Welcome Remarks: Summit to End Human Trafficking

Aleya Hammad

Dr. Aleya El Bindari Hammad is a Visiting Scholar at NYU Wagner and Chair of its Global Public Service Advisory Board. She is also a Visiting Professor at George Washington University, Centre for International Health and was an Assistant Professor of Public Health at University of Alexandria, Egypt. She has been instrumental in the establishment of the international academic program at NYU Wagner and is a Founder of the Hammad International Fund. Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Hammad was the Executive Director/Assistant Director General, World Health Organization in Geneva, responsible for Health in Development policy. She spent more than three decades in the WHO, initiating its human rights programme, its Commission on Women, and in furthering its work on health improvement as an integral part of socio-economic and political development. She is the author of many books and scientific papers, articles and editorials, some of the most recent being Muslim Women Are the First Victims of Islamic Extremists (The International Herald Tribune, December 2001), Policy Responses to Public Health issues Relating to Global Environmental Change (Encyclopaedia of Global Environmental Change, Wiley, UK 2001), Health the Courage to Care (World Health Organization, 1997). She is particularly interested in the Islamic movement and its effect on women. Concerned with the increase in the level of violence, conflicts and wars world wide, and its harmful effect on women and children, she is dedicating much of her efforts in peace building initiatives and fostering a culture of peace. As a means to intensify efforts in this area Dr. Hammad is a founding member of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement and a member of its Board. She is also a member of several boards, especially those whose main area of focus is improving the quality of life of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.

Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that supports emerging women leaders in building vibrant democracies and strong economies. Vital Voices focuses on expanding women’s participation in politics and civil society; increasing women’s entrepreneurship and fighting human rights abuses, particularly the trafficking of women and children. Vital Voices provides international leadership training through a collaborative with Georgetown University that enables women leaders from around the globe to more effectively contribute to advancing progress in their societies. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Network connects thousands of women leaders who have participated in Vital Voices conferences or the Global Leadership Institute training programs.

Professor Richard Welford

Richard Welford is Deputy Director of the Corporate Environmental Governance Programme and Visiting Professor of Sustainable Management at the Norwegian School of Management. He is the author of twelve books and over 60 refereed papers on environmental management and related issues. His recent books include The Earthscan Reader in Business and Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 2000), Corporate Environmental Management 3: Towards Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 1998), and Hijacking Environmentalism: Corporate Responses to Sustainable Development (Earthscan, 1997). Richard is an economist by background with a PhD from the University of Warwick, UK. As well as being an academic he has business and consultancy experience. He has worked closely with a number of firms including Joseph Dawson Ltd., TXU Europe, The Samsung Corporation, British Telecom, the MTR Corporation and the Swire Group of Companies. He is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK and has acted as an advisor to the United Nations.