Profiles: ISM Delegates : QC IMC

Mary Ellen O’ Connor (New Zealand)

Currently a researcher on public sector developments, O’Connor has worked intensively with New Zealand’s polytechnic sector, where she has taught, designed courses, and held representative positions. Her experience as a national executive at the polytechnic lecturers union, the Assn Staff in Tertiary Education (ASTE) and at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) branch has enabled her to study the impact of corporate models on academic institutions.

O’Connor is the author of the books An Immigrant Nation (1999), a historical survey of New Zealand through immigration, and Off the Cuff (1995), a textbook for immigrant learners of English. She is currently working on intensive studies on the corporatization of New Zealand’s public sector for future publication.

This is O’Connor’s second visit to the Philippines. Her daughter, Josephine, is also a delegate to the ISM 2005.

Reverend Canon Barry Naylor (England)

Educated at the University of London and the University of Oxford, Naylor was ordained Deacon and Priest in 1976. Since 2002, he has served as the Urban Canon of the Diocese of Leicester, one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in the United Kingdom (UK).

Naylor has championed various multi-faith and multi-cultural causes throughout his 21 years of ministry in South London. He fully supported the Movement for the Ordination of Women, and served as the Chair of the All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism and Fascism. He has initiated activities and programs seeking to improve the welfare of AIDS/HIV-inflicted persons, asylum seekers, and migrant workers, and has worked closely with various trade unions and the education sector. Naylor is also the Chairperson of the ecumenical formation Churches Together in Leicester City Centre. He is also the convenor of Changing Attitude – an organization working for a fuller inclusion of all people in the Church irrespective of their sexual orientation.

Naylor developed a close interest in Philippine affairs following a visit to Leicester by a group of young Christians from the South, including one from the Philippines. Naylor has facilitated visits by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines to the UK. He is also a member of the Jesus Caritas Fraternity of Priests.

Kawal Ulanday (USA)

A Filipino-American, Ulanday is the current Chairperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-USA (New Patriotic Alliance, or BAYAN-USA). He was its former Campaign Officer for Human Rights in the Philippines. Ulanday worked as a union organizer and a lead organizer of Filipinos for Affirmative Action in Oakland.

Roger Jowett (Australia)

Jowett is an international labor union organizer. He has emerged as one of the major leaders in Australia’s transport sector ever since entering the railway industry in 1972. Jowett is the former National Secretary of the Australian Railways Union (ARU) and the 35,000-strong Rail, Tram, and Bus Industry Union (RTBU). He was elected as an executive (1993-2006) of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Australia’s largest mass organization representing over 2 million workers nationwide. He is the current National Transport Policy Officer of the RTBU.

Jowett is active in the international workers’ movement through the International Transport Workers Federation, which has six million worker members worldwide. He is also the President of the Philippines-Australia Union Links (PAUL). He first visited the Philippines as a guest of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in 1992.

Barbara Waldern (Canada)

Born and raised in Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Waldern is the Acting Chairperson of the British Columbia Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines. She was also appointed to the International Coordinating Committee of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) as an alternative Representative for Canada in 2004. She currently works as a researcher at the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University.

Waldern has been active in both the public sector and in alternative media, and has engaged in human rights and anti-imperialist advocacy work. She has been involved in the global anti-imperialist struggle ever since joining the Peoples’ Front in the 1980s. She has since then participated in the No to APEC! campaign in 1997, the People’s Conference Assembly against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1999, and Fact Finding Mission and Conference on Mining Trans-National Corporations in the Philippines in 1998.

Lennox S. Hinds (USA)

Hinds holds a distinguished record as an international human rights lawyer and academician. Since 1999, He was appointed Lead Counsel to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which was established by the United Nations Security Council to prosecute perpetuators of genocide and other serious violations of international law committed in Rwanda in 1994. He is the Permanent Representative to the United Nations of the International Association of Democratic lawyers (1ADL) since 1973.

Hinds also served as Counsel to the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela during his tour of the
United States in June 1990; US Counsel to the Republic of South Africa since 1980; US Counsel to the Republic of Namibia since 1981; and National Director of the National Conference of Black lawyers from 1973 to 1978. He also holds the post of advisor to the US Congress House Sub-Committee on Criminal Justice, the National Minority Council on Criminal Justice of the US Department of Justice, and the New York State Assembly Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, among others.

Hinds has also authored and supervised numerous publications on the issue of human rights and international law He is the Editor-in-Chief of the special edition of the International Review of Contemporary Law on the theme Military Introduction in Afghanistan, The War on Terrorism: Violations of International Law (2002).He is presently a Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University in New Jersey.