Speakers

Aarti Narsee is an civic space and gender rights expert. She currently works as a Policy and Advocacy officer for the European Civic Forum. In her former role at CIVICUS, she researched and documented trends in civic space in Europe and Central Asia for the CIVICUS Monitor. Through her intersectional feminist approach, she monitors and provides commentary on the intersections between gender rights and civic space. As a former journalist and avid storyteller, Aarti has written extensively about gender, LGBTQI+ and human rights. Aarti is a Chevening Alumna and holds a Masters in Gender, Policy and Inequalities from the London School of Economics and Political Science (The LSE).

Minister of Culture and Equality, Norway

Anine Kierulf is an associate professor of constitutional law at the University of Oslo and special advisor to the Norwegian Human Rights Institution. She is a much used commentator on constitutional law, human rights and freedom of expression, and is on the board of the Fritt Ord foundation.

Arizza is the Co-Founder and President of KRIS, a non-profit organization that promotes peace through education and youth leadership. KRIS has trained over 1,000 Filipino youth leaders on peacebuilding, supported hundreds of youth and youth organizations in their initiatives for education and development, and reached millions through its education campaigns. In 2021, KRIS was recognized as one of Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) in the Philippines and received the YouthLED Democracy Award from The Asia Foundation. Arizza is also one of ten young leaders hand-picked by the former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to eradicate violent extremism through the global Extremely Together initiative. She is also the Managing Director of DIGInspire, a communications agency providing strategic marketing services to top companies across diverse industries in the Philippines.

Arne Jensen is a senior advisor at the Association of Norwegian Editors. He was until recently for many years secretary general in the same organization. Jensen has a background as a journalist and editor in several newspapers and has also worked as advisor in the Norwegian Press Association, primarily with issues related to transparency and access to information. He has written and edited several subject books, and is a widely used speaker and lecturer. For several years he chaired the Press Openness Council and he was also for many years chair of the advisory board of the Foundation for a critical and investigative press. He was a member of the state-appointed committee which four years ago put forward proposals for new regulations for the protection of whistleblowers.

Aya Amead is a veteran media professional, who started her career as one of the first females to present an English radio show during the Libyan uprising in 2011.

Bård Vegar Solhjell (b. 1971) is the Director General of Nordad and a former Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. He served as Minister of Education from 2007 to 2009, and as Minister of the Environment from 2012 to 2013, both in Stoltenberg’s Second Cabinet. Starting in March 2018, he is the Secretary-General of WWF Norway.

Historian, author and speaker. Janney is Director of John L Nau Institute at University of Virginia. She is professor in the History of the American Civil. As an award-winning author and speaker, she has manage to draw the lines from American Civil War and Human Rights history and ideology into the current political context.

Charlotte Harder is Head of Communications and Press, Danish Union of Journalists. Before, she has worked for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, and 3 years as a reporter in Washington DC, covering US politics, economics and life. She also used to be a EU correspondent, spending 5 years in Brussels. Before joining the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, she has been working for the Danish news agency Ritzau, the leading newspaper Berlingske Tidende and the Danish TV channel – TV2.

Even Alexander Hagen is the Chairman of the County Council of Innlandet

Felicia Anthonio is a #KeepItOn Campaign Manager at Access Now, an international not-for-profit organization with a mission to extend and defend digital rights of users at risk. The #KeepItOn campaign, is a global initiative that unites over 270 organizations working to end internet shutdowns worldwide. Anthonio leads the campaigns global advocacy efforts by raising awareness about the devastating impact shutdowns have on people’s lives as well as engaging with policy-makers and key actors at national, regional and global levels to end internet shutdowns.

Forouzan Jamshidnejad is a Norwegian-Iranian actor. She plays in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider. Forouzan started with acting as a five-year-old and has been in several plays and TV series in Iran. In Iran she has won several awards, among them the award for Best Actor at Fajr International Theater Festival in 2005 as a 17-year-old. She made her film debut in Mitra in 2021. Holy Spider is her second feature film.

Frode Haltli began playing the accordion at the age of seven. As a child he played folk music but soon moved into different forms. Playing music by different acclaimed composers from different genres, including classical music, he swiftly developed exceptional instrumental skills alongside a deep understanding of new music.

Gvantsa Jobava, is the vice president of international Publishers Association and the past president of Georgian Publishers and Booksellers Association and the head of the publishing program for Georgia’s activities. She has been the editor and international relations manager at Intelekti Publishing, one of the biggest publishing houses in Georgia, since 2010, and has been promoting Georgian publishers’ interests and rights and organizing domestic and international events and book fair participation since 2013.

Henry Elkus is Founder and CEO of Helena. He cares immensely about creating systems that can be leveraged to enact global, scalable, and systemic change. Henry dropped out of Yale in his second year to lead Helena full time.

Seyran Ateş is a human rights activist, women’s rights activist, lawyer, author and mosque founder and has been campaigning for equality between men and women in society for over 30 years. Her commitment is characterised by fearlessness, civil courage and her assertion assert herself against fanaticism and lack of freedom. Out of her tireless commitment to a contemporary, progressive Islam, Seyran Ateş founded the Ibn Rushd – Goethe Mosque in Berlin, which differs from traditional mosques, in that all the tasks in the mosque are also taken on by women.

Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide is Chair of The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence at the Norwegian Parliament. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2021, the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she was the Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2017.

Ingunn Trosholmen (Labor Party) took over the mayoral position in Lillehammer after the election in 2019.
Trosholmen is a trained teacher, as well as a social scientist f...

Irene Khan, is the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. An internationally recognized advocate for human rights, gender equality and social justice, she teaches at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and is co-author of The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights, which has been published in seven languages.

Jacob Mchangama is a Danish lawyer, human-rights advocate, and social commentator. He is the founder and director of Justitia, a Copenhagen-based think tank focusing on human rights, freedom of speech, and the rule of law.

Jakob Nielsen is a Danish journalist. He is the Editor-in-chief for altinget.dk and mm.dk, and has written several books.

Joanna Krawczyk, Deputy Director East at the German Marshall Fund of the US, Obama Leader, Golden Pen of Freedom Award Laureate 2022.

Owner and Chair of Ferd, Norway, and Chair Council of Ethics Norway. Ferd is one of the largest privately held industrial and financial groups in Norway. Ferd’s value adjusted equity was USD 4,2 mrd as of 30.06.22. The company has 70 employees and is owned by Johan H. Andresen and his two daughters Katharina and Alexandra. It has roots back to 1849 and consists today of five business areas, out of which four are fully commercial and one is dedicated to scaling social entrepreneurs.

Karam S. Nachar is a Syrian writer and academic. He is co-founder and co-editor of Al-Jumhuriya, an award-winning independent media platform that provides in-depth coverage and analysis from Syria and the Arab world.

Mr. Khaled Emam is a renowned young international human rights lawyer and Executive Director of the Justice Call organization. With a background in law and international relations, Khaled has dedicated his professional career to advancing the rights of individuals and communities in need. As the organizing partner of the Major Group for Children and Youth (MGCY), Khaled has played a key role in fostering youth engagement in the development of inclusive and sustainable societies.

Knut Olav Åmås (born 19 January 1968) is a Norwegian writer and editor. He is currently the Executive Director of Stiftelsen Fritt Ord, a Norwegian private foundation, whose aim is to support freedom of expression and a free press.

Kristian is a Co-owner and Partner at Dalberg Media, a global, mission-driven group, which seeks to empower and mobilize people to solve global challenges by collective, sustained action. Kristian is part of the founding group of Dalberg Media and has led its establishment as well as its expansion on several continents.
Until March 2023, Kristian was also Head of UNLEASH ..

Daughter of a human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, a former Memorial board member murdered in Chechnya for her human rights work in 2009. Lana Estemirova is a graduate in international relations from the London School of Economics and is the presenter of the Trouble with the Truth podcast and works for the Justice for Journalists Foundation.

Leandro Demori is the Executive Editor of The Intercept Brasil, and is a board member of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji). He is the author of “Cossa Nostra in Brazil: The History of the Mafioso Who Took Down the Empire” (Companhia das Letras, 2016).

Marianne Neraal is heading public policy for Meta in Norway, Finland and Iceland, joining Facebook in 2017. She has background from the Norwegian Parliament, the Nordic Council of Ministers in Copenhagen, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Headquarters in New York and the Mission of Norway to the EU in Brussels. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Queensland and a Master of European studies at Aalborg University.

Marlon Julian Nombrado is one of the co-founders of Out of The Box (OOTB) Media Literacy Initiative, a Philippines-based educational nonprofit that creates innovative learning tools and experiences that foster media literate Filipinos. Along with Out of The Box, he was awarded First Prize in the 2021 Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Awards of the UNESCO MIL Alliance. He has published reference materials, taught in numerous workshops, and led campaigns on countering disinformation, upholding digital rights, and leveraging media for civic good.

Masud is a Norwegian politician who has served as the President of the Storting since 2021, and as an Member of the Storting for Buskerud since 2017 for the Labour Party. He was born in Theran in Iran. Gharahkhani was first elected as a deputy representative to the parliament in the 2009 election.He received a standing ovation at the Labour Party national convention in 2011 for his speech about his journey from Tehran to Drammen. Hoping to be the first mayor in Norway with a non-Western immigrant background

Mohammad Usman Rana is the head of the Norwegian Muslim think tank “Wasila.” He is author of the book “Norwegian Islam – how to love Norway and the Quran at the same time”. Additionally, he is an award-winning columnist, currently writing for the Norwegian weekly Morgenbladet. He is a commentator on Islam, radicalism and secularism.

Najwa Wheba is the first Presidential Spokeswoman in Libya, appointed in April 2021 as Spokesperson for the 1st Libyan Presidential Institution (the current Presidential Council). She announced the launch of the first Reconciliation Commission and is currently serving as the voice of the three-member council. Najwa holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Management and Humanitarian Work from the Doha Institute, which she earned in 2020. Najwa worked as a content producer for digital platforms at Al Jazeera Network in Doha. She is a former passionate journalist, with over 10 years of work experience, started her career as a radio journalist in 2009, and later she moved to work as a TV journalist, covering various Libyan events as a host or a reporter to cover many topics, including, elections in Libya in 2014 – migration crises in the Mediterranean in 2016, and displacement in Libya 2016.

