Our Team

OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS

Manuel Calzada practiced corporate and natural resources law in Australia earning a reputation as a mining royalties specialist. He joined the United Nations in 2000, and remained as Senior Legal Counsel with international organizations until 2021 when he returned to private practice.

His initial UN assignment was with UNMIK, the UN Executive Authority Mission in Kosovo where he worked in the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Special Representative Office of Legal Affairs, and with the European Union Economic Development Pillar in charge of Kosovo’s economic reconstruction, the legal administration of Publicly Owned Enterprises in Telecoms, Aviation, Energy, and Municipal service enterprises. He established ABU-IDI and ABU-agribusiness, two EU-funded economic development banking entities for the agricultural and industrial sectors. ... Read more

Dr. Maria D. Bermudez brings to 2gedar more than 15 years working in the field of International Missions in different posts such as a Programme and Team Specialist, Human Rights Expert, Evaluation leader and Chief Technical Advisor, for organizations such as the OSCE, the EU and the UNDP.

After graduating in International Relations (Universidad Complutense / Queens University of Belfast), she pursued her academic specialization with her Masters in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building (University of Bradford). Following her placement at the University of Oxford (COMPAS) she achieved her Cum Laude PhD in International Relations (SciencesPo, Paris).

Dr Bermudez possesses a remarkable knowledge of complex issues such as Human Rights and Justice issues; Corruption; Gender; Children protection; and Human movements. In addition, she is proficient in MEAL (Monitoring evaluation accountability and learning), having graduated at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Business Administration, and at the University of California-Berkeley in Project Management. She has published extensively, holds a long expertise in capacity building has presented dozens of public lectures and conferences and has participated in numerous high-level forums (including UN Security Council). Currently, Dr. Bermudez is the Executive Director of The Democracy Institute, and she is a Visiting Scholar at the University of California- Irvine.

Dr. Bermudez is fully proficient in English, French, Portuguese, and her native Spanish. She joins 2Gedar as team leader and expert adviser, focusing on the supervision and development of all curricula.

Michela de Carli is a legal professional with more than 15 years Legal Officer experience in United Nations Peacekeeping and Political Missions, including UNMIK, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (2003-2009); as a Legal Officer in the Supreme Court of Kosovo with EULEX, the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (2009-2010); and as a Legal Officer with UNAMA, the UN Political Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (2010-2011); ONUCI, the United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Cote D’Ivoire (2011-2014); UNAMID, the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur, Sudan (2014- 2017); and most recently with UNMISS, the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (2017- 2018). ... Read more

Marcos Lorenzana has worked for 20 years as a United Nations peace keeping official in multiple conflict and post conflict countries, focusing on human rights, disarmament and reconciliation. Through multiple years in deep-field locations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Haiti, Kosovo, and East Timor, among others, he has gained in-depth experience in conflict management, analysis, and human rights in the most challenging hardship environments. He has been providing political, context analysis and assessments on human rights to the United Nations senior leaders. He has also facilitated and supported the establishments of national commissions of human rights, disarmament and to investigate incidents of political violence, and to promote national reconciliation. ... Read more

George E. Scheibner is a seasoned change management and organizational development expert with more than twenty years of global experience with private and public international organizations. His extensive field and United Nations experience includes stints with the UN System Staff College (2004-2006), the Integrated Training Service of DPKO/DFS and Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions (2011-2013), where facilitates the development and implementation of training programmes in coaching and mentoring for Police, Justice and Corrections and the facilitation of retreats, and as Chief Training Officer, Conduct & Discipline Officer, and Senior Mission Support Officer in deep field locations with the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2008-2011), and with the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID, 2013-2021).

Luis Carnasa is a legal adviser with more than twenty years of professional experience at international level in legal monitoring, police and prosecution matters as well as in legislative and judicial reform projects. He possesses an extensive knowledge of rule of law issues and technical assistance in criminal justice matters, drafting of complex legal documents, research and legal analysis on human rights issues, investigating and monitoring high profile criminal cases, analyzing legislation and jurisprudence, attending court proceedings and training local officials.Mr. Carnasa joined the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX-Kosovo) in 2011 where he currently works as a Legal Officer at the Special Prosecution Office in Pristina. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Judicial Affairs Officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Kabul as well as in deep field locations like Gardez and Bamyan. ... Read more

Babafemi Badejo is a highly experienced international lawyer and political expert and academic. He was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lagos (1997-1993). He joined the United Nations Mission in Somalia (1993- 1995) as Senior Political Affairs Officer, after which he moved to the UN Office in Nairobi in a similar capacity and including periods as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (1995-2005). In 2005 he was appointed as Chief Political Affairs in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), and as Chief of Staff in the UN Mission in Guinea-Bissau under the leadership of Nobel Prize Laurate, Jose Ramos Horta (2010-2014). In 2014 he was appointed as Chief of Staff for the Peace-mediation Division of UNAMID, the AU-UN Mission in Darfur, Sudan, charged with mediation between non-signatory movements and the Government of Sudan. ... Read more

