Observer Organizations

WIMN works with allied organizations as we get to know each other through collaborative work. Organizations wishing to join WIMN are invited to become observers, and they can actively participate in all programmatic work of the Network. When mutually agreed, observers become members of the organization.

WIMN’s Secretariat

The Secretariat is WIMN’s “work team”, consultants and volunteers charged with implementation of programs and administrative tasks.

Carol Barton

barton.carol@womeninmigration.org 

Carol Barton is Co-Coordinator of the Women in Migration Network, founded in 2012. With decades of experience in intersectional social justice organising, Carol has an extensive background in non-profit education and advocacy with faith-based and feminist organisations. She co-led the Women’s International Coalition for Economic Justice and led both the Immigrant Rights and Economic Inequality initiatives at United Methodist Women. She brings her abundance of experience to issues of migration and gender.

Catherine Tactaquin

tactaquin.catherine@womeninmigration.org

Catherine Tactaquin is a longtime activist, organizer and advocate for migrant rights. She is the former Executive Director of the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) in the US and was a founding member of Migrants Rights International (MRI), a global alliance, in 1994, and subsequently, the Global Coalition on Migration (GCM) and the Women in Migration Network (WIMN). She has been a frequent speaker on U.S. immigration and global migration policies, including migration concerns at the intersection of race, climate change and the environment, and gender.

Chus Álvarez

alvarez.chus@womeninmigration.org

Chus is a passionate feminist, an avid reader and a sea lover. She is leading the development leadership program with grassroots organizations along with the language justice activities and the climate change advocacy. She has lived and worked in different countries in Asia, Europe and South America developing a strong sense of global justice and participatory development. She holds a degree in Social Work and has further education in International Development and Gender Equity, as well as more than 15 years’ experience working for non-profit organizations.

Paola Cyment

cyment.paola@womeninmigration.org

Paola Cyment is an independent consultant with 15 years of expertise in migration, gender, human rights and development. She has been part of WIMN since 2015, both representing an organization and as an individual member. She joined WIMN’s Secretariat in 2020. She coordinates the Local/Global Nexus of Intersectional Movement-Building project that aims to bring grassroot migrant women voices to global migration governance spaces. Paola has worked in different positions with domestic and international organisations conducting research advocacy, institutional development and project management.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors sets organizational policy, provides strategic guidance and oversight of the progress and management of the organization. It safeguards and advances the vision, objectives, reputation, and principles of WIMN. Directors receive no compensation for their participation and serve in their individual capacities; they do not represent their organizations. The members are listed here in alphabetical order by their first names.

Carol Barton is Co-Convener and a founding member of the Women in Migration Network (WIMN).  Carol has served as a member of the Gender Workstream of the UN Network for Migration, a member of the Expert Working Group for addressing women’s human rights in the global compact on migration and as an advisor to the Gender+Migration Hub.  In 2015, she served as the Gender Rapporteur for the Civil Society Days of the GFMD in Istanbul.  Barton led United Methodist Women’s Immigrant & Civil Rights Initiative (2007- 2015), and their Living Wage for All campaign (2015 – 2020).  She also led the Women’s International Coalition for Economic Justice (2000-2004), was part of the coordinating group for Feminist Dialogues adjacent to the World Social Forum (2002-2005), served as an interim program officer with the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service and as UN rep for Church Women United. She holds an MA in Political Economy from the New School for Social Research.  Barton lives in the United States.

Carolina Gottardo is a migrant lawyer and economist with more than two decades of  experience on  migration,, gender and human rights. Carolina is Executive Director of the International Detention Coalition (since 2020). Previously she served as director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia and director of the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS), a UK women’s rights organisation working with refugee and migrant women.  She was also a senior manager at the British Institute of Human Rights, British Red Cross and One World Action (now Womankind Worldwide) in the UK and served as the National Policy  Director of the Refugee Council of Australia.  Carolina worked for the Constitutional Court and the UN Development Programme in her native country, Colombia. She has served on a number of boards related to human rights, gender, migration and refugee issues in London, Melbourne, Bangkok, Bogota and Brussels and currently serves as co-lead of the UN Migration Network Working Group on Alternatives to Detention.  Carolina is also a member of the Expert Working Group for addressing women’s human rights in the Global Compact for Migration and served as a member of the steering committee of the UN  Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund. She is based in Germany.

Claudia Interiano, a Salvadoran lawyer, is Regional Coordinator of the Transnational Search Area of the Foundation for Justice.  Her work focuses on missing migrants and victims of massacres in the migratory context. Working with civil society organizations in El Salvador, she provides legal assistance in the face of serious human rights violations such as massacres of the civilian population, forced disappearance of adults, forced disappearance of girls and boys during the armed conflict and massacre of indigenous people. She is a member and focal point of the Regional Network of Civil Organizations for Migration (RRCOM), is a Bloque Latinoamericano focal point for Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and the Association for the Search for Missing Girls and Boys of El Salvador.  Interiano holds a master’s degree in Constitutional Law and an advanced degree in Legal Strategies for Advocacy and Women’s Rights (University of Chile). She has been a Peace and Reconciliation Volunteer in Northern Ireland with Corrymeela Community Organization and with the Bromley by Bow Centre in England. Interiano’s work focuses on the defense and protection of human rights and constitutional guarantees at national and regional levels from a gender, psychosocial, holistic approach.  Interiano is based in El Salvador.

Dur-e Shawar Siraj is Vice President of the Pakistani Workers’ Federation, a member of the International Trade Union Confederation, and works to champion the rights of women workers and promote gender equality within trade unions. She has worked in organizing and education with informal sector women workers over the last 16 years, with a focus on labor rights, collective bargaining, decent work and combating gender-based violence (GBV) and harassment in the world of work.  Shawar Siraj is a tripartite member on several committees seeking recognition of informal workers in Pakistan. She currently leads a campaign for the ratification of ILO Convention C 190, aiming to create safer environments and equal opportunities for workers at national and global level. The campaign seeks ratification of the Convention in Pakistan to keep all workers safe from violence and harassment in the world of work.  Shawar Siraj is based in Pakistan. 

Helena Olea is the Deputy Director for Programs at Alianza Americas. She is an attorney licensed to practice law