our people
experienced partners in complex challenges
Our team has served where legal frameworks meet complex realities, advising on humanitarian operations in conflict zones, supporting international courts on war crimes cases, managing regional refugee responses, and creating economic systems for indigenous & marginalised communities.
We understand sovereign-level challenges because we've helped navigate them. Our people bring direct experience from United Nations system organisations, multilateral institutions, national governments, private sector and NGOs working alongside partners to transform legal standards into practical solutions.
When you engage us, you access professionals with decades of experience who have consistently delivered results in high-stakes environments across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
Principals
Sarah Mansour
International Protection Systems Architect
A former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Protection specialist and Australian-qualified lawyer, Sarah designs & operationalises national & regional asylum systems and human rights frameworks for Asia-Pacific states. Her expertise spans the full spectrum from high-level diplomatic engagement to the technical drafting of Refugee Status Determination procedures and compliance mechanisms to serving as a government decision-maker in a national merits review body.
Zoë Anderson
International Criminal Law & Justice Specialist
As a former UNHCR International Law specialist and legal advisor to Judges of the International Criminal Court and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Zoë provides authoritative counsel on international law, complex case adjudication, and accountability mechanisms. She is also an Australian qualified lawyer with extensive advocacy experience before Australian courts and tribunals. Her work ensures the highest standards of international law are integrated into regional justice and protection systems.
Kim Tuaine
Kim leverages dual Australian & New Zealand legal credentials and C-suite experience as a former CEO of a crown entity to architect Pacific-centric governance and economic justice frameworks. Her work bridges public sector reform with economic empowerment and equity for indigenous & marginalised communities, designing legally sound, culturally-grounded, self-sustaining models. Kim also possesses significant advocacy experience before Australian courts and tribunals.
Strategic Legal Executive
Our Network Specialists
Rhéa Kneifati
International Criminal Law, Justice & Accountability Expert
Rhéa is an International Criminal Law, Justice & Accountability Expert. She is an international crimes investigator and gender advisor with around 20 years of frontline experience with leading institutions, like UN Commissions of Inquiry and Fact Finding Missions, UNHCR, and international and national human rights NGOs including Médecins sans frontières (MSF). Her expertise spans international criminal law, international criminal investigations, sexual and gender-based violence and refugee law. Rhéa is a Canadian-qualified lawyer who also holds an Advanced LLM in Public International Law from Leiden University. Fluent in five languages and having lived across more than ten countries, she is deeply committed to securing justice and accountability for victims of serious human rights abuses.
Sharifah Agha
International Human Rights & Protection Expert
Sharifah is an international human rights lawyer and protection expert with over 25 years of experience across the UN system, civil society, and financial institutions. She specialises in refugee protection, asylum governance, human rights risk, and institutional accountability in complex and high-risk environments. Her multi-sectoral experience combines frontline operational leadership with strategic advisory work across state, humanitarian, and private-sector actors, that includes child rights advocacy, gender-based violence, organisational capacity development, and business and human rights. She is a Malaysian-qualified lawyer, holds an LLB from the London School of Economics, and is a certified social auditor. She is committed to applying international human rights standards in ways that strengthen protection outcomes for marginalized and at-risk populations.
Carrie Comer
International Human Rights Law & Atrocity Crimes Investigator
Carrie is an International Human Rights Law & Atrocity Crimes Expert with 20 years of experience conducting complex investigations and documenting human rights violations with leading international organizations, such as the ICC, the International Commission on Missing Persons, OHCHR and other UN bodies and international NGOs. Specializing in the conduct of hostilities and international criminal law, she has led field investigations during active conflicts in Ukraine and Iraq, analyzing evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and gender-based violence. She holds a Master's in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford and is trained in forensic anthropology. Carrie is committed to providing actionable analysis that strengthens accountability and protection systems for affected communities, working fluently in English, Spanish, and French.
