OSI Sub-Board for Law and Human Rights

The Human Rights and Governance Grants Program is overseen by the OSI Sub-Board for Law and Human Rights. The Sub-Board’s membership is as follows:

Bill Bowring

Bill Bowring specializes in human rights, minority rights and Russian law. He was appointed Professor of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London in September 2006 and is a practising barrister. He previously taught at University of East London, Essex University (where he was founder and Director of the Pan-European Institute) and London Metropolitan University (where he was founder and Director of the Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute). He serves as an Executive Committee Member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, a Member of the Council of Liberty, and a Trustee of the Redress Trust, working for torture survivors.

He is also International Secretary of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, and President of the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (in eight European countries). Prof. Bowring founded the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC) in 2001, and is Chair of its International Steering Committee. EHRAC, in partnership with the Russian NGO Memorial and the Bar Human Rights Committee, is assisting with over 200 cases against Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia and Russia to the European Court of Human Rights.

As a barrister, he has represented applicants before the Strasbourg Court against Turkey (with KHRP) and Russia, including many cases concerning Chechnya, and has taken part in fact-finding hearings in Turkey. Prof. Bowring regularly acts as expert for the Council of Europe on human and minority rights issues, and works as a trainer and expert for the Council, the European Union, OSCE, Amnesty International and others. Most recently he has visited Russia and Ukraine as expert with the OSCE’s High Commissioner on National Minorities. He has published over 60 books, articles, and chapters on topics of international law, human rights, minority rights and Russian law.

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 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 University Professor at the Central European University, and 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).