Natallia Pinchuk is a professor of history. She graduated from Homiel University as a teacher of history, taught at the Belarusian Humanitarian Lyceum, the Belarusian Academy of Arts. She has written articles about Belarusian jewelry art of the Middle Ages, a book about jewelry art of Belarus, as well as a textbook on the history of Belarus for foreign students. She is Married to Ales Bialacki – the prominent Belarusian public figure, sentenced for 10 years of imprisonment for his human rights defense activities, and winner of the Nobel Peace Award .

Nazifa Jalali is from Zabul, Afghanistan, living in Harstad, Norway. Jalali is a religious scholar and writer. She is the deputy director of CRCO and member of the HRD+ Network. She has worked in 28 provinces of Afghanistan with national and international NGOs. She has traveled to several countries and participated in many political talks with the Taliban as the Afghan women’s representative. One of those talks was the Oslo talk. An international documentary about Nazifa’s activities in Afghanistan was released in 2022.

CEO at Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine. 24-year experience as managing director, commercial director and financial director at media organisations. Work on the development of independent Ukrainian media, to protect press freedom in Ukraine. During the war, concentrated on the support projects for the regional media.

Özgür Gür has dedicated himself to defending lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) rights. At the university in Ankara, he and the LGBTI+ Solidarity Group organized campus Pride marches successfully for years. When the university banned the march in 2019, he was arrested.

Pankaj Mishra has a MA in English Literature at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
Mishra writes literary and political essays for th...

Rasha al Ameer is a Lebanese author and publisher. Since 1990 she has run the independent publishing house Dar al Jadeed that she founded with her brother, Lokman Slim, in Lebanon. Dar al Jadeed publishes contemporary Arabic works by authors such as Mahmoud Darwish, Mohammad Khatami, Abdullah al Alayli and Kamal Daoud.

Sasha is the Founding CEO of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a leading international ‘think and do tank’ with teams working in every global region to safeguard democracy and reverse the rising tide of hate, extremism and disinformation. Sasha has spearheaded ISD’s combination of advanced digital research and analysis, government policy advisory work, city and practitioner training, digital education, tech and communications programming. With a background in conflict resolution and an expertise in global extremist movements and digital policy, she advises a range of governments and has spearheaded major initiatives including the Strong Cities Network, Against Violent Extremism Network of former extremists, and the Business Council for Democracy. Sasha previously served as Senior Director at the EastWest Institute where she led conflict resolution programming. Sasha has testified before US Congress and the UK Parliament and is a regular commentator in the media (CNN, BBC, Channel 4 News and other networks).

Shirin Ebadi is an author, lawyer, and was the first female judge in Iran, living in exile in London since 2009. In 2003, she received the Nobel Peace Prize. Ebadi was a judge in Iran until 1979, the year of the Islamic Revolution, after which she was not allowed to work as a judge. In 1994, she co-founded the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child in 1994. In 2002, she co-founded the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) with other lawyers to assist those working towards promoting democracy,
After her Nobel Prize in 2003, she co-founded the N...

Mr. Søren Liborius is Chief Advisor from the Danish Foreign Ministry serving with the EU External Action Service, Brussels. He is focusing on strategic communication countering disinformation & manipulation. With a broad background in diplomacy and crisis management in several different countries and regions, Mr. Liborius combines a civil and military background and academic studies of the Soviet Union, Eastern European and Russian history as well as Economics.
Mr. Liborius has extensive knowledge and practical experien...

Professor and Director of the V-Dem Institute at University of Gothenburg; Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy; Wallenberg Academy Fellow, author of Democracy and Elections in Africa (JHUP 2006), co-author of Varieties of Democracy (CUP 2020), Why Democracies Develop and Decline (CUP 2022) and over 60 academic articles. Lindberg has extensive experience as consultant and advisor to international organizations.

Lawyer, feminist and human rights
defender from Ukraine. A specialist at the Center“JurFem: Education”. Works in the field of protection of women’s rights, combating discrimination and gender-based
violence. Graduated from Ivan Franko...

Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi , Founder of Pakistan Youth Alliance, Khudi, HIVE and Dil Say Pakistan.

Thinzar Shunlei Yi is a youth advocate and activist based in Yangon. Shunlei Yi is known for her tireless activism for peace and justice campaigning against ongoing civil war in Myanmar.

Vladislav Kaim is a published young Moldovan economist, analyst, and climate action and sustainability advocate. He is specialized on matters such as green jobs for youth, just transition, trade-sustainability nexus, and the reforms to the multilateral climate finance agenda. Currently he is an Expert Consultant on Youth Engagement in the NDCs Process for Paris Agreement at UNDP.
As the UN Secretary General’s first Youth Climate Advisor, Vladis...

Yama Wolasmal is the Middle East correspondent for Norwegian state broadcaster, NRK. He is based in Beirut and covers the entire MENA-region.