Christine Chamoun
Refugee Protection & Humanitarian Response Expert
Christine is a Refugee Protection & Humanitarian Response Expert with 20 years of experience in refugee protection, humanitarian response and international development with UNHCR, the Danish Refugee Council, and other leading international organizations. She specializes in implementing emergency response programs for refugees, delivering protection interventions for internally displaced persons, and coordinating humanitarian aid in hard-to-reach areas, and has additional experience in child protection and GBV response. Fluent in five languages, she excels at mobilizing communities and translating complex crises into actionable strategies, as demonstrated by her founding of a youth initiative in Lebanon that helped 250 students impacted by the economic crisis to graduate. Christine holds a BA from the University of Kent in International Relations & French, a MA from the University for Peace and is driven by a commitment to community-led solutions and amplifying marginalized voices.
Mana Nagashima
Humanitarian Response & Development Expert
Mana is a Humanitarian Response & Development Expert with 16 years of experience designing economic recovery and livelihoods programs for conflict-affected populations with a range of organisations including UNHCR, UNDP, FAO, the Danish Refugee Council and Save the Children. Her expertise spans protection, rural development, and the empowerment of women and youth in complex environments across multiple regions. Based in Serbia, she currently serves as a Project Formulation Advisor for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), providing strategic guidance on sustainable development in the Western Balkans. Mana holds a BA and MA in Policy Studies from Chuo University, a MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development from SOAS, University of London, and is fluent in English, Russian, Japanese, and Arabic.
Jason Siwat
Humanitarian Systems & Community Development Leader (PNG)
Jason is a Humanitarian Systems & Community Development leader who is a migrant protection advocate and PNG specialist with over a decade of experience in refugee status determination, resettlement, and community-led humanitarian assistance. His work is defined by community-centered leadership, currently serving as Director of the Migrants and Refugees Desk for the Catholic Bishops Conference, where he implements grassroots programs and founded the Oceania Migrants and Refugee Network. This builds on his extensive fieldwork with Caritas PNG and his advocacy for asylum seekers within Australia's offshore policy framework. Jason holds a BA from the University of Papua New Guinea and is completing a Master's focused on labour migration, driving protection strategies that prioritise locally-led development.
Saskia Leinders
Public International Law & International Criminal Law Expert
Saskia is a Public International Law & International Criminal Law Expert with approximately 15 years of experience advising UN judges, governments, and private actors on complex legal matters. She served for over seven years at the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, drafting judgments and decisions relating to atrocity crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Her broad expertise includes international dispute settlement and human rights law, honed through roles at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and leading international law firms. Fluent in five languages and holding LLB, LLM, and MA degrees from the University of Amsterdam and Sciences Po Paris, she is driven by pragmatic legal solutions that ensure accountability and justice.
Elsa Maraawi
Elsa is a Gender & Migration Expert with 15 years of experience across academic institutions and leading international organizations, such as UNHCR, UNDP, and the Danish Refugee Council, in various regions. With expertise at the critical intersection of forced displacement, gender-based violence, and climate change, her work has focused on gender mainstreaming in project design and implementation, and engaging men and boys to prevent GBV. Elsa holds a Master's in Political Science from La Sorbonne and is a PhD candidate in the Sociology of Migration. Her thesis examines the social trajectories and gender relations of Syrian refugee families resettled from Lebanon to the North of France. Elsa’s work combines frontline project management with academic insight to advance gender equality in migration policy and humanitarian action.
Migration & Gender Expert
Nur Abu Bakar
Nur is an International Refugee Law Expert with over 15 years of field and policy experience across South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa with organizations including UNHCR and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL). She specializes in refugee status determination, international humanitarian law, international criminal law and mixed migration. She has extensive experience in capacity-building having co-designed UNHCR's flagship global refugee adjudication training program, and developed and delivered tailored learning programs with the IIHL. Nur holds an LLB from Queen Mary University of London, an LLM from King's College London, and an Advanced Master's from the Geneva Academy. Her commitment to refugee inclusion extends to practical leadership, volunteering with community organizations, such as Carefugees (Malaysia), to support economic self-determination initiatives.
