Conference to Encourage Greater Refugee Involvement in the UK Party Political Process

2. Event Organiser: Lul Seyoum [Founder: ICERAS – lul@iceras.org] CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS Lul Seyoum is an activist and facilitator promoting the human rights of women, she is particularly focused on the Horn of Africa where she was born and spent her formative years. After witnessing first hand the issues that are experienced by women in the poverty stricken, patriarchal dominated societies in the Horn she endeavours to give a voice to women who are subjected to practices such as female genital mutilation and more generally the effects of a lack of health care provisions for women in the region. Lul has also worked as a lobbyist with members of Parliament to issue early day motions on subjects such as the illegal deportation of Ethiopians of Eritrean origin. More recently her efforts have been focused on the ever increasing plight of refugees in their exodus from Africa. Lul works with a range of NGO’s and organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to raise awareness of the causes surrounding these forced mass migrations. In 2010 she set up the International Centre for Eritrean Refugees and Asylum Seekers (ICERAS) in order to confront these issues and assist the refugees in assimilating into their new environments under such difficult circumstances. As a facilitator Lul has played a leading role in developing a dialogue between the Eritrean Embassy in London and several key MP’s and members of the House Of Lords as a method of attempting to influence the Eritrean government to stem the causes of the mass migration and also to stay on the right side of international law. She is also regularly consulted by the BBC and ITN for research, resource and coverage of matters pertaining to the Horn of Africa. A trade analyst with experience working between Africa and the UK and for the UK Italian trade agency, Lul holds a BA in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration.

4. Jonathan Ellis [Director - Refugee Council] CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS Jonathan Ellis is Director of Advocacy & Influencing at the British Refugee Council. He is also author of Campaigning for Success - how to cope if you achieve your campaign goal (National Council for Voluntary Organisations - 2007.) He is an external adviser on NCVO's Certificate in Campaigning and leads training sessions on INTRAC's global advocacy courses. He is a member of NCVO's Campaigning Effectiveness advisory group and is a campaign coach for the Sheila McKechnie Foundation. He was for five years the Director of the Empty Homes Agency, an independent national charity, and before that was a campaign manager for OXFAM. A qualified teacher, Jonathan is a visiting lecturer on the MA in political campaigning and reporting at City University.

6. Cllr Jean-Roger Kaseki is the first Councillor of Congolese origin elected in the United Kingdom in 2010 Council elections and represent Tollington Ward in the London Borough of Islington. At the Local Authority in Islington, he is a member of the Health and Wellbeing Review Committee, the Licensing Committee, the Voluntary and Community Sector Committee and he has recently been promoted as Islington Council's Equalities and Human Right Champion. Cllr Kaseki is currently a Board Director at HFI (Homes for Islington) that is managing the Council's housing stock. He is also a Governor at Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust (Mental Health Trust) He also works as a human rights campaigner and is currently an Associate at the Human Rights & Social Justice Research Institute/ London Metropolitan University. He has campaigned and lobbied for human rights in Congo (former Zaire) to be improved following mass violations of fundamental human rights there for many decades. Cllr Jean-Roger Kaseki ‏ CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS When he was living in Congo, he led campaigns, conferences, publications and meetings, which denounced the various human rights violations committed by the then Congolese Government. Since moving to the UK, he has managed to keep the same spirit about fighting and campaigning for poor human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo and kept it high on the British Government and the World Community's agenda. He said: It is vital for human rights concerns and fears from Congo to be raised at major international gatherings around the world.

9. Before entering the House of Lords in January 2011 Anne Jenkin was a self employed PR consultant and previously a secretary to a number of MPs in the House of Commons. She co-founded Women2Win in November 2005 and is now Co-Chairman. At the 2010 general election the number of Conservative women MPs increased from 17 to 49. Her list of patronages and work includes being a founder member of the Prince’s Trust Women’s Leadership Group. patron of Soham for Kids (school in India), patron of Restless Development. She is Founder Chairman of Conservative Friends of International Development (launched at Conference this October.) She is on the Advisory Board of the Global Poverty Project and Vice Chairman of the All Party Women in Parliament Group CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS Baroness Anne Jenkin

11. Cllr Anood Al- Samerai CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS Anood Al- Samerai has worked in the constituency office of Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes MP. She has previous experience working in the public sector, for Guy's Hospital and Oxfordshire Social Services, and as a student worked voluntarily in orphanages in Bosnia and Bulgaria. She has also served as a councillor in the London Borough of Southwark. She lived in Kuwait until the age of 10 with her British mother and Iraqi father and moved to London as a result of the first Gulf War. She has a degree in philosophy, politics and economics.

13. CONFERENCE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER REFUGEE INVOLVEMENT IN THE UK PARTY POLITICAL PROCESS On behalf of ICERAS and Lul Seyoum: Thank You for Attending Please make sure to fill out an evaluation form before you leave.