Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Giuseppe Busia
President of the National Anti-Corruption Authority – ANAC
Blanca Lilia Ibarra Cadena
INAI Commissioner
Communicator, journalist and promoter of the development and respect for women’s human rights. She has held several management positions in the media sector, including Director of the Mexican State Congress Television Channel and Director of Information to Media State of the Office of the President of Mexico. She has chaired the guarantors’ institutions of transparency, right of access to information and the personal data protection, municipal and state level. In 2018, the Senate of the Mexican Republic elected her as Commissioner of the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection (INAI). From December 2020 to December 2023, she was the Chairwomen of INAI and the National Council of the National Transparency System. She currently holds the position of Commissioner of the Institute.
Adrián Alcalá Méndez
President Commissioner, INAI 2023-2026
He has a Law degree, a Master in Amparo and a Doctorate in Law. He has been a speaker, panelist and columnist on topics of the right of access to information and personal data protection.
He works as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Likewise, he has been a teacher on transparency and access to information in several diploma courses, programs and workshops, as well as an exhibitor and speaker at both national and international events since 2009. In 2011, he was named Proprietary Advisor of the Institute for Transparency and Access to Public Information of the State of Baja California; Being the first President Councilor, he was later elected Coordinator of the Northern Regional Assembly of the then Mexican Conference for Access to Public Information.
From 2014 to 2020 he was appointed as Secretary of Access to Information. Likewise, he was appointed Commissioner of the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection (INAI) for the period from November 18th, 2020 to November 17th, 2027. He is currently President Commissioner of the INAI for the period 2023 – 2026. He is simultaneously an external member of the Permanent Seminar on Open Government of the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala.
Toby Mendel
Executive Director, Center for Law and Democracy
María Gracia Andía
Chair, Guarantor Body for the Right to Access the Information of the Buenos Aires City Government
Anjali Bhardwaj
Founder of SNS (Satark Nagrik Sangathan), Co-Convenor, National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information
Anjali Bhardwaj has been closely associated with the Right to Information (RTI) movement in India since the year 2000 and is a Co-Convenor of the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI). The NCPRI played a pivotal role in campaigning for a strong RTI Act in India and since the passage of the law in 2005, has been working to ensure its effective implementation. NCPRI has been advocating for a series of anti-corruption and grievance redress laws, including the Whistleblowers Protection Act. Anjali is the founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), a citizens’ group working in the slum settlements of Delhi, with a mandate to promote transparency and accountability in government functioning and to encourage active participation of citizens in governance. Anjali has been leading efforts to monitor the implementation of the Right to Information Act in India. She has been anchoring people led assessments of the implementation of various provisions of the law and has co-authored several national reports. She is associated with various rights based struggles in India and is a member of the Steering Committee of the National Right to Food Campaign and the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms.
Krenare Sogojeva Dërmaku
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Kosovo
Krenare Sogojeva Dërmaku is the Commissioner for Information and Privacy. For more than a decade she has headed the Legal Department in the Ministry of Defense, while in the Office of the Prime Minister she has been the coordinator of the legislative roundtable at the Government Coordination Secretariat and Senior Legal Officer in the Legal Office.
As a law graduate in the University of Prishtina, with postgraduate studies in European law at the European College of Parma in Italy, she has a long experience in drafting, interpretation of laws and in providing legal advices, including knowledge in the field of human rights and the field of defense and security. Mrs. Sogojeva-Dermaku is married and has two children.
Caroline Maynard
Information Commissioner of Canada
Gilbert Sendugwa
Executive Director, Africa Freedom of Information Centre
Gilbert Sendugwa is the executive director of the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC). In this role he has led campaigns for the advancement of the right to information in Africa and around the world. He has actively supported campaigns for the adoption and implementation of access to information laws in several African countries as well as successful advocacy for the proclamation by UNESCO General Conference and the United Nations General Assembly of September 28th as the International Day for Universal Access to Information. As a member of the ACHPR expert working group, he contributed immensely to the development and application of the Model Law on Access to Information in Africa, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections in Africa among other instruments.
