Our Team
Equidem is managed and led by a Chief Executive Officer. It has a team of experts, each of whom holds advanced degrees and has decades of experience carrying out human rights investigations in the field.
Equidem analyses findings against international and national human rights and labour rights standards and develops concrete, practical recommendations on how to prevent and remedy abuse. We work with grassroots and international civil society and trade unions in Africa, Asia the Middle East, North America and Europe, United Nations agencies and other international non-government organisations. Our work seeks to build the human rights movement and hold powerful state, business and private actors to accountable for serious human rights violations.
At the heart of our work is our unrivalled network of field investigators who are based in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Our team members are fluent in written and spoken Arabic, Amharic, Bangla, Cantonese, Darl, English, Hindi Malayalam, Mandarin, Nepali, Punjabi, Sinhala, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Urdu, among others.
We emphasise a sound grasp of the most current debates in our respective areas, and design innovative responses that are based on extensive community and stakeholder consultations, particularly with international experts and grassroots civil society.
The Team
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Vipitha Vijayan
ResearcherVipitha Vijayan is an Assistant Researcher working on research design and data analysis. Vipitha helps Equidem answer complex labour rights questions through rigorous research and analysis. She has an MPhil from the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and is currently completing a PhD. Vipitha has worked closely with various marginalised communities advocating for land… -
Mariya Parodi
Communications ManagerMariya Parodi is a human rights communicator with over 15 years of experience working for NGOs, IGOs, nonprofits, UN agencies, and local government. During her career, she has worked in human rights communication for Amnesty International USA, UNICEF, the International Rescue Committee, PEN America, StoryCorps, and the OECD. She has advocated for clear legal routes… -
Mustafa Qadri
CEOMustafa Qadri is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Equidem, providing overall strategic direction and managing all our projects. He is a human rights research and advocacy expert with 20 years of interdisciplinary experience in government and public international law, journalism and the non-governmental sector. -
Geoffrey Otieno
Senior InvestigatorGeoffrey Otieno is a Kenyan having worked as a migrant worker in the Gulf. He is our Kenyan investigator with expertise in migrant worker research and investigations in the East and Central Africa regions. He is passionate about organising workers, creating awareness of human/labour rights, and overall advocacy on diverse human rights policies and issues…. -
Roxanne O’Connell
Head of ProgrammesRoxanne has nearly 20 years of international development experience, focusing on strategic planning for economic and social justice initiatives. She shaped strategies and led programs on corporate power, workers’ rights, supply chains, and climate justice. Roxanne was the Director of Programs at Speak Up Africa, where she advanced sustainable development and policy change across Africa…. -
Nani Baral
Operations OfficerNani is an experienced office manager and is responsible for a range of administrative and project management functions for Equidem and Equidem Nepal. She brings a range of expertise to Equidem from working in the media and financial services industries in Nepal for over a decade. She has experience in investigative reporting, documentation of human… -
Jason Nemerovski
ResearcherJason Nemerovski is a human rights researcher. He has contributed significantly to various organizations with different focuses such as anti-human trafficking, corporate accountability, and peacekeeping. Jason is also the co-founder of Bold Moves Only, a project aimed at spotlighting individuals who have courageously taken bold actions to instigate positive change, inspiring others to follow suit…. -
Pearl Cabral
Office Manager and Executive Assistant to Mustafa Qadri, CEOPearl is the Office Manager and Executive Assistant to the CEO. She has an Engineering background and a Masters in Business Studies. Pearl has previously worked for over a decade with several consulting and other services organisations including Ernst & Young, IBM and General Electric. She brings a wealth of knowledge of administrative, financial and… -
Eiffel Abedin
Senior InvestigatorEiffeI has extensive experience as a social researcher and journalist including previously as the Diplomatic Correspondent for Bangladesh News and Dhaka Tribune, and reporting for Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua, China Central Television and Al Jazeera Arabic. He covered the Rohingya refugee crisis for US-based magazine Politico and has worked as a Special Correspondent for… -
Anis Rahman Khan
InvestigatorAnisur Rahman Khan is a labour rights investigator at Equidem. He is a Bangladeshi returnee migrant worker and passionate migrant rights activist. Amis is a member of the International Coordinating Body of the International Migrant Alliance (IMA). He serves as a guest trainer for government Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO), is a member of the Bangladesh National… -
Martha Waithira
InvestigatorMartha Waithira is an experienced organiser of migrant workers with a wide network in Africa and the Middle East having previously worked in the Gulf region, where she escaped an abusive employer and helped dozens of others to do the same. She has over a decade of experience in employment and labour dispute resolution and… -
Rameshwar Nepal
Head of InvestigationsRameshwar has worked on human rights for over two decades, becoming Amnesty International’s longest serving director in Nepal before leaving to join Equidem in 2017. He now manages our work in Nepal, including four field investigators, and coordinates our work across South Asia. -
Dr. Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee
Research, Policy and InnovationDr. Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee is a lawyer, researcher, and advocate. Her research takes an interdisciplinary and transnational perspective in understanding labour markets, supply chains, migration, and discrimination in the global economy. Bringing together legal analysis, interdisciplinary social science research, and social theory, Shikha studies global value chains and migration in order to inform legal and… -
Deepika Thapaliya
Projects ManagerDeepika is a qualified lawyer in Nepal with experience working as a Legal Assistant for a respected law firm and undertaking human rights research for Amnesty International Nepal. She is also a founding member of a local Senior Citizen Service Community, a non-profit organisation that protects and promotes senior citizens’ rights. Deepika speaks English, Hindi…
Board of Trustees
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John James Bulstrode
John-James works with Amnesty International’s European, Central Asian, and Middle East teams on regional and national fundraising from trusts, foundations and institutional donors. He was recently instrumental in launching Amnesty’s appeals for work on Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He previously worked at Oxfam GB advising on… -
Sarah Nankivell
Sarah Nankivell is the Director of Research and Strategy at Common Wealth, a think tank based in London whose research is focused on reimagining ownership and building a more democratic and sustainable economy. Sarah was previously the Research Manager of Forensic Architecture (FA), a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Sarah is a… -
Clive Baldwin
Clive Baldwin is Senior Legal Advisor for the legal and policy office at Human Rights Watch, where he has been working on issues of international law since 2007. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Clive was a practicing lawyer in London for the human rights law firm, Bindman and Partners, and worked on European human… -
Joanne Mariner
Joanne Mariner is a senior human rights researcher who has worked in multiple roles including as director of crisis response at Amnesty International. She has investigated human rights violations around the world, documenting war crimes in Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Ukraine, ethnic cleansing in the Central African Republic, and political violence in Burundi and Haiti,… -
Nazma Akter
The Founder and Executive Director of Awaj Foundation, Nazma Akter, has fought extensively for over 32 years to enhance working conditions and rights, especially for women employees. Whilst undertaking her role at the Awaj Foundation, Nazma also is the President of the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation and also the Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Women’s… -
Ruth Khakame
Ruth Khakame is an experienced lead organiser of workers including migrant workers. The Chairperson of the National Domestic Workers Council, KUDHEIHA – KENYA, she has vast experience in matters of labour, Employment laws, and migration . She has soft spot for the vulnerable groups in society. She is an executive board member in a number…
