OSI Sub-Board for Law and Human Rights

Thomas Carothers, Chair

Thomas Carothers is Director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a research project that analyzes the state of democracy around the world and efforts by Western actors to promote democracy abroad. Widely recognized as a leading international authority on democracy promotion, Carothers has worked on democracy assistance projects for many public and private organizations and carried out extensive field research on democracy-building programs in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. He is the author or editor of seven books on democracy and rule of law promotion, including most recently Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006). He previously worked as an attorney at Arnold & Porter in Washington and at the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State. Carothers is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the London School of Economics, and Harvard College.

Holly Cartner

As Executive Director of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) division of Human Rights Watch, Holly Cartner is responsible for overseeing research and advocacy work in more than 25 countries in Europe and Central Asia. She has held the position of Executive Director of the ECA division from 1995 to 2001 and from 2004 until present. From mid-2001 to mid-2004, she did consulting work for various organizations, including the Open Society Institute, Human Rights Watch and the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 1990, Cartner was an Associate in the Litigation Department at the law firm of Rogers & Wells. She holds a master’s degree in political science from Columbia University with a specialization in East European studies. She also received a law degree from Columbia University Law School, obtaining a Parker School Certificate in Recognition of Achievement in International Law. Cartner was a Columbia University Law School International Human Rights Intern to Davao, Philippines, in the summer of 1985 and was a Fulbright Scholar in Romania in 1981–1982. She currently serves on the boards of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Russia Justice Initiative and the Fund for Global Human Rights.

Aryeh Neier

Aryeh Neier is President of the Open Society Institute. Read more about Aryeh Neier.

Wiktor Osiatynski

Wiktor Osiatynski is a CEU University Professor at Central European University as well as a member of the Advisory Board of OSI–Budapest, the Open Society Justice Initiative Advisory Board, and the OSI Central and Eastern European Sub-Board. He has taught at many universities, including Columbia University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago and the University of Connecticut in the United States and the University of Siena in Italy. His main fields of scholarly interest have been comparative constitutional law and human rights. In the 1990s, Osiatynski was an advisor to a number of constitutional drafting committees and was a Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Constitutionalism in Eastern Europe at the University of Chicago Law School. Osiatynski has written 20 books on various subjects, including the history of social and political ideas, constitutionalism, addiction, science and sports. He holds degrees in law and sociology from Warsaw University and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Sevima Sali-Terzic

Sevima Sali-Terzic is the Senior Legal Counsel at the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1997 until 2004, she was the director of Global Rights - Partners for Justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As an expert on the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Sali-Terzic has been a lecturer in the Council of Europe's Training Program for judges in BiH since 1996. Sali-Terzic has also served as a board member of the BiH Open Society Foundation. A former judge of the First Basic Court in Sarajevo, attorney-at-law and a human rights activist, Sali-Terzic has published extensively on international human rights law and practice. She has authored or contributed to numerous publications on human rights, gender equality and women's rights, as well as on issues related to civil society and human rights advocacy, including the Council of Europe's Compatibility Study (2006); International Aid Policies to SEE countries - Lessons (not) Learned in BiH (2002); Women and the Media (2005); and Article 13 - Right to an Effective Legal Remedy and Article 6(1) - Access to Court - Compatibility with Requirements of the ECHR (2002); and International Human Rights Documents - Instruments of the FBiH Constitution (1996).