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EMPOWERING YOUTH TO UPHOLD TRANSPARENCY, INTEGRITY AND
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5 July 2022 — Preventing and tackling corruption as it relates to crimes that have an impact on the environment is essential for sustaining all life on Earth, both on land and underwater. In order to discuss this multifaceted and complex issue, together with the crucial role of quality education and youth empowerment for the identification of sustainable solutions, the GRACE initiative is organizing a side event at the High-Level Political Forum 2022 titled “Empowering youth to uphold transparency, integrity and anti-corruption in the fight against crimes that affect the environment”.
Language: English (no interpretation provided) | Duration: 90 minutes
Mahryan Sampaio is a UN Youth Ambassador, activist, academic, and lecturer. Her career in social development began so early that today she cannot disassociate it from her own existence. Passionate about people, she always had social transformation as a great ideal and life mission. Activist and black feminist, she works promoting the human rights of social minorities. Graduated in International Relations from Centro Universitário Belas Artes de São Paulo (FEBASP), she works in the Human Rights area, focusing on Migration and Refugee, Youth, Gender, Race, and Environment. She has training in Gender, Sexuality and Social Movements, Africa Studies and International Negotiation from the University of São Paulo (USP).
She is a board member of the NGO I Know My Rights (IKMR), helping to transform the reality of refugee children in Brazil through education, art and culture projects. She is Coordinator of the #RefuTeen Project, funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an initiative that trains young migrants and refugees to act as mobilizers for human rights. She has over 3 years of gender experience as Director of Studies and Research, coordinating a team of nearly 20 internationalist academic researchers of various degrees, from undergraduate to masters.
Recognized as a young leader, she was appointed UN Youth Ambassador by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and started to act as a multiplier of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda in social and political spaces.
Lulua Asaad is a UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer. She coordinates the Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE. Prior to that Ms Asaad led UNODC’s Education for Justice (E4J) initiative’s primary education level, managing a vast array of activities with UNODC’s Field Offices, as well as activities under the UNODC/UNESCO partnership on GCED for the rule of law. She provides advice and policy support on UNODC’s engagement with different innovative programmes and stakeholders on the 2030 Agenda, as well as supporting countries in their education policy and innovative educational activities and models to promote integrity, ethics and anti-corruption. Lulua holds a Masters degree in international relations, and has served in the last 15 years many different positions at UN agencies and the public and private sectors.
Dr. Hilligje van’t Land serves the global higher education community as Secretary General of the International Association of Universities (IAU) - global NGO with UNESCO Associate Status celebrating this year its 70th Anniversary. For the past two decades, she has fostered the key role of higher education in societal transformation. She supervises the overall programme activities of the IAU, develops the Association’s strategic plans and oversees the everyday work of the secretariat. She positioned the IAU as partner in UNESCO work on Education for sustainable development and in the UNESCO Futures of Education initiative, and higher education as a key stakeholder for the UN Agenda 2030 – Transforming our world. Hilligje van’t Land strongly believes in the importance of international cooperation and intercultural understanding and has developed multilateral projects related higher education and beyond.
She represents IAU in various working groups and expert committees including at the Council of Europe, UNESCO and the UN, including as member of the High Level Advisory Board to the UNESCO Futures of Education Initiative and Mission 4.7; the UNESCO ESD for 2030 Programme; the UNESCO and Bergen Expert Group on Universities and Sustainability; the Council of Europe (CoE) Ad hoc Working Group on the Local Mission of the University; the UNODC projects and initiatives on HE; the CoE Steering Committee for Best Practice Programme in Promoting Academic Integrity; the CoE Ad hoc Working Group on Competences for a Democratic Culture; the Advisory Board of UVED, OneHE and Sulitest; the Advisory Board of the Observatory of Academic Freedom (Soros Foundation).
