Executive Board
Lorraine Smith van Lin
Founder, Executive Director
As an international human rights lawyer, my passion is to advocate for the rights of women, children and victims of crime. I have over two decades of professional experience in multiple roles as a former Prosecutor and Resident Magistrate in the Jamaican Courts, Director of the International Bar Association’s International Criminal Court Programme, Senior Legal Adviser with REDRESS, and consultant with international organizations.
Lilit Grotjahn
Board Member, Finance
Lilit is a legal professional specializing in international and transnational criminal law, human rights, and transitional justice. Her work focuses on the documentation and analysis of mass atrocities, particularly conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), supporting legal accountability efforts and promoting survivor-centered justice.
Marie-Pierre Olivier
Board Member
Marie-Pierre is a lawyer, and has been a member of the Quebec Bar in Canada since 1999. She currently works at the Commonwealth Secretariat, where she joined in 2013 as a Legal Adviser. Marie-Pierre previously worked as a Senior Programme Lawyer at the International Bar Association (IBA)’s Human Rights Institute, where she conducted projects in sub-Saharan Africa, including rule of law fact-finding missions in Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Advisory Board
Vanessa Hellwing
Chief Financial Officer, Viessmann Climate Solutions, SE
Vanessa is the Chief Financial Officer of Viessmann Climate Solutions SE. Vanessa has previously served as CFO at Chiron Group SE, Germany, and at the Business Unit Service of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions and Siemens AG in both Germany and Denmark. An expert in general management of global business with responsibility for finance, customer service, supply chain management, human resources, IT, legal and compliance, Vanessa has been responsible for IFRS accounting of large scale projects with an annual turnover of 4 billion euros.
Adejoke Babington-Ashaye
International Lawyer, former Senior Counsel
Adejoke is a versatile international law expert with over 18 years of experience in public international law, international criminal law and investigations, human rights law, and the international settlement of disputes. She has worked as a Senior Counsel at the World Bank, Associate Legal Officer at the International Court of Justice and as an investigator in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Diane Forbes Berthoud
V.P. for Diversity at the University of Maryland, USA
Dr. Diane Forbes Berthoud is the Vice President for Diversity at the University of Maryland Baltimore leading university equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy, implementation, and accountability. She is an expert consultant and published author on women’s leadership development, the psychodynamics of race, and organizational development and change. Previously, she was the Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of California, San Diego.
Videshni Naidoo Singh
Founder of Lightworkers Int. in South Africa
Videshni is the Founder of Lightworkers, a non-profit organization based in South Africa that is dedicated to empowering women, children as well as recovering drug addicts. Her 27 year journey in law included training as an acting Magistrate in the Children’s court. Videshni’s passion for service has included creating solutions against gender-based violence, programmes for rehabilitated addicts and empowering women with business and personal skills.
Josephine Amparo
Ghana Leadership Council, Global Survivors Network
Josephine is a founding member of the Leadership Council for the Global Survivor Network, an international group of survivor leaders who desire and pursue safe communities through justice systems that protect the most vulnerable. She says, “I very strongly believe that for interventions to achieve sustainable change and meet the needs of survivors, they must be informed by survivor voices.” Her goal is to empower other survivors to speak out and break the silence.
Prof. Olympia Bekou
Head of School of Law, University of Nottingham, UK
Olympia is Professor of Public International Law and Head of the School of Law. She also heads the International Criminal Justice Unit of the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre. Olympia read law at the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece and in 2000 was admitted to the Greek Bar. She completed the LLM in International Law at the University of Cambridge and obtained her PhD in International Criminal Law from the University of Nottingham, for which she had been awarded a NATO Fellowship.
Consultant
Walied Jassat
Project Manager, Producer, Trainer
Walied is a Project developer and manager as well as a music and film producer and a published author. He is currently completing his honors in Psychology. Walied has been on a healing adventure traveling from place to place working with interesting people and fascinating non-profit organizations doing amazing projects and programs in their communities. He supports them with training and capacity building as well as project management and website and media skills. He has been working with Tallawah for nearly 5 years now since early 2021.
