Global and Regional Human Rights Commissioners

Short bio: Colleen Lundy MSW, PhD is a social work Professor Emeritus at Carleton University, Ottawa Canada. She has taught and published on social work and human rights and its engagement with the welfare state. Her book Social Work, Social Justice and Human Rights: A Structural Approach to Practice (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011) offers a critical analysis of the social, economic and political context of social work with a clear application to practice. She co-author One Hundred Years of Social Work: A History of the Profession in English Canada 1900-2000 (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier Press, 2011), the first complete history of social work in Canada. She has been involved in several international research initiatives that examine social policy and human rights and assist in the development of a social welfare state. For four years she was the Academic Director of the Centre for International Migration and Settlement Studies at Carleton.

Email Dr Raed Amira, Palestine
Asia-Pacific Regional Human Rights Commissioner

Short bio: Raed Amira from Palestine holds MA in Democracy and Human Rights – Birzeit University, BA is Social Work minor Psychology – Bethlehem University. He is a former Chairperson of Palestinian Union of Social Worker and Psychologist – Bethlehem branch. Dr. Amira is Coordinator of Public and International Relations Palestinian Union of Social Worker and Psychologist – Palestine. Member of law committee for social work in Palestine and member of International Federation of Social Workers Human Rights Commission as the main representative for Asia Pacific Region. Dr. Raed Amira is Member of the Scientific Committee of the Yemeni Union for Social Workers and Psychologist. He was  Social work lecturer –Al Qudes Open University.2005 -2012; Social work lecturer – Palestine Ahliya University. 2015 – now. Area Relief and Social Services Officer (ARSSO) – UNRWA – Providing direct services to Palestine refugees inside and outside camps – Bethlehem. Trainer: Human Rights, Communication skills, Gender-based violence, Strategic Planning, Social protection, Rights and protection of children. Member of the founding committee of the Arab Union of Social Workers. Lecturer on the civil education and democratic development. A writer in the field of social service and human rights.Social and union activist

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AI am first and foremost a father. I am a social justice and environmental activist. A member of Aotearoa New Zealand IFSW Co-ordinating Body. The IFSW Asia Pacific Human Rights representative and a team member of the Global Community Council for the IFSW Climate Justice Program. My interests are radical social work and promoting community and environmental sustainability. I am also interested in circular economic principles as a way to alleviate the effects of climate change. I hold a BSW, a Post Graduate Diploma in International Development and I am currently doing a Master of Philosophy Research program through Massey University exploring the barriers to radical social work practice in Aotearoa New Zealand through the voices of contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand social workers. My day job is a union organiser with the Public Service Association and I am the convenor for the Out@PSA network in Canterbury.

Short bio: Marcin Boryczko is a member of the Polish Federation of Social Workers and Social Services Employees Union and engaged in the struggle for respecting social workers ‘labour rights. He is conducting research and writing publications on violence in social work practice and the work condition of Polish social workers. As far as concerns our ongoing collaboration, Dr Marcin Boryczko is developing structural and substantive framework for social work education and practice to address, in particular, growing demands for refugee claims, immigrant resettlement and engaging human rights perspective into de curriculum of social work programmes (Polska Federacja Związkowa Pracowników Socjalnych i Pomocy Społecznej).

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Short bio: Mark Lusk is Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso. Mark is an experienced field worker and researcher in Latin America. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, he has lived in South America for over 20 years. He currently studies resilience and trauma among refugees and forced migrants. Mark was Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru in Lima and also Senior Fulbright Fellow at the Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Dr. Lusk  is on the Board of the Hope Border Institute – a non-profit human rights organization that serves residents and migrants in the US – Mexico border region.