• Sukti Dhital is a human rights lawyer and the Executive Director of the Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law—a human rights centre dedicated to advancing legal empowerment through participatory research, education, and advocacy. Sukti is a Co-founder of Nazdeek, an award-winning legal empowerment organization committed to bringing access to justice closer to marginalized communities in India. She has worked closely with affected communities and social movements to advance human rights through a community-driven approach, with a focus on indigenous and Dalit women. She also assisted in securing landmark social and economic rights judgments including the first decision in the world to recognize maternal mortality as a human rights violation and to award constitutional damages. Sukti received her BA from the University of Michigan and her JD from Northeastern University School of Law. Sukti believes deeply in community justice as a pathway towards the building a more just world.

  • Francesca Feruglio is a human rights researcher and activist with a focus on socioeconomic rights and legal empowerment. Prior to co-founding Nazdeek, Francesca worked with international and grassroots organizations, both in Europe and in India, on issues of community accountability, discrimination and access to essential services for excluded communities such as migrants, women and ethnic minorities. In India, she contributed to the success of landmark cases addressing violations of reproductive rights, food security and housing rights for women, Dalits and indigenous people. Her academic interests focus on the use of the law as a tool to counter socioeconomic inequality and address power abuses. Francesca holds a B.A. in History and Anthropology from University of Padua, Italy and a LL.M in International Human Rights Law from the National University of Galway, Ireland.

  • Jameen is an experienced strategy and project manager with over ten years of experience with organizations such as Oxfam International and Amnesty International (AI). She is currently the Deputy Director of Campaigns, South Asia for AI International Secretariat. Jameen has worked on social and economic rights initiatives including strategy management of the Demand Dignity campaign – AI's most ambitious campaign to date which focuses on economic, social and cultural rights. At Oxfam, Jameen's work centred on implementation of women's rights by addressing the discrimination faced by women in accessing their right to land, right to food and their right to participate in decision making processes. Jameen holds a L.L.M. in International Human Rights Law from the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway Ireland.

  • Taryn Eckstein is a healthcare attorney in New York City. She is an Associate General Counsel at Unitedhealthcare supporting the Network team. Previously, she was at a mid-sided law firm representing providers in state and administrative hearings in connection with denials of Medicaid applications by the Department of Social Services. Taryn also has over 7 years of experience in the public sector. Taryn worked for the New York City Department of Social Services representing the City of New York in administrative and civil actions for Medicaid eligibility and family law. While working for the City of New York, Taryn served as a Restoration Manager overseeing relief efforts and helping coordinate staff from local, federal and community-based organizations providing assistance to communities impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Prior to working for the City of New York, Taryn worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, focusing on health policy. Taryn has served as a Program Advisor for Nazdeek. Taryn received her J.D. from Northeastern University and B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.

  • Philippa Parmar is a grant maker and campaigner with over 8 years of experience working with activists, rights holders, NGOs and unions to advocate for social justice and advance human rights. She is currently a Program Officer at the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the largest human rights foundation in the world. Philippa has a strong focus on workers’ and women’s rights, economic justice, and has portfolios of work across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Prior to this she worked at Amnesty International (AI), where she carried out campaigning and research on Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Philippa completed her Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science at University College Roosevelt, the Netherlands, and holds an Master’s in Women, Violence and Conflict from the University of York, England.

Board

Nazdeek is led by an all women board of visionaries—lawyers, academics, business professionals, and researchers—who are deeply committed to community justice through an intersectional lens. They are instrumental in ensuring Nazdeek meets its mission and vision through strategic leadership and guidance.

  • Lucy Williams is a nationally recognized authority on welfare law and low wage labour. She has a long and impressive record as both an academic and a litigator in the areas of unemployment insurance, Social Security and related welfare programs. In recent years, she has expanded her work to address issues of global poverty and the justiciability of social and economic rights. She currently convenes the International Social and Economic Rights Project (iSERP), a group of international academics, judges and activists working to develop critical and transformative thinking about SER and SER-based legal strategies. Lucy is also a co-director of the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy at the Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.

  • Fred Rooney is a recognized expert in developing innovative approaches to increase access to justice for underserved populations, with more than 20 years of legal experience working with and on behalf of poor and marginalized communities. Fred is the Founding Director of Community Legal Resource Network (CLRN) and Director of Externals Relations at City University of New York School of Law. He has designed and implemented CLRN's Incubator for Justice and serves as the Institutional Coordinator of Continuing Legal Education (CLE), which provides low cost CLE programs to network attorneys. Fred also oversees the Contemplative Lawyering Program and has extensive international experience, including his role as International Liaison and 1st Scholar in Residence to Symbiosis Law School in Pune, India.

Advisors

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