Dr Graham Thom

Refugee Coordinator Amnesty International Australia Australia

Dr Thom has worked as Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Coordinator since May 2000, working on behalf of individual asylum seekers as well as on broader human rights issues relating to refugees. In 2000 Dr Thom completed his PhD at the University of Sydney’s Department of Government. He has visited detention centres in Australia, including those on Christmas Island and refugee camps and detention centres in the Netherlands, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nauru and Thailand. Since 2007 Dr Thom has represented Amnesty International at the UNHCR Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement in Geneva. Dr Thom continues to give lectures and publish articles on refugee issues, both globally and domestically.

Marianna Kakaounaki

Documentary Producer Journalist, eKathimerini Greece

Marianna Kakaounaki studied Psychology and is now an award winning journalist for Greek print and tv. She has reported for the Wall Street Journal, is regularly serving as a field producer for CBS News and has been a part-time employee of the Olympic Broadcasting Services working as their features reporter for the last 9 years. In 2019 she was nominated and selected by the US State Department to be an IVLP “Edward R. Murrow Program” participant. During her time off from work, she has participated in documentary workshops, film-making courses and investigative seminars in Greece and abroad. She just released her first feature film “INVISIBLE” about the Turkish persecuted community.

Yuksel Durgut

Spokesperson International Journalists Association Germany

He started his journalism career in 1994 in Cihan News Agency. He worked as a war reporter in many countries. He was a bureau chief of Cihan in Pakistan and Afghanistan almost 10 years. After 2004, he is appointed in several departments of Cihan till unemployed after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Durgut, a Political Science graduate, has been living in exile in Germany since 2018. He is working now in International Journalists Association (IJA) as a Foreign Relations Director and Editor in chief of Journalist Post Magazine. He is also an author in TR7/24 and writes about foreign politics. He published several books as “I’m listening to Istanbul”, “My Blue World”, “Istanbul from the Consuls’ window”, “Sanctuaries of Istanbul from the Sky” and finally in Germany “The Hope of Children”. He produced several documentaries to International Tv channeles.

Jelena Pia-Comella

Senior International Consultant

Ms. Pia-Comella started her career in 1996 as a diplomat representing Andorra at the United Nations, Canada and the United States, she was part of the team that created the foreign policy of her country. Ms. Pia-Comella was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative of Andorra to the United Nations in 2002 and served as chargé d’affaires a.i./Chief of Mission to Canada and the United States from 2001 to 2007.

From January to July 2018, she served in different capacities for civil society organizations: CWGL, WEDO, WFM-IGP. From June 2019 to August 2021, she served as adviser on gender, peace and security issues for the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

Currently, Ms. Pia-Comella is consulting with the Global Action Against Mass Atrocity Crimes (GAAMAC); she is an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Hofstra University, as well as a faculty member of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

Ms. Pia-Comella is the President of the Board of Directors of SOS-Torture/Burundi and board member and treasurer of Global Justice Center. Additionally, she is a member of the African Coordination of Human Rights for the Armed Forces (CADHA) and the Women Network on the Responsibility to Protect, Peace and Security of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences of Leeds University.

Ms. Pia-Comella holds a Master’s Degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University, New York and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Fribourg University, Switzerland.

Ranjeni Munusamy

Head of Media Relations GAPP: Government and Public Policy South Africa

Ranjeni Munusamy is a communications strategist at South Africa’s Government and Public Policy think tank (GAPP). Previously she served as political secretary to South Africa’s former Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni. Prior to that she worked as Associate Editor at the Sunday Times in South Africa and Associate Editor of Daily Maverick, South Africa’s premier online news site.
She is a prominent analyst and commentator on South African politics, across local and international media platforms. She has over 20 years of experience in journalism and communications.
She has reported extensively on all South Africa’s presidencies since 1994. She has also covered international events such as the 2016 presidential elections in the United States and the German Bundestag elections in 2017.