Mediators

Jeta Krasniqi serves as a project manager at the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI) since 2016, focusing on the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia by working with the parliament to strengthen oversight, transparency and accountability of the process. In addition to inciting internal social and political dialogue through meetings of relevant stakeholders with citizens and civil society, and research analysis. Mrs. Krasniqi is engaged by UN Women as an International Consultant on Prevention and Response to Conflict related sexual violence in Ukraine. At the same time, Mrs. Krasniqi is the deputy chair of the Governmental Commission for the Verification and Recognition of Conflict-related sexual violence victims during the War, representing civil society.

Previously, Mrs. Krasniqi served as Political Advisor to the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, where she was engaged in the field of foreign policy, promotion of human rights and gender equality. Mrs. Krasniqi was the Coordinator of the National Council for Survivors of Sexual Violence during the War established by the then President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga. Mrs. Krasniqi has a long-standing commitment to civil society organizations in advancing the role of women in society in Kosovo and Albania. Jeta Krasniqi graduated in International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and finished her undergraduate studies in International Relations at Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Krasniqi is a board member of the Kosovo Women’s Network and the Kosovo American Educational Fund (KAEF).

Karima Megtef is a doctoral student, teacher, researcher, and gender and radicalization expert. Her commitment to the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network is to raise her voice to promote peace and women’s empowerment. As a victim of Terrorism (the Black Decade when 10 members of her family were killed) it is a question of honouring the memory of her 6 sisters kidnapped by terrorists and those of all the victims by bringing their stories to life and share her experience of reconstruction and mourning.

She is a founding member of the OAF (Algerian Observatory for Women) and a member of the ONVT (national organization of victims of terrorism).  Former executive in charge of study and synthesis, she held the position of central director in charge of the status of women. As a member of ANMJA (National Association of Algerian Judicial Mediators) she is in charge of communication and cooperation. Ms. Megtef is an active member of many networks and commissions on peace promotion, fight against violence, extremism, and radicalisation at both national and regional level. She provides consultancy for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). As a gender equality and women’s rights activist, she has attended the Seminar of Panafrican Network of the Wise in Algeria on the occasion of the establishment of the African Network of Women Mediators FemWise-Africa.

Sophia Papastavrou is a citizen of Canada and Cyprus and spent her formative years in Dominican Republic and Ghana before immigrating to Canada. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Her dissertation entitled: Women’s Organizations for Peace: Moving Beyond the Rhetoric of the Cyprus Problem was the result of over 7 years of field research in a frozen conflict zone. She has previously worked on consultancies with the OSCE Mission to Croatia, the World Bank, and the United Nations. Sophia held the role of Gender Technical Lead at World Vision International Middle East and Eastern Europe covering fragile states and the Syria Response. Prior to holding this position, she led the Gender Learning Hub, including management of the Gender Based Violence Regional project. Sophia was a speaker at TEDx Nicosia Women in 2015 and recently, worked with women’s civil society to co- create the first White Book of Best Practice on UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Cyprus. She was selected as part of the She-Experts initiative by the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) aiming to enhance the visibility and impact of women in their professional capacity.  She joined the network because of her commitment and passion for women in peace building specifically building gender data and gender assessments to inform gender transformative approaches to meeting the WPS mandate.

Yakin Ertürk is Emerita Professor of Sociology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Her professional experience in conflict related matters is within the context of international human rights monitoring mandates, including special rapporteur on violence against women and member of commissions of inquiry on human rights violations in two conflict zones: Independent International Commission of Inquiry of the June 2010 events in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (Oct. 2010-April 2011); member of the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syrian Arab Republic of the UN Human Rights Council (12 Sept. 2011-23 March 2012). In this respect, she has worked in diverse geographies, with particular interest in El Salvador, Guatemala, Afghanistan, DRC and the Middle East. Her forthcoming article: ‘Peace and Security Agenda’, Conflict, Peace and Development Journal, addresses peace processes and the women, peace and security agenda. She joined the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network as it provides a platform for contributing to negotiated approach to the conflict in Turkey and the ME region, for making women negotiators available nationally and globally.