WHO WE ARE

Marlies Stappers

Executive Director

Marlies Stappers is the initiator of Impunity Watch. Prior to that she worked as the coordinator of the Universal Justice programme at the Dutch development organisation Solidaridad. She is also the initiator of the Dutch Guatemala Platform Against Impunity, a group of Netherlands-based NGOs advocating and lobbying for accountability in Guatemala, which she coordinates to this day. Between 1995 and 2001, she lived in Guatemala, where she worked on accompanying Guatemalan refugees returning from Mexico and on mental health projects. She also worked as a researcher for the Guatemalan Historical Truth Commission and as an observer of the Peace Accords for the UN Mission in Guatemala (Minugua). She has conducted research in Ecuador into the sociocultural consequences of the activities of oil companies in the Northern Amazon region and worked as a campaign leader with Amnesty International. Her educational background is in Latin American studies.

Andrea Gros

Development Coordinator

David Taylor

Research and Policy Adviser

David began working with Impunity Watch in 2010 as a volunteer on the Burundi Programme and Memorialisation Project. Since January 2011 he has been working as a permanent staff member as Research and Policy Adviser. In 2006, he completed a degree in Law and Criminology at Cardiff University (UK), before moving to the Netherlands and earning an LLM in the International and European Protection of Human Rights at Utrecht University. After graduating in 2007, he interned for an international youth peacebuilding organisation, as well as the Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam, before travelling for three months in Africa. On his return, he began working as a Researcher for the Centre for Conflict Studies at Utrecht University, focusing on the Genocide in Darfur, Sudan. He has also worked at the TMC Asser Instituut in The Hague at 'The Hague Justice Portal', writing on international criminal law and human rights, and has taught BA courses at Utrecht University on gross human rights violations, as well as Maastricht University's 2010-2011 LLM course, International Criminal Law. Alongside his work with IW, David holds a Researcher position at Maastricht University for which he has conducted research in Rwanda.
 

Annet van Offenbeek

Project Officer/ Memorialisation Project Coordinator

Annet van Offenbeek joined Impunity Watch in October 2009 as Project Officer and Memorialisation Project Coordinator. After completing her studies in Spanish/International Relations at Utrecht University, she spent two years in Central America, where she worked for the regional human rights organisation CODEHUCA, based in Costa Rica, and was an “acompañante” for refugees returning to Guatemala. In the Netherlands, she became active with the Dutch Guatemala Solidarity Committee. She made a sidestep to fairtrade, working for the Max Havelaar Foundation at the Coffee Register for a couple of years. In 2000 she returned to the field of human rights, moving to Cambodia for more than 6 years, where she first worked for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and later for local human rights organisation LICADHO.
 

Lucy Turner

Project Coordinator - Guatemala Programme

Lucy Turner joined Impunity Watch in June 2009 as its Project Coordinator in Guatemala, having previously worked as a Human Rights Officer at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the UN in Guatemala. There, she provided technical assistance to state institutions, the national Congress and civil society organisations on transitional justice mechanisms, and standards and principles of international human rights law. She also facilitated exchange of experiences and best practices in relation to processes of truth, justice and reparations both for Guatemalan state institutions and civil society organisations, facilitating their access to UN bodies and organs working on these topics. Earlier, she worked as a lawyer for Impunity Watch partner CALDH, during which time she litigated cases of forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and massacres that occurred during Guatemala's internal armed confrontation. Ms Turner’s educational background is in law and anthropology.
 

Wilson de los Reyes

Interim Project Coordinator - Guatemala Programme

Carlos Amezquita

Research Coordinator - Guatemala Programme

Leslie Figueroa

Outreach & Capacity-building Coordinator - Guatemala Programme

Claudia de Minera

Administrative Assistant - Guatemala Programme

Claudia Minera brings over 20 years experience in providing secretarial, operational and logistical support to organisations across a range of sectors including business, not-for-profits and the United Nations, to Impunity Watch in Guatemala, where she began working in July 2009. Her recent experience includes the Global Fairness Initiative, the Access to Justice Programme of the Soros Foundation Guatemala and the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

Selim Mawad

Project Coordinator - Burundi Programme

Sanne Tielemans

Project Coordinator - Violence Against Women Project

Karen Hammink

Project Officer - Violence Against Women Project/Project Coordinator - Santa Lucía Project

Karen Hammink is a social scientist who joined Impunity Watch in February 2010 to help develop its Perspectives project on impunity for violence against women, and coordinate work with conflict victims on Guatemala’s south coast. She has worked in development cooperation for more that ten years, including with Solidaridad and Oxfam-Novib, focusing on the empowerment of women. In this regard, she has co-developed and implemented policies in Central America, Mexico and Haiti, working closely with a variety of human rights and women’s organisations. She studied Spanish and the Languages and Cultures of Latin America, before undertaking postgraduate studies in development cooperation and gender and public policy.
 

Annick Pijnenburg

Pro Bono Consultant - Violence Against Women Project

Annick joined Impunity Watch in September 2011 as pro bono consultant working on its Violence Against Women Project. Previously she graduated from the University of Essex with an LLM in International Human Rights Law (2009-2010). She is currently enrolled at the Law faculty of Utrecht University and reporter for the Oxford Reports on International Law. She has undertaken research on gender and transitional justice for various organisations, including the REDRESS Trust (London) and the Centre for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (DeJuSticia) (Colombia). She is a member of the Reparations Unit of the Essex Transitional Justice Network.

Fredrik Heldal

Research Intern

After completing his studies in history/political science at the University of Bergen, Fredrik worked at the news desk of TV 2 Norway for two years. Before going to Nepal in 2009 he worked as a researcher for Foro Ciudadano de Participacón por la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos in Argentina, focusing on human rights violations and environmental crimes committed by corporations. In Nepal he worked as a Human Rights Field Officer for Peace Brigades
International (PBI), supporting local human rights defenders in, among other things, matters related to security. After finishing the contract with PBI he did some volunteer work for TRIAL before starting his research internship for Impunity Watch.