PRI’s Advisory Council was established in 2020 through regulations to PRI’s Articles of Association. Members are appointed by PRI’s Membership Council. The Advisory Council is composed of human rights and criminal justice experts who are committed to actively helping PRI achieve its ambitions through a range of activities and means of engagement. PRI is honoured to have the following distinguished experts contribute to the work of PRI.
PRI’s Advisory Council
Justice Imman Ali
Hon’ble Justice Muhammad Imman Ali was educated in the UK where he did his schooling and completed his law degree, LLM and qualified as a Barrister-at-Law. He received the Duke of Edinburgh Scholarship for Call to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. He has practiced law in both Bangladesh and the UK. He was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, High Court Division in February 2001 and Appellate Division in February 2011. He was Deputy Attorney General for Bangladesh from September 1998 to February 2001. His book, “Towards a Justice Delivery System for Children in Bangladesh”, was published by UNICEF in 2010. He has also written a chapter on the new Children Act 2013 in the book “Justice for Children in Bangladesh” by Najrana Imaan published by Save the Children. Several of his articles on justice for children have been published. He has lectured at the Judicial Administration Training Institute training judges of the subordinate judiciary and lectured at the Legal Education Training Institute and Aparajayo Bangladesh, training lawyers and other relevant actors on the Children Act and other relevant instruments. Justice Ali has also been involved in training organised by IOM/LETI for police personnel, government officials and other actors involved in dealing with victims of trafficking. He was engaged in training Judges, Prosecutors and Police in Armenia on juvenile justice. He also trained judges and other stakeholders on child rights in the Maldives. He has attended many national and international conferences, seminars and workshops on International Law and Human Rights, and has a particular interest in justice for children.
Avril Calder
Avril Calder was a magistrate for 35 years, sitting exclusively in two specialised courts—the Inner London Youth Court and the Inner London Family Proceedings Court. These courts deal both with young offenders and with children in need of care and protection. During her years of service she held many leadership roles including those involving the training and assessment of colleagues. Her capacities as a trainer of actors in the fields of youth and family justice have also been in play in European Union projects and overseas. She has spoken widely at and organised many conferences from Children Who Kill in 1995, when she was President of the British Juvenile and Family Courts Society, to, in association with PRI, the World Congress on Justice for Children held at UNESCO, Paris in 2018 when she was President of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates (IAYFJM). From 2006 to 2018 Avril was Editor in Chief of IAYFJM’s Chronicle and took an active role in drafting IAYFJM’s Guidelines on Children in Contact with the Justice System launched at UNODC in Vienna in 2017 with a major follow up at the World Congress in Paris in 2018. Avril hopes that her long experience of the courts and of making judgements on the detention of young offenders will make a valuable contribution to the world-wide work of PRI.
Don Deya
Don Deya is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU). Among other things, he chairs the Executive Committees of the Pan African Citizens’ Network (PACIN, formerly known as the Centre for Citizens’ Participation in the African Union [CCP AU]), and the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP). He is Vice Chair of the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC); a current Steering Committee member (and former Chair) of the African Court Coalition (ACC); a former Secretary of the African Forum of the International Bar Association (AfrIBA) and a former member of the Executive Committee of the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives (IILACE). He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and was previously CEO of the East Africa Law Society (EALS); before that, Acting Executive Director of the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya), preceding that, Deputy CEO of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK). While at the EALS, he founded the East African Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EACSOF). He litigates extensively at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), and the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). He has engaged in advocacy with several organs and institutions of the African Union (AU), African Development Bank (AfDB), African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), amongst others. He also engages with the United Nations (UN) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Justice Ben Kioko
Justice Ben Kioko is a Judge and the Vice-President of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights. He was elected judge of the African Court in 2012 and re-elected in 2018, by the Executive Council and appointed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). Prior to joining the African Court, Justice Kioko served as The Legal Counsel to the AU and as Director for the unified Central Legal service for the AU, its organs and institutions for more than a decade. In this position, he acquired extensive experience on African matters working with governments, the Regional Economic Communities, as well as the UN and its Agencies, the European Union, World Bank, OAS, CARICOM, ASEAN, and other international and multilateral institutions. Justice Kioko has widely published on diverse areas of the law. He serves in various international advisory boards as well as editorial boards of several international Law Journals. He is a member of the chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb) and a recipient of two prestigious national awards.