Hilligje van’t Land holds a PhD in comparative francophone literature, speaks six languages and published on higher education issues of relevance locally and globally. For recent publications and conferences, please click on the links. Most recent books: Higher Educations' Response to Covid-19; The Promise of Higher Education: Essays in Honour of 70 Years of IAU
Sophia Kianni is an Iranian-American environmentalist studying climate science and public policy at Stanford University. She is the founder and executive director of Climate Cardinals, an international nonprofit with 8,000 volunteers in 40+ countries working to translate climate information into over 100 languages. She represents the U.S as the youngest member on the inaugural United Nations Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. She sits on boards and advisory councils for The New York Times, World Economic Forum, Inkey List, Iris Project, Ashoka, and American Lung Association.
Sophia’s work has been featured in news outlets including Forbes, CNN, Business Insider, BBC, NPR, ELLE, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, NBC, and even on the front page of The Washington Post. She was previously a fellow with PBS NewsHour and has written for news outlets such as The Washington Post, MTV News, Cosmopolitan, and Teen Vogue. She is a prolific public speaker and has spoken at universities across the world including Columbia University, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Cambridge University, and Harvard University. She gave her debut TED Talk as the closing speaker at the inaugural TED Countdown Conference.
She has been named VICE Media's youngest Human of the Year, a National Geographic Young Explorer, and one of Teen Vogue's 21 under 21. Learn More: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Kianni
Paballo Chauke has an MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management (BCM) from the School of Geography and Environment (SoGE) at the University of Oxford (Oriel College) in the United Kingdom. His MSc research was titled “Fighting the “Good” Fight: Green Violence and Anti-Poaching of Rhino in the Kruger National Park, South Africa”. Mr Chauke also has two degrees from the University of Cape Town, an undergraduate degree with a triple major in Sociology, Environmental Geographical Sciences and Xhosa Communication. He also holds an honours degree in Environmental Geographical Sciences from the same institution. He has a multi-trans and cross disciplinary background and has a vast experience in research, coordination, facilitation, teaching, translation, supervision, mentoring and volunteering. He has a myriad of overlapping interests and skills/experience ranging from climate change, (sexual) health, poverty eradication, land restitution, nature conservation and social justice just to name a few.
Mrs. Sota Valdivia holds a diploma in law from the Universidad Andina del Cusco, Peru, and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Erfurt, Germany, which she attended as a Helmut Schmidt scholarship holder. She is admitted as a lawyer to the Peruvian bar. Prior to working with UNODC, she worked for the Peruvian Public Prosecutors’ Office as well as for the Peruvian Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR). Mrs Sota Valdivia's area of expertise revolves around the role of corruption as it links to crimes that affect the environment.
Xuan Zi Han is a youth climate advocate with the Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He is the Co-Lead of the COP26 Global Youth Statement, a representative and inclusive climate policy document drafted in consultation with more than 40,000 young people from more than 135 countries around the world. Furthermore, he was 1 of the 7 UNHCR Young Champions recognized by UNHCR for his work in legal advocacy for asylum seekers and refugees in Europe. Currently, Zi Han studies Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at University College London and he serves on UNODC’s YouthLED Integrity Advisory Board.
Ludovic is a Civil Engineer and promotes ecological constructions with the local construction materials, currently serving on UNODC’s YouthLED Integrity Advisory Board. He participated in the Thailand Institute of Justice and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Borderless Youth Forum to help vulnerable people.
He has taken courses on Advanced Anti-Corruption and Prevention of Corruption. He has been trained on understanding climate change, Business and Entrepreneurship, Civic Leadership, Leadership, Understanding Elections and Civic Responsibility, Understanding the Rights of Women and Girls, and Responsible Leadership on Transparency and Good Governance. He is currently a Master’s Degree student in Water Awareness, Consciousness, Knowledge and Management at Uninettuno University in Rome. He was a Youth4climate Delegate for Pre-COP26 in Milan and, in this position, he contributed to produce the Youth4climate Manifesto document to influence positively the decisions of World Leaders at COP26.
