Alumni
Alumni of the Short Course are invited to develop a working relationship with the Human Rights Law Centre. In fact, many have gone on to form collaborative projects with the Centre, from training programmes to research projects. Our Alumni receive the HRLC Newsletter and have access to the HRLC Short Course Alumni Listserv, which enables them to stay in contact with one another, sharing their new ventures with their group, and with other Short Course Alumni.
Alumni Profiles
Gelek Namgyal
Gelek, Executive Secretary of the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre (TPPRC), received a Human Rights Defender Fellowship to study on the Short Course from October - December 2008.
Bekele Debela
Bekele is an Ethiopian writer and human rights activist and received a Human Rights Defender Fellowship to study on the Short Course from January - March 2009.
Mohamed Barud Ali
Mohamed Barud Ali, attended the Chevening Fellowship course at the University of Nottingham on ‘Implementing Human Rights Conventions’ organized by the Human Rights Law Centre from January to April 2010. A Somali national, Barud studied in England where he obtained a degree in Geography and Chemistry in 1977. After his studies he returned to Somaliland in 1978 during the rule of President Siyad Barre where he became involved in what would become a long standing commitment to national activism. On his return, he joined a voluntary community initiative, the Hargeisa Self-help group, to stem the mismanagement of the Hargeisa Group Hospital and improve the state of streets. These activities resulted in the arrest of Barud on the grounds that his actions would emphasize the inadequacies of the Barre regime. After an unfair trial Barud was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1982 where he was tortured and subjected to inhumane conditions during his incarceration.
Following continued national and international campaigns Barud was granted a presidential pardon and released from prison in March 1989. Fears that he would be arrested on the slightest pretence resulted in him fleeing the country and living as a refugee in the United States and then in Germany. Barud returned to Somaliland in 1993 where he became involved in politics, first becoming a parliamentarian and then Minister for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Reconstruction. Since his release from prison, Barud has been a champion for the rehabilitation of Somaliland, first through SORRA, an NGO working with displaced Somalis and then as founder member and director of a new umbrella organisation, Samo Tallis, whose activities focus mainly on human rights education. He recently wrote a book about his experiences in prison entitled ‘The Mourning Tree’ which was launched on 20 February 2010 to commemorate the student protests that took place 28 years ago in Hargeisa demanding justice and the release of members of the Hargeisa Self-help group, known locally as the UFFO.
Follow this to link to read an Interview with Barud in the HRLC Summer 2010 Newsletter
Gabriela Carina Albuquerque e Silva
In Autumn 2009, the HRLC welcomed Gabriela Carina Albuquerque e Silva on its International Human Rights Short Course. She is a Brazilian national and started her career as a judge in 1998, adjudicating civil and criminal cases in juvenile justice. The Brazilian judiciary entrusted her with monitoring detention conditions and prisoner rights in Sao Paulo’s maximum security prison. She subsequently developed and implemented a nationwide programme for the enhancement of the administration of justice, which was completed in 2008. Her recent appointment as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Lawyers and Judges in Summer 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council prompted her decision to participate in the IHRC Short Course to further improve her familiarity with international human rights mechanisms and practice. The benefits of the Autumn Short Course prompted her to undertake the Spring short course as well. She credits the broad spectrum of the modules offered as useful in helping her expand her knowledge beyond her previous national experience to the international human rights domain.
Follow this link to read an Interview with Gabriela published in the HRLC's Winter 2010 Newsletter.