Our team

The NHRF organizational structure

The NHRF is anchored in Norwegian civil society organizations, providing imperative support to human rights projects. Correspondingly, five member organizations and institutions contribute strategically, professionally, and financially to the NHRF’s work and are represented in its Board.

The Board and supporters

The NHRF is managed by a Board of Directors that represent each of the member organizations.

As of 2022, the NHRF's members are:

Amnesty International Norway
Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations
Norwegian Centre for Human Rights
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions
The Atlas Alliance

Board members

Marit Sørheim

Chair of the Board

The Atlas Alliance

The Atlas Alliance is an umbrella organization of Norwegian disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) working to promote the human rights and improve the living conditions of persons with disabilities in the Global South. The Atlas Alliance’s goals are equal rights for all and that all Norwegian development aid and humanitarian efforts are inclusive.

Eirin Kallestad

Deputy Board Member

The Atlas Alliance

Siri Blaser

Board Member

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO-Norway) is Norway’s largest and most influential workers’ organisation with over 880 000 members, with a strong position in the Norwegian society. LO’s strategy in its work for international solidarity, democracy, and social equity is to contribute to building strong, representative, and democratic trade union organizations at the national, sectoral and local levels.

Magnus Holtfodt

Deputy Board Member

The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions

Bjarte Økland

Board Member

Amnesty International Norway

Amnesty International Norway - with a national reach of 100.000 members and activists - is an independent and democratic organization working towards defending human rights globally. Amnesty takes up human rights issues through letter-writing, online and offline campaigning, demonstrations, vigils and direct lobbying of those with power and influence. Their members are the cornerstone of the organization's efforts, who believe that human rights abuses anywhere are the concern of people everywhere.

Christian Bull

Deputy Board Member

Amnesty International Norway

Maria Lundberg

Board Member

Norwegian Centre for Human Rights

The Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) is a multidisciplinary centre connected to the University of Oslo. It is internationally recognized as a leading research institution in the field of human rights, with research staff including lawyers, political scientists, social anthropologists, social geography, and philosophy. Its activities are based upon research and education, in addition to the activities as a host for several international programmes.

Susanne Hendrika Flølo

Deputy Board Member

Norwegian Centre for Human Rights

Wenche Fladen Nervold

Board Member

Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations

The Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relation's mission is to coordinate and promote contact between the Church of Norway and churches around the world, and to maintain close relations with international church bodies. It is also responsible for the theological dialogue and practical cooperation with other churches and faith communities in Norway, and has the task of presenting the Church with any current and relevant international issues or concerns, human rights being one key priority.

Katarina Sirris Karantonis

Deputy Board Member

Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations

Amitabh Behar

Board Member

Amitabh Behar, Executive Director (interim) of Oxfam International, is a global civil society leader, and an authority on tackling economic and gender inequality and building citizen participation. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam India. Mr. Behar has also served as the Vice Chair of the Board of CIVICUS, Executive Director of National Foundation for India, Convener of National Social Watch Coalition and the Co-Chair of Global Call to Action Against Poverty.

NHRF's Secretariat in Oslo

Ingeborg Moa

Executive Director

Einar Wengen

Head of Finance

Kristin Storaker Skutlaberg

Head of Programmes

Lotte Yttereng

Administration and Finance Adviser

Halvard Hjermundrud

Senior programme Adviser

Lorena Schwab De La O

Programme Adviser

Maya Sunde Singh (on leave)

Programme Adviser

Devika Nair

Programme Adviser

Aina Ferretti Sardà

Programme Adviser

Reidun Ryland

Programme Adviser

Ragnhild Olsby

Programme Officer

Hasina Shirzad

Programme Adviser

Sandra Petersen

Special Advisor

NHRF's Colombia Office

Katrine Ringhus

Country Director

Dhayana Cuellar Becaría

Finance and Administrative Manager

Gonzalo Sánchez

Finance and Administration Officer

Astrid Aristizábal

Finance and Administration Officer

Katerine Rivera

Administration and Logistics Assistant

David Pico García

Program Officer (MEL)

Marcela Ruiz

Communications Officer

Katheryn Sánchez Baquero

Advocacy and Program Officer

Luz Andrea Silva

Head of Environment, Forest and Human Rights Program

María Camila Pinilla

Program Officer

Environment, Forest and Human Rights Program

Yojan Leonardo Gutiérrez

Program Officer

Environment, Forest and Human Rights Program

Germán Barrera

Program Officer

Environment, Forest and Human Rights Program

Mónica Jiménez Amorocho

Head of Peace and Human Rights Program

Angela Galvis

Program Officer

Peace and Human Rights Program

Alejandro Jiménez González

Program Officer

Peace and Human Rights Program

Diana Torres

Program Officer

Peace and Human Rights Program

Local Consultants

Alexandra Jiménez

Local consultant in Mexico

Zulfiqar Shah

Local consultant in Pakistan

Petcharat Saksirivetkul

Local consultant in Thailand

Soundararaj Azariah

Local consultant in Sri Lanka

Anita Cheria

Local consultant in India

Papang Hidayat

Local consultant in Indonesia

Advisory Board

Mary Lawlor

UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders. Founder and Board member of Front Line Defenders. Adjunct Professor in the School of Business, Trinity College, Dublin. Member of the steering committee to develop an ethics policy for the School of Business. Former Director and Chair of Amnesty International Irish Section.

Jan Egeland

Founder of the NHRF and Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Former Special Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Syria. He has served as State Secretary in the Norwegian MFA (1990-1997) and UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (2003-2006). Former positions: Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, Director of HRW Europe, Director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross and Chair of Amnesty International Norway. Professor II at the University of Stavanger.

Phil Robertson

Director, Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA). Previous Director at Human Rights Watch, Asia Division and Program Manager of the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP). Before being working at UNIAP, he led the Mainland Southeast Asia office of the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center, working on trade union rights, democratic political reform, and rights of migrant workers, focusing primarily on Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Jemima García-Godos

Associate Professor - Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo. M.Phil. and Dr.Polit in Human Geography, UiO. Doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo. Researcher and Post-doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, UiO.

Gerald Staberock

Secretary General of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT). Previous Director of Center for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (CIJL) and Director of its Global Security and Rule of Law Initiative at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Coordinator of rule of law and anti-torture projects at OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Nora Sveaass

Nora Sveaass is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. She is a former member of the UN Committee Against Torture, and currently a member of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. Sveaass is the founder of Health and Human Rights Info, and the Human Rights Committee at the Norwegian psychological association, and is part of NHRF’s Advisory Board. In 2018, she was awarded the Human Rights Prize of the University of Oslo and in 2019 the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav.

Advisory Board in Colombia

Mildrey Corrales

Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos (CCEEU)

Liliana Uribe

Corporación Jurídica Libertad (CJL) and the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE)

Yolanda Perea

Ruta Pacífica de las Mujeres

Rodrigo Botero

Fundación para la Conservación y el Desarrollo Sostenible (FCDS)

Organización Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Amazonía Colombiana (OPIAC)

Local resource people and consultants

In order to ensure a high level of accuracy in the selection of projects and follow-up of projects and grantee partner organisations, the NHRF operates with local consultants in its priority countries. The main tasks of the consultants are capacity building of grantee organizations, monitoring of projects, and providing advice to the Secretariat on strategies and project applications. The NHRF also uses international networks and references from like-minded donors and national and international human rights organizations in the selection of projects. All NHRF consultants are qualified human rights activists with extensive experience from working with grassroots organizations in their respective countries. Currently the NHRF has consultants in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Mexico, Thailand and Indonesia.