing behavioral change in the sexual norms of the populace that are known to have a high incidence of HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Mr. Donton is an expert on child sex trafficking.
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Mr. Mathew Dally, Programmes Officer
International Labor Organization
Topic: Globalization And Trafficking: A Myth Or Reality?
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Mr. Matthew Dally serves as a Programmes Officer for International Labor Organization in Ghana. The International Labor Organization is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and it became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. The ILO formulates international labor standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labor rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labor, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues.
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Simon Abaxe, Volta Region Director
Every Child Ministries
Topic: Trokosi Practice in Ghana
Simon Abaxe started working with Every Child Ministries in June 2002 as a librarian and school ministry coordinator. Currently he serves as the ECM Volta Regional Director. He completed a certificate in Theology in August 2004. He is from Lumor. Simon Abaxe is married with three children and serves as a pastor at the church of the Assemblies of God in Hlevi.
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STUDENT WORLD ASSEMBLY
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Kwame Anane Frempong,
Regional Representative - Ghana
Accra '07 Convention Coordinator
Kwame has helped to recruit many members in Ghana, and has helped to establish a chapter at his school, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology. He also partnered with Bossman Boakye to hold a regional event for Ghana, an event which brought together many high profile representatives from the Ghanaian government, United Nations, Amnesty International, National Union of Ghana Students & the World Citizens Foundation. Kwame is a dedicated human rights activist, an anti-Apartheid campaigner, world democracy activist, a social critic and a leader who continues to make significant contributions to topical issues. He studied at Harvard School of International Marketing-Ghana, Tourism & Hotel
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Management European Network University/Bradford University Dept. of Peace Studies/Centre for Conflict Resolution, Conflict Transformation University of Ghana, HIV/AIDS Counseling and Care Giving.
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Moses Kanduri
2006-2007 Assembly Vice-Speaker
Moses is the president of the SWA chapter at the Catholic University, College of Ghana, where he is currently studying Economics and Business Administration. He is the Executive Director of a youth-led organization called ACT-gh, and has worked with the National Youth Council in Ghana to champion the campaign for youth Empowerment in Ghana. Hardworking and determined, Moses will continue to promote global partnership and realize the Millennium Developmental Goals to give the students a signal of hope for a better future.
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Janine Palludan
Program Development and Grants Coordinator
Janine Palludan moved to the United States from Denmark in 1993. She earned a B.A. degree in Spanish, French and German (with a minor in European History) from the University of Delaware where she was involved with the Sigma Delta Pi (Spanish), Delta Phi Alpha (German) and Pi Delta Phi (French) National Honor Societies. Janine started working for the Student World Assembly (SWA) as Program Development and Growth Coordinator in June 2005. She began working as the Assistant to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Kingsborough Community College in New York in September 2005 and currently serves as a Chapter Advisor of the Student World Assembly at Kingsborough as well.
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Akponah Charles Osareimen
Regional Representative, Nigeria
Leading up to his appointment as a Regional Representative, Charles was the lead organizer of the first SWA Nigeria regional event, in which students from several schools in the area joined together to develop a plan of action for the Nigeria Region. This event was held at Obafemi Awolowo University. Following his completion of studies at OAU in May 2004, Charles began working with the Federal Ministry of Inter-Governmental Special Duties and Youth Development in Abuja. Charles is currently involved in projects with the World Youth Organization and WSIS Youth Nigeria. He is also a member of the All Nigeria United Nations Students & Youth Association, Commission on Sustainable Development Youth Caucus, NGO Committee on Youth, Taking It Global-Nigeria NGOs Group, WSIS Youth Caucus, and Youth Network for Peacebuilding, UNESCO.
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