The Executive Office
The Executive Office is responsible for the day-to-day conduct of equalinrights. It consists of the Coordinator, Ms. Cornelieke Keizer, organisational advisor Ms. Emma Sydenham (Australia), and the Office Manager, Ms. Bernie Coenders (The Netherlands). Equalinrights also works with interns and strong university graduates.
Ms. Cornelieke Keizer (The Netherlands)
Cornelieke is the incoming Coordinator of equalinrights. Having studied cultural and religious psychology she finished her MA degree with research on the psychological consequences of female circumcision among the Somali population in the Netherlands. Fascinated by the underlying structures that influence health and well-being she was appointed as Academic Lecturer at the Health Care and Culture section, VU University Medical Center (Amsterdam) and as Research Coordinator for the Asian regional network Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM-Asia). Aware of a missing link in working on health and migration issues without adequately addressing power structures, vulnerability and discrimination, she was excited about the immense potential of a human rights based approach to development. In 2005, she lived and worked for a period of four months in Malaysia to develop and implement an annual action research programme from a human rights based perspective. She has extensive experience in participatory action research methodology and a strong personal drive for bottom-up learning processes within human rights and development. Read more about Cornelieke here >>
Ms. Emma Sydenham (Australia)
Emma (Australia) is the outgoing Coordinator of equalinrights in the Netherlands, where she ventured 2 years ago for its creation. Previously Emma practiced as a lawyer in Sydney, Australia, after graduating with first class honours. She worked in litigation, disability discrimination and refugee law amongst others. Later following her masters of law degree in Europe, specialising in the International protection of Human Rights (summa cum laude) and in particular minority rights, she moved to Geneva to work with the International Service for Human Rights. ISHR focus on how human rights defenders can access the UN human rights system and how to strengthen the local-global relevance of human rights. She has always felt a strong personal drive to redress injustices and to foster a sense of community, of belonging; and to understand how power relations are constructed and deconstructed, and what fosters personal change processes in this regard. She also has a degree in psychology.
Ms. Bernie Coenders (The Netherlands)
Bernie is the Office Manager for equalinrights.
