Karen Tse – IBJ Founder and CEO
Karen founded International Bridges of Justice in 2000 to promote systemic global change in the administration of criminal justice. A former public defender, Karen first developed her interest in the cross section of criminal law and human rights as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow in 1986, after observing Southeast Asian refugees detained in a local prison without trial; thousands of prisoners of all ages being held without trial, often having been tortured into making so called confessions. In 1994, she moved to Cambodia to train the country’s first core group of public defenders and subsequently served as a United Nations Judicial Mentor. Under the auspices of the U.N., she trained judges and prosecutors, and established the first arraignment court in Cambodia. In the initial stages, she negotiated groundbreaking measures in judicial reform with the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian governments.
Under her leadership, IBJ has expanded its programming to include the Democratic Republic of Congo Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and India. In addition to the Defenders Resource Centers in those countries, IBJ also sponsors independent Justice Makers in nearly 40 countries. IBJ has created a Global Defense Support Program to bring IBJ assistance to public defenders worldwide. In 2010, IBJ launched the Justice Training Center in Singapore. A graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity School, Karen was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders in 2007. She has been recognized by the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka and Echoing Green as a leading social entrepreneur. Karen was the recipient of the 2008 Harvard Divinity School’s First Decade Award, and the 2008 American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Award. She also received the 2009 Gleitsman International Award at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. More on Karen
Sanjeewa Liyanage – International Program Director
Originally from Sri Lanka, Sanjeewa assumed the role of IBJ”s International Program Director in October 2006 after over 12 years of experience in project management in Asia. He began his career as the Asian Coordinator for International Young Christian Students (IYCS) in 1988, where he conducted social awareness and leadership training programs for students in 14 Asian countries. In 1995, he joined the Asian Legal Resource Center (ALRC), a regional human rights NGOs based in Hong Kong, where he assisted human rights related legal training programs for different groups including civic group leaders, lawyers and judges from the Asia-Pacific region. He represented ALRC at numerous UN forums including the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, preparatory meetings leading to the World Conference against Racism in Warsaw and Bangkok and the Committee against Torture. Sanjeewa was the East Asian focal point for the NGO Coalition for International Criminal Court (CICC). He has undergone human rights training at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague and Danish Institute (formerly Danish Centre) for Human Rights (DIHR) in Copenhagen. He obtained his Masters of Law (LLM) (Human Rights) at the University of Hong Kong in 2004.
Husein Bakri – Senior Legal Director
Husein Bakri has 23 years of experience in the legal field, primarily in Syria. Graduating from Damascus University in 1994, he occupied a number of legal positions and currently functions as IBJ’s Senior Legal Advisor. Most recently, he held the position of Governance Consultant and Governance Advisor at the EU Local Councils Program and the Local Administration Councils Unit (LACU) respectively. Among his impressive credentials, he was a judge for the Syrian Council of State for 17 years, a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court for 5 years and a senior legal adviser of the Syrian government for 10. Since 2011, he performed as the Acting Minister of Finance, Minister of Local Administration and as Secretary General for the Syrian Interim Government. He has built a wide network of partnerships within the local councils, judgeships and universities in Syria. Over the course of his career, he has demonstrated his expertise in strategic planning and legislation among other areas. His legal knowledge, qualifications and drive make him a valuable addition to the IBJ team as the Senior Legal Adviser of the Syria program.
Ali Riza Torun – Turkish Legal Expert
Ali Rıza TORUN, born in 1983 in Gaziantep completed his education in Gaziantep before graduating from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2004. After completing his one-year internship at the Ankara Bar Association, he returned to Gaziantep, registered with the Gaziantep Bar Association and started to practice as a freelance lawyer, as well as a trademark and patent attorney, Atty. Ali Rıza Torun continues to work on intellectual property and commercial law, as well as criminal law, foreigners’ law and human rights and joined IBJ in 2021 as a Turkish legal expert.
