The Global Study Team

The Global Study Team is based in Vienna and is part of the Global Campus of Human Rights. The Global Campus works in close cooperation with the Right Livelihood Foundation (RLF) in order to promote and protect the rights of children worldwide through research, education and advocacy projects. This includes the follow-up initiation activities under the umbrella of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

Manfred Nowak - Global Campus of Human Rights

GC Secretary General/UN Independent Expert

Manfred Nowak

Manfred Nowak is Professor of Human Rights at Vienna University and Director of the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights. He was appointed as Secretary General of the Global Campus in January 2016. In October 2016 he was appointed Independent Expert leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty.

Manfred served in various expert functions, such as UN expert on enforced disappearances (1993-2006), UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004-2010), judge at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996-2003) and Vice Chairperson of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (2013-2018).

He was Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights at Utrecht University (SIM: 1987-1989) and of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights at Vienna University (BIM: 1992-2019) as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Lund (2002-2003), the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (2008-2009), and at Stanford University in Palo Alto (2014).

Manfred is author of more than 600 publications in the fields of public and international law and human rights.

Email: manfred.nowak@gchumanrights.org

 
 

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Manu Krishan - Global Campus of Human Rights

Global Study Programme Manager

Manu Krishan

Manu Krishan is the Global Study Programme Manager and coordinates all activities related to the dissemination and follow-up to the Study.

During the preparation of the Global Study he was the Coordinator and Assistant to the Independent Expert leading the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty based first at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights in Vienna and later at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

Manu studied philosophy before graduating from the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights at the University of Vienna. He is a human rights researcher and project manager with proficiency in children’s rights, particularly on ethical considerations when researching with and for children.

Email: manu.krishan@gchumanrights.org

 
 

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Elisa Klein Díaz - Global Campus of Human Rights

Global Study Programme Support Officer

Elisa Klein Díaz

Elisa Klein Diaz is the Programme Support Officer of the Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty at the Global Campus of Human Rights. 

She is currently working on the Global Study Toolkit on non-custodial measures as an alternative to migration-related detention and is responsible for the Global Study Newsletter. She further supports the creation of a new website for the Global Study and has also worked as editor on the Executive Summary of the Global Study.

Before joining the Global Campus in 2020, Elisa worked in the Press and Communications Department of the Austrian Ombudsman Board and before that as consultant at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights.

Elisa holds a Bachelor´s Degree in International Relations and is a graduate of the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights. Her main areas of interest are children´s rights, migration, education and social rights.

Email: elisa.klein-diaz@gchumanrights.org

 
 

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Georges Younes - Global Campus of Human Rights

Study Advisor to the Global Study

Georges Younes

Georges Younes is Study Advisor to the Global Study Programme at the Global Campus of Human Rights.

He is involved in various follow-up projects as he is leading the translation project of the Executive Summary into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish as well as adivising Lukasz Szoszkiewicz on the data-migration project and Helmut Sax on the Global Study implementation project in Austria.

Prior to this, Georges was the Global Study Manager from 2016 to 2019, where his main tasks revolved around the organisational setup of the Study, the coordination of the research groups, the liaison with UN agencies as well as the conceptualisation and implementation of consultations with States, NGOs and UN partners around the world. Furthermore, Georges is the Executive Editor of the Global Study publication as well as of the Executive Summary.

Besides his engagement with the Global Study, Georges is involved since 2009 in various human rights education intiatives. Georges is co-founder of the Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and, as Head of Office, he is responsible for staff management, administrative processes, student selection and coaching, external relations and cooperations with national as well as international partner organisations. Between 2014 and 2020, Georges was Program Manager of its predecessor programme at the University of Vienna. Between 2011 and 2013, Georges was Director of the Amnesty Academy, the educational institution of Amnesty International Austria.

Email: georges.younes@univie.ac.at

 
 

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Reina-Marie Loader - Global Campus of Human Rights

Children’s Rights Project Manager

Reina-Marie Loader

Reina-Marie joined the Global Campus in 2019 to manage the children’s rights projects under the GC-RLF cooperation. Her background is in practice-as-research, a form of academic research that uses art (specifically film and theatre) as a methodology for research.

She completed a practice-led PhD in film on the representation of traumatic memory on screen (with a focus on war trauma during the siege of Sarajevo). She further specialised in non-traditional modes of storytelling as a means to promote human rights and environmental issues.

She has lectured on the socio-political dimensions of film at several universities, including University of Exeter, University of Reading and University of Vienna. In 2018, Reina-Marie also completed an MA in Human Rights at the University of Vienna focused on Ubuntu and children deprived of liberty in South Africa.

Her professional interests revolve around practice-led and artistic approaches to research on topics as diverse as child participation, movement building, war and conflict, discrimination, representation and critical pedagogy.

Email: reinamarie.loader@gchumanrights.org

 
 

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Imke Steimann - Global Campus of Human Rights

Personal Assistant to the GC Secretary General/UN Independent Expert

Imke Steimann

Imke supports the Secretary General by managing his agenda of appointments and events, organising missions, conferences and events, carrying out background research and producing documents, reports, presentations and briefing papers.

She also maintains the liaison with relevant partner institutions and stakeholders.

Prior to joining the Global Campus in 2020, Imke worked as Project Assistant at the Munich Security Conference. Before, she interned at the German Mission to the United Nations in New York and the London-based NGO Child Soldiers International.

Imke graduated from a Human Rights Master’s Programme at the University of Vienna where she focused on children’s rights and armed conflict. She also holds a BA degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a major in Governance from the University in Freiburg, and spent an exchange year in Canada.

Email: imke.steimann@gchumanrights.org

 
 

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