Prof. Nils Melzer is the Human Rights Chair of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He is also Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow. On 1 November 2016, he took up the function of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Prof. Melzer has served for 12 years with the International Committee of the Red Cross as a Legal Adviser, Delegate and Deputy Head of Delegation in various zones of conflict and violence. After leaving the ICRC in 2011, he held academic positions as Research Director of the Swiss Competence Centre on Human Rights (University of Zürich), as Swiss Chair for International Humanitarian Law (Geneva Academy) and as Senior Fellow for Emerging Security Challenges (Geneva Centre for Security Policy), and has represented civil society in the Steering Committee of the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers.

In the course of his career, Prof. Melzer has also served as Senior Security Policy Adviser to the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, has carried out advisory mandates for influential institutions such as the United Nations, the European Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, and has regularly been invited to provide expert testimonies, including to the UN First Committee, the UN CCW, the UNSG Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, and various Parliamentary Commissions of the European Union, Germany and Switzerland.

Ms Sahli-Fadel has been teaching law at the Law Faculty of the University of Algiers 1 since 1981, and at the Diplomatic Institute of International relations (IDRI) and at the National School of Magistrates (ENM) since 2000. She had been a lawyer at the Bar of Algiers from 1987 to 1994. She has been a member of the African Commission on Human Rights and Peoples since 2011. In this capacity, she is the African Union Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, and a member of the Working Group on Death Penalty and the Working Group on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Between 2008 and 2014, Ms Sahli-Fadel was a member of the United Nations Working and Expert Group on People of African Descent. 

Yahaya Badamassi, is a Sociologist and Civil Society Actor in Niger. He is currently the regional coordinator of Alternative Espace Citoyens (AEC) in the Zinder region. Since 2015 he has been involved in the fight to safeguard the rights of migrants in Niger. In December 2019 he integrated the Migration and torture working group in Africa newly established by OMCT. Since 2017 he has been preparing a doctorate in sociology at University Ouagadougou 1 Joseph Ki-Zerbo (Burkina Faso)

Esther Nabwire Waswa is a human rights activist working as the Head of Programs at the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV) in Kampala, Uganda. She is passionate about advocating for the rights of the marginalized. She currently heads a team of 30 multidisciplinary professionals ranging from medical doctors, clinicians, nurses, physiotherapists lawyers, psychologists, social workers among others working towards holistically rehabilitating survivors of torture. She is a member of the Migration and torture working group established by OMCT.

Ms. Taubina has been working in the field of human rights since 1992. From the very beginning she was involved in the work of the Russian Research Center for Human Rights, since 1997 to 2011 she has been a director of the Foundation for Civil Society and since 2004 is a Director of the Public Verdict Foundation. The area of Ms. Taubina’s expertise is international human rights standards and mechanisms, human rights in the work of law enforcement bodies, including torture prevention, development of civil society organizations, NGO management, and evaluation.

Maite Parejo Sousa is a lawyer, member of the Madrid Bar Association, and, former vice president of the Spanish Association of Human Rights (APDHE).She is a member of the Migration and torture working group established by OMCT. She has focused in Criminal Law, International Criminal Law, universal jurisdiction and Human Rights.   After concluding her degree at the University of Seville, she completed her academic training in Cambridge. She holds a DEA from the Complutense University of Madrid, where she specialized in International Criminal Law, with a final research paper consider the aims of the penalties imposed against those held responsible of international crimes. She has been a lawyer, exercising the private and popular accusation in the Spanish National Court, in the Tibetan Case. She has also worked in bringing cases before the European Court of Human Rights.  

Stephanie Brewer is the Director for Mexico and Migrant Rights at WOLA. She advocates for policy improvements on both sides of the border to protect human rights and support the rule of law in Mexico, with a focus on public security, criminal justice, protection of migrant rights, and the prevention and punishment of torture, enforced disappearance, and other serious human rights violations. 

Before arriving at WOLA, Brewer worked in Mexico for over 13 years at the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Center Prodh), including more than 11 years as Coordinator of its International Department. 

She is a member of the General Assembly of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

Stege is an International University College of Turin (IUC), Faculty Member and Director of the IUC Clinical Legal Education Program. In 2017-2018, he was a Lecturer at the University of Pretoria Law Clinic (South Africa). He studied law in Germany, France, and Belgium. In addition to his role at the IUC, he is a practicing lawyer and member of the Italian and German bars. He is member of the Italian Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI). Furthermore, he is a founding member and Executive Secretary of the European Network for Clinical Education (ENCLE), a Steering Committee member of the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE), a member of the Italian Law Clinic Network and the Migration Law Network (Germany).

Moustapha Kemal Kebe is the Project Manager for the Senegalese NGO REMIDEV (Réseau Migration Développement) and the Loujna-Tounkaranké Collective for the Defense of the Rights of Migrants in the Maghreb and West Africa. Through his work he observes the impacts of migration and the barriers thereto on local communities. He speaks of thousands of young Senegalese who face a precarious future. He holds a master’s in international Cooperation and Multilingual Communication from Stendhal Grenoble University. He is a member of the Migration and torture working group established by OMCT.

Alexis Comninos is a Legal Adviser at the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT). His work focuses on law enforcement and human rights, in particular on the implementation of legal and procedural safeguards in the first hours of custody. Prior to joining APT, Alexis worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross. A Swiss/Greek national, he holds an LLM degree from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and an MA from Columbia University.