Ioana-Mihaela Morar
For approximately 17 years of proven working in the field of prison, considering her direct involvement as deputy general director, director of the Social Reintegration Department, head of the Psycho-social Assistance Service, and, also, as psychologist within the Romanian Penitentiary System, Dr. Ioana Mihaela MORAR has always been driven by the motivation to make a significant difference and to bring added value in her line of work, according to international standards, and fostering humanitarian approaches. Her studies in Psychology (PHD), Social Sciences (MA), Law (MA), Psychology (BA), alongside other relevant trainings for the prison management and treatment of persons deprived of liberty domain (e.g. “Leadership and Good Governance”, “Supervising Matters Related to Detention”, “Human Resources Manager”, “Judicial Psychology”) enabled Dr. Morar to acquire an in-depth understanding of the prison population, and a comprehensive knowledge on the main problems and current debates relating to detention and criminal justice systems, both in the professional and academic realms. In the same context, as Associate Professor at Bucharest University (2018-present), as Regional Representative for Eastern Europe in the Steering Committee of the “European Prison Education Association” (2012-2019), including undertaking expert assignments (e.g. Azerbaijan, Moldova, Lebanon, Montenegro, Algeria, Ukraine), Dr. Morar promoted the importance of good practices that should migrate at European/International level, for the reform of prisons, in terms of evolution of the prison management and of the treatment provided for persons deprived of liberty (e.g. health care, psychological assistance, mental health care), in line with international standards.
Stephen Pitts
Steve began his career as a Probation Officer in London, working in most areas of practice before moving to management and national roles including initiatives to support the service’s work in partnership and to develop evidence-based practice. Following a period with the European Commission as an advisor on probation development, he established the England and Wales (then) National Offender Management Service’s (NOMS) international team, leading the prisons and probation international research and justice assistance programmes. Steve now works independently and with governments, international bodies and civil society organisations around the world supporting community-based justice reform and development. He plays a leading role in several international networks and initiatives to promote just and effective alternatives to imprisonment and pursues a strong interest in the relationships between social and criminal justice, the UN SDGs, stronger communities, environmental sustainability, and related issues within and beyond the field of criminal justice.
Judge David Rennie
David qualified as a Barrister in the UK in 1976 and specialised in Criminal Law, both prosecuting and defending. In 2001 he was appointed as a Circuit Judge and spent the next 19 years presiding over serious criminal cases in the South East of England and at The Old Bailey. He retired from full-time work in 2020. Because sentencing is a core part of the work of a Circuit Judge, David has acquired considerable first hand knowledge and experience of all aspects of the penal system in which he worked. Over the years he has given numerous young students the opportunity to spend a week with him in Court as they contemplated a career in the law.
Harold Giliard Sungusia
Harold Giliard Sungusia is a practising advocate of the High Court of Tanzania, Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public. He has 20+ years’ professional experience, having worked with the Government of Tanzania as a Public Prosecutor, City Solicitor and Legal Officer, and with the Legal and Human Rights Centre of Tanzania as Director of Advocacy and Law Reforms. Currently, he is Country Director, Consultant and Researcher at Sung Consultants. He is a lecturer at the Law School of Tanzania and Resident Associate: Trainer and Researcher/Consultant at MS TCDC, a social justice training institution for East Africa. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Action Aid Tanzania; a member of the Governing Council of Tanganyika Law Society; and Board Member of various East African legal and human rights organisations. He holds Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law and Law of International Organizations with specialization in Human Rights from the University of Groningen, Netherlands; a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (LLB) from the University of Dar es Salaam. He has been awarded several international scholarships and in 2019 facilitated the Tanzania Criminal Justice Transformation Programme which was supported by the British High Commission under KPMG.
Coletta A. Youngers
Coletta Youngers is a Senior Fellow with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Senior Associate with the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), and International Outreach Coordinator for the US-based National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. She also serves on the Asamblea General (Board of Directors) of the Colombian human rights NGO, Dejusticia. A leading expert on issues related to women and incarceration in the Americas, Ms. Youngers has over thirty years of experience working on human rights and drug policy in Latin America, and on U.S.-Latin American relations. She is the lead coordinator of a project on women, drug policy and incarceration in Latin America; participates on behalf of WOLA in the Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD); and is co-editor of Drugs and Democracy in Latin America: The Impact of U.S. Policy (2004), also published in Spanish. She is also the author of the books, Violencia Política y Sociedad Civil en el Perú (2003) on the Peruvian human rights movement, and Thirty Years of Advocacy for Human Rights, Democracy and Social Justice (2006), on the history of WOLA. She earned a Masters’ Degree in public affairs at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.