International Refugee Law Expert
Waheeda Ludin
Livelihoods & Economic Empowerment Specialist
Waheeda is a dedicated Livelihoods & Economic Empowerment Specialist with over 15 years of experience designing and coordinating community-focused initiatives for UNHCR, GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit / German Corporation for International Cooperation), and the International Medical Corps in Pakistan. Her expertise spans stakeholder coordination, protection advocacy, and Gender Based Violence case management, ensuring economic programs are integrated with essential support services. A fluent speaker of Urdu, Dari, Pashto, and English, she holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is skilled in community mobilization and project monitoring. Waheeda is deeply committed to practical, on-the-ground work that empowers vulnerable populations and advances gender equality.
Laura Stefani
Laura is an Immigration & Refugee Law Specialist with over a decade of field experience in emergency response and mixed migration contexts across Europe, Africa, and Asia. A licensed attorney with an LLM from the United Nations Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), she has developed expertise in refugee status determination and resettlement through roles with UNHCR, the EUAA, and IOM. Her background includes legal research at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and professional practice in Italy. Awarded the Melvin Jones Fellowship for humanitarian service, Laura is committed to principles of ethical leadership and collaborative action in protection work.
Immigration & Refugee Law Specialist
Melanie Montalban
Melanie is an Australian qualified lawyer and International Environmental Law Expert who specializes in the intersection of climate change, environmental protection, and human rights. She holds an LLM in International Law from UNSW and has over 15 years of experience across the UN, civil society, and academia in the Asia-Pacific. As a former Managing Lawyer at the Environmental Defenders Office and UNEP legal consultant, she has advanced recognition and implementation of environmental human rights in the region. Her work focuses on using a human-rights based approach to protect both people and the planet in the face of the triple planetary crisis.
International Environmental Law Expert
Dr. Thomas Gillman
Thomas is a sustainable development specialist with academic, research and on-the-ground experience in sustainability, community development and participatory philanthropy, focused on the Pacific region. Thomas has worked with institutions, such as UNDP Samoa, the Asia-Pacific Network for Refugees, the Vanuatu Department of Tourism and with various private sector actors, as well as having started a New Zealand based NGO. His experience also spans climate change, governance and poverty reduction, and capacity development/teaching. Thomas holds a BA from the University of Canterbury, a MSc in Development and International Relations from Aalborg University and PhD from the University of Canterbury.
Sustainable Development Specialist
Sheila Paylan
International Criminal Law & Human Rights Expert
Sheila is an international criminal law and human rights expert with over 20 years of experience advising international organizations, NGOs, governments, and think tanks. She has supported complex accountability processes through roles with United Nations bodies and international and hybrid tribunals ( ICTR/ICTY/IRMCT, UNAKRT, OHCHR, UNDP, UNODC), with her work spanning transitional justice, armed conflict, and protection frameworks. Her areas of expertise include sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, and state responsibility, with a focus on translating international legal standards into practical strategies that strengthen protection outcomes and justice systems. Sheila holds a BCL and JD from McGill University, as well as a LLM in public international law from the University of London.
Christopher Harmen El-Hage
Refugee Protection, Identity & Asylum Systems Specialist
Christopher is a Refugee Protection, Identity and Asylum Systems Specialist with over 15 years of experience across various regions, primarily with UNHCR. He specializes in the design and operationalization of large-scale protection, registration, and identity management systems in complex humanitarian and mixed migration contexts, with a strong focus on data governance and performance analytics. He has led high-volume asylum, registration, and identity management operations, guided multidisciplinary teams and supported governments and multilateral partners to translate legal and policy frameworks into compliant, scalable, and effective operational systems. Christopher holds an MSc in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam, a BA in International Relations from the University of Groningen and is PMP® certified.