He gained experiences with bilateral and multilateral organizations and the United Nations. He has been trained for elaborating urban planning tools for sustainable cities and communities. He worked as a Researcher at Restless Development for the ”Youth at heart” project led by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the MENA, Sahel, and Eastern and Horn of Africa regions for resilience to covid-19, education and work, and voice of youth in the society. The project is currently used to influence the decisions of 500 global donors, practitioners, and policy-makers and the Principle Document has been endorsed by the World Bank, UNICEF, UN Youth Envoy, and UNILEVER. With the Chatham House, he contributes to policy-making to help multilateral organizations. With UN SDSN Youth, he worked with leaders worldwide to produce the Covid-19 Rapid Response Solutions for Cities Report.
Esma Gumberidze is a youth advocate from Georgia, currently serving on UNODC’s YouthLED Integrity Advisory Board. She has been a member of youth initiatives and international formats such as the Young European Ambassadors by the EU Neighbours East, CEPPS Global Youth Advisory Group, and the Youth Delegation to the OGP Global Summit. In Georgia, Esma has been Youth Representative to the United Nations and a member of the consultative Council on the monitoring of UNCRPD Implementation, Protection and Promotion with the Ombudsman’s Office.
Currently Esma is a member of the European Democracy Youth Network (EDYN), a co-founder of the Network of former Youth Delegates to the UN, a member of the disability inclusion consultative mechanisms with the Tbilisi Mayor’s office, and the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Health. She also chairs the disabled women’s organization “Platform for New Opportunities” and is a board member at the National Network of Women with disabilities. Esma is a fellow at the Center for Inclusive Policy and advocacy project assistant at NDI. She has authored few research papers on varied topics e.g. the participation of persons with disabilities; the situation of the women with disabilities rights; the employment of women with disabilities. She has written blogs on peacebuilding, media literacy, women’s and disabled persons’ rights.
Tania is a young Salvadoran feminist who has brought her passion for defending human rights to a professional field. She began her career in 2017 as a consultant for youth projects at the Museum of the Word and Image (MUPI in Spanish) in El Salvador. She has also facilitated training processes with a culture of peace approach for children and adolescents.
As a Research Assistant at the organization Cristosal, she collaborated in writing studies on the impact and management of the COVID-19 health crisis and the situation of LGBTIQ+ youth and persons deprived of liberty in northern Central America. She has experience abroad as a participant in the Teaching Assistant Program in France for the 2020-2021 academic year. Tania received a degree in International Relations and Business at the Evangelical University of El Salvador (UEES) and has a specialization in Foreign Trade and Customs Management. She is completing the postgraduate course "Collective Memories, Human Rights and Resistance" of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO).
As a graduate of the Women's Empowerment Program (WEP) program instructed by the Vienna School of International Studies, Tania has become one of 20 young Latin American Global Citizen Fellows selected by the Ban Ki-moon Center. Currently, Tania works in the Seattle International Foundation as the Program Assistant for the Central America and Mexico Youth Fund (Camy Fund). The Camy Fund provides financial, technical, and political support to youth human rights initiatives, collectives, and organizations based in Central America and Mexico.
Graduated from both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Criminology at the Alma Mater University of Bologna, having had the chance to study for one year at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), Leonardo is an enthusiastic, energetic and hard working young man, greatly dedicated to the fields of international relations, public policy, human rights, criminology and criminal justice.
Willing to participate in the development of knowledge and education in the rule of law area, Leonardo is currently leading the Youth Empowerment component of the Global resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE) initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, advancing the Organization’s meaningful inclusion of young people into global anti-corruption efforts based on education, research, digital innovation and social entrepreneurship. Prior to working with GRACE, Leonardo worked for the Education for Justice (E4J) Initiative of the Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), aimed to building a culture of lawfulness among children and youth by developing age-appropriate educational materials that promote peace, justice and equality and integrating them into curricula across all education levels.
His exposure to the work of International Organisations counts also a working experience in the Department of Management of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Psychotropics Control Section of the International Narcotics Control board (INCB), both based in Vienna, Austria. Before joining the Vienna based Organisations, Leonardo worked as a Trainee with the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France.