Advisory Board Bios

Maxim Anmeghichean

Having graduated from Moldovan State University in the field of journalism and communication sciences, as well as master programme on Cultures and Development at Leuven University (Belgium), Max Anmeghichean has linked all of his professional life with the LGBT movement. He has eight years of experience within the Moldovan LGBT movement, starting the organization Information Centre "GenderDoc-M" essentially from scratch and, with a team, developing it into a strong and respected organization at national and regional levels. At the national level, Maxim was also a member of the NGO Council, founding member of the National AIDS Network, and board member of the National Youth Council of Moldova (NYCM), having in his mandate capacity building and organisational development. Within the NYCM Maxim has coordinated a TACIS-funded project on promotion of social inclusion using psychosocial animation tools [social video, theatre forum, etc.]. For the past five years he has been actively involved with the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) of Europe as a board member, taking part in the development of IE’s Eastern European work, lobbying before the Council of Europe and the European Union, and fundraising. His post, as Programmes Director with ILGA-Europe, combines advocacy work before three major European institutions (OSCE, Council of Europe and the EU), development of the Eastern European LGBT movements and capacity building.

Chris Beyrer

Dr. Chris Beyrer received his Bachelor of Arts in History from Hobart and William Smith College and his M.D. from the State University of New York Health Science Center. He interned in family medicine at the University of Wisconsin and completed his residency in general preventive medicine at John Hopkins University. Dr. Beyrer is the Director of the John Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program. He works mainly on HIV prevention research, trials of prevention strategies, and the efforts to develop an HIV vaccine. Since 1994, Dr. Beyrer has been a consultant for the Thailand Red Cross Program on AIDS. He continues to act as a medical advisor to The Southeast Asian Information Network, creating HIV prevention programs and consulting for the Burmese refugee population and for the democratic forces in Burma. He served as the Field Director of the PAVE (Preparation for AIDS Vaccine Evaluations) and HIVNET (HIV NETWORK) projects from 1992 until 1999. In the past, Dr. Beyrer has been a consultant for the World Bank Institute for HIV/AIDS Treatment Options for Developing Countries and for reducing HIV transmission among Thai drug users.

With a specific focus on AIDS in Burma and Cambodia, Dr. Beyrer has published several articles on political, social and medical problems surrounding the spread of HIV in Asia. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and at the 5th annual international AIDS Congress in Malaysia on issues such as, "Trafficking of Burmese women and girls into the Southeast Asian sex industry" and "Over land heroin trafficking routes and HIV spread in South and Southeast Asia". He is currently a member of the Thai Youth AIDS Project, American Public Health Association, International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission, Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and the Society for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific.

Ann Jordan

Ann Jordan is Director of the Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons at Global Rights. She directs and implements projects incorporating a human rights framework for legal and social responses to the international problem of human trafficking. The Initiative works with immigrant rights, women's rights, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United States, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia on legal reform, research, training, and advocacy. Ms. Jordan was deeply involved in the development of the 2000 US trafficking law. She was a founder of the Freedom Network (USA) to Empower Trafficked and Enslaved Persons, the premier US anti-trafficking network, whose members provide social, mental health and legal assistance to trafficked persons throughout the country, conduct trainings and engage in advocacy to protect the rights of trafficked persons.

She was also extensively involved in the negotiations on the UN Trafficking Protocol, which entered into force on December 25, 2003. She was one of the organizers of anti-trafficking and human rights organizations from all regions of the world into the "Human Rights Caucus," which attended all of the negotiations and successfully advocated for a comprehensive definition of trafficking and the inclusion of human rights protections for trafficked persons. She has written the Annotated Guide to the Complete UN Trafficking Protocol, which is available in English, German, French, Russian and Spanish.

Ms. Jordan was also a member of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court and worked with the Caucus to ensure that gender-based crimes and gender balance were successfully included in the new UN International Criminal Court. She was also instrumental in including human trafficking as a form of slavery in the treaty.

Prior to joining the Law Group, Ms. Jordan was involved for eight years in a network of women's rights NGOs in Hong Kong advocating for the rights of women. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in the law faculties of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China, and the City University of Hong Kong, as well as a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Ms. Jordan earned her law and undergraduate degrees at Columbia University.

Claire Thiboutot

As a long time activist and former stripper, Claire Thiboutot participated in the founding of Quebec's first sex worker association, l'Association quebecoise des travailleuses et travailleurs du sexe (AQTTS) in 1992. Founding member and director of Stella (the Montreal's sex workers organization) for 9 years, Claire also set up an HIV prevention program for sex workers and injection drug users in Vietnam, for Medecins du Monde Canada (Doctors of the World) in 2002-2003. In April 2005, she received an award from the Foundation Farha, for her remarkable work in the fight against AIDS and for sex workers' human rights. Since May 2007, she's acting as an independent consultant in the field of Sex Work, HIV/AIDS & Human Rights.

Ruth Morgan Thomas

Ruth has been involved in the sex industry for 29 years. Eight years as a sex worker, two and a half years as an academic researcher at Edinburgh University looking at HIV related risks in the sex industry and twenty years as a sex workers’ rights advocate developing and striving to maintain services and support for sex workers within a human rights framework both within the UK and abroad. She has acted as a consultant to the World Health Organisation – Global Programme on AIDS, UNAIDS and UNFPA and was a member of the founding steering committee of ICASO (International Council of AIDS Service Organisations). Ruth is one of the eleven founding members of the SCOT-PEP (Scottish Prostitutes Education Project) set up in 1989 by sex workers for sex workers in Edinburgh, which she currently manages.

In 2004 she joined with other sex workers and allies to organise the European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labour and Migration held in Brussels October 2005 and is currently Chair of the ICRSE (International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe).

In 2007 she joined with other sex workers and allies to draft the Global Working Group on HIV and Sex Work Policy response to UNAIDS Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work.