Carlos Araujo is a communications and public information professional with more than 30 years’ experience in international media outlets like the BBC World Service (1985-2002) and in the United Nations Peacebuilding and Political Missions, including the UN Mission in Angola, as spokesperson (2002- 2003); as editor, in the News and Media Division of the Department of Public Information in the UN Secretariat in New York (2004-2010); as spokesperson for UNMIT, the UN Mission in East Timor (2010- 2012); as chief of Radio Okapi in the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic Of Congo (2012-2015), the biggest UN peacekeeping radio in the world; and most recently as Chief of Communications and Public Information in UNAMID, the AU-UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (2015-2018). ... Read more

Mariano (Murray) Calzada is Senior Detective SGT with the Western Australian Police Force, to which he has dedicated almost 30 years of continuous service. He is currently the Senior Investigative Detective with a Regional Division in Western Australia. He was previously engaged at senior levels of the WA Police Internal Investigation Division, the Child Sexual Abuse Squad, Major Crime Squad, Armed Robbery Squad, Crime Prevention, and a number of general investigation Divisions. Previously in his career, he formed part of the Elite Div79 Rapid and Tactical Response Groups. Murray Calzada has an enviable record as an investigative detective, with a large number of major criminal operations under his belt. As one of the longest serving members of the Child Sexual Abuse Squad, he has unmatched expertise in the investigation and successful prosecution of those crimes, and the cultural, social and environmental factors of sexual crime, and specifically as they affect the most vulnerable children, and methodologies for successful evidence gathering and criminal prosecutions. ... Read more

Mona Ali Khalil is an internationally respected public international lawyer with 25 years of UN and other international legal and diplomatic experience. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. in International Relations from Harvard University and a Masters in Foreign Service and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University.
She is an Affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict. During her tenure as a Senior Legal Officer in the UN Office of the Legal Counsel, Ms. Khalil served as head of the peacekeeping team wherein she advised on rules of engagement and the use of force by UN peacekeepers including for the protection of civilians. ... Read more

José María Arraiza has spent the last two decades working on ethnicity and conflict matters both as a field practitioner and as a researcher. He participated in the early days of the UN administration of Kosovo (Mitrovica, 1999-2000), the transition process in East Timor (Bobonaro, 2001), the human rights activities of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (2002-2008) and the diplomatic work of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (The Hague, 2010-2012).Currently he leads the Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) programme of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Myanmar. This includes facilitated access to civil documents through mobile teams in South East Myanmar as well as information and counseling on civil documents/citizenship issues and Housing, Land and Property rights (HLP). ... Read more

Mansour Jafarian legal experience spans more than 30 years and includes jurisdictions extending from his original Iran, United Nations Field Missions in Afghnistan and Kosovo, and the USA where he currently resides. He practised comercial law and litigation in Iran between 1987 and 2006, during which period he was also Director of the Legal Studies Office in the Iranian Parliament; and Assistant Professor at Azad Univerity where he taught international law, comparative law and international arbitration and contracts. Between 2006-2011 he served with UNAMA, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan as Deputy Legal Advisor to the UN Special Representative, where his duties included liaising and guiding high ranking Afghan authorities in the Afghan Supreme Court, the Attorney-General, and Ministers of Justice, Foreign Affairs, and the Afghan Bar Association. ... Read more

Felix Nkongo is currently the Chairman for the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, of which he was the Executive Director between 2015 and 2017. He currently lectures on Human Rights and Public Liberties, Legal Research and Methodology, Justice and Institutions, and International Criminal Cooperation and Criminal Procedure at the University of Buea Faculty of Law and Political Science; and at the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa. Felix was previously Legal Officer with UNAMA, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (2013-2015), and with MONUSCO, the United Nations Missions in the DRC (2010-2012); Human Rights Officers with UNAMA (2009-2010), Legal Officer in Trial Chamber I with the Special Court for Sierra Leone (2006-2008), and previously practiced law with the Liberty Law Firm and with the Amity Law Office between 1993 and 2005, and Legal Advisor with the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Cameroon. ... Read more

Benjamin Rue is currently LLM candidate at the University of Nottingham School of Law. Benjamin was previously Conduct and Discipline Officer at the United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH 2017-2018), Special Assistant to the Police Commissioner at the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA 2017) and Associate Conduct and Discipline Officer at the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH 2013-2017).
Before joining peacekeeping missions, Benjamin worked at the International Labour Organization (ILO Geneva 2012-2013), first with the Human Resources Department (HRD) and then with the Partnerships and Field Support Department (PARDEV). He started his career in the French Army (2005-2010). ... Read more

Sara Beneit is a Medical Practitioner and Psychotherapist graduated in Medicine from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid; and trained in Psychological Therapies, such as Neurolinguistic Programming and Clinical Hypnosis. Dr Beneit has a long trajectory in humanitarian medical issues of public health and human diseases, and as health project coordinator with the ICRC. She has managed public health projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru, Indonesia, Chad, Pakistan, Liberia and the Philippines. ... Read more