His work has included the promotion of AU Guidelines on Access to Information and Elections amongst various stakeholders in The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia as well as promotion of youth and women participation in electoral process in various countries in Africa.
Sabina Aliyeva
Commissioner for Human Rights of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ombudsman
Besa Velaj
Chief of Staff, Information and Data Protection Commissioner of Albania
Besa is a lawyer with a wide experience in both private and public sector. She started practicing the legal profession near Boga and Associates, the biggest law firm in Albania where she specialized in different areas of law, including corporate, energy, consumer protection, data protection, environment protection, labor law etc.
After a 10 years’ experience at Boga & Associates she joined the team of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner as Advisor. Since January 2021 she holds the position of Chief of Staff of the Commissioner. In these positions she has assisted the Commissioner in drafting and reasoning some headline decisions concerning the right to information and data protection. In addition she has lead the Twinning Project that has assisted the Office of the Commissioner to align the domestic legislation with the acquis communautaire, namely with the GDPR and Enforcement Directive.
Meike Kamp
Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Abdul Malek PhD
Chief Information Commissioner Information Commission Bangladesh.
Mr. Abdul Malek, Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commission of Bangladesh joined on 22 March 2023. Prior to this, he worked as Information Commissioner from 30 January 2020 to 21 March 2023.
As a Career Bureaucrat he joined in Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) in 1986. Mr. Malek has a long and illustrious career in civil service marking diversified experience of working both at field and policy levels. He worked as Magistrate 1st Class, Metropolitan Magistrate and in different positions of field Administration. He served as the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of a District named Comilla. His experience covers working in different Ministries of Bangladesh Government. He worked for Local Government Division both as Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary position. He also served as Private Secretary-1 to Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As Secretary position to the Government he served as Secretary, Local Government Division and also in the Ministry of Information.
Abdul Malek obtained his BSS (Honours) and MSS in Public Administration from University of Dhaka. Later he awarded PhD from Jahangirnagar University and completed LLB Degree from National University of Bangladesh. He also participated in different Courses in Harvard Kennedy School, Duke University and George Washington Institute of Public Policy USA.
Laura Neuman
Senior Advisor, Carter Centre, USA
Prof. Ulrich Kelber
Commissioner, BfDI, German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Born on 29 March 1968
married, 5 children
1987 to 1993 studied computer science and biology in Bonn,
1993 to 1995 worked as research associate at the GMD Research Centre for Information Technology,
1996 to 2002 knowledge management consultant at an IT company (consultative function from September 2000 to September 2002).
2000 to 2018 Member of the German Bundestag,
Won the direct mandate in the city of Bonn in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017
2005 to 2013 Vice-Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) parliamentary group for the issues of environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety, food, agriculture and consumer protection and sustainability
December 2013 to March 2018 Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Justice and Consumer Protection,
Since January 2019, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Since July 2019 honorary professor for data ethics at the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University)
Maria Baron
Global Executive Director of Directorio Legislativo
Maria Baron is the Global Executive Director of Directorio Legislativo, a regional organization based in Argentina and Washington, DC. Maria is a journalist, with a master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of Bologna, and is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the National University of San Martin. She has worked in civil society organizations in both Argentina and abroad with the aim of reducing unethical practices of legislators and public officials for the last 20+ years andf. has won the NDI Democracy Award as a “Civic Innovator”. She is a Fulbright-APSA Congressional Fellow. She has published 15 editions of Directorio Legislativo. Quiénes son nuestros legisladores y cómo nos representan in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, as well as other publications related to transparency, anticorruption and open government. She is a founding member of the Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency, and is currently Chair of the Board of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw
Chairman and Information Commissioner, RAIC, Sierra Leone
Tetyana Oleksiyuk
Vice-President of the Access Info Group, Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (Tromsø Convention)
Marie Whelan
Policy Analyst within the Innovative, Digital and Open Governance (INDIGO) Division OECD
Marie Whelan is a Policy Analyst within the Innovative, Digital and Open Governance (INDIGO) Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Her work within the Public Governance Directorate focuses on how governments can better inform, engage, and empower citizens, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to participate in public decision-making. Over recent years, she has gained extensive expertise in the role of transparency and access to information to foster more inclusive, effective, and sustainable policymaking and service design and delivery, working across a variety of country contexts. Marie has an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and a B.A. from University College Dublin.
Gitanjali S. Gutierrez
Information Commissioner for Bermuda
Gitanjali S. Gutierrez was appointed as Bermuda’s first Information Commissioner on 2 March 2015 and was reappointed to a second term on 2 March 2020. Ms. Gutierrez is an internationally recognised human rights lawyer with nearly two decades of experience with public access to information laws. Prior to her appointment, she taught international human rights law at Cornell Law School, USA and was an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based international human rights organisation. She has practised before all levels of courts in the United States and provided investigative and legal research to support human rights litigation in several European countries and international tribunals.
Gitanjali S. Gutierrez graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucknell University (Pennsylvania, USA) in African-American history and social change movements. She later graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctorate with a concentration in public law from Cornell Law School. She then served as a judicial clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She was called to the bar in the State of New York (USA) in 2002.
Bruno Lasserre
Head of Commission for Access to Official Documents
Mr. Bruno Lasserre holds a degree from the Institute of Political Sciences of Bordeaux (1974) and a Bachelor of Laws of the University of Bordeaux (1975). He attended the French National School of Administration (ENA).
He joined the Council of State in 1978. In 1986, he joined the ministry of telecommunications and postal services and became director before being appointed general director for telecommunications and postal services until 1997. He then rejoined the Council of State where he became associate president, president of the 1st chamber and associate president of the Litigation section. He was president of the Competition Authority from 2004 to 2016. In 2016, Bruno Lasserre was appointed president of the Interior Section of the Council of State before being appointed head of the institution (2018-2022). He currently chairs the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA).
Krizia Casey P. Avejar
Head of Freedom of Information - Program Management Office (FOI-PMO)
Ahmed Ahid Rasheed
Information Commissioner’s Office, Republic of Maldives
Ahmed Ahid Rasheed is the Information Commissioner of the Maldives. Prior to being appointed to this position in September 2021, he worked at Transparency Maldives, Transparency International’s local chapter in Maldives, as their Governance Manager. Rasheed has been working in promoting access to information since he joined Transparency Maldives in 2013. His work in this area included advocating for the enactment of a strong access to information law, stronger enforcement of the law, and in raising awareness amongst the public of this right. His work in other areas includes advocating for protections of whistleblowers, migrant worker rights, and asset declarations of public officials. Prior to this he worked as Legal Officer at the Anti-Corruption Board. Rasheed holds an LLB (Hons.) Law Degree from Staffordshire University, UK.
Adv. Pansy Tlakula
Information Regulator of South Africa
She has occupied high profile positions in both the private and public sectors.
In 1995, Pansy Tlakula was appointed by President Mandela as one of the first commissioners of the South Africa Human Rights Commission. The other positions that she has occupied include the following:
- Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and its special Rapporteur on freedom of Expression and Access to Information.
- Chairperson and Chief Electoral Officer of the Electoral Commissions.
In June 2019, Pansy was elected to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Warren Seddon
Director of FOI and Transparency, Information Commissioner's Office
Flutura Kusari
Senior Legal Advisor, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
Andrew Ecclestone
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington
Andrew Ecclestone is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He’s currently helping the International Foundation for Electoral Systems with a project to assist in drafting a Freedom of Information law for Papua New Guinea. Previous roles include: Senior Investigator Official Information Practice Investigations in the Office of the Ombudsman, New Zealand, where he worked for 12 years. Mr Ecclestone also worked for the New Zealand State Services Commission on implementation of its first Open Government Partnership action plan. Before moving to New Zealand to undertake a Master’s in Public Policy, he was a Policy Manager for the UK Department for Constitutional Affairs working on implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. He worked for the UK Campaign for Freedom of Information from 1993-2001, and has consulted for the World Bank, UNDP, USAID, the Council of Europe and the Open Society Justice Initiative in various countries. He was the organiser of the 5th ICIC held in Wellington in 2007. Further details about his career can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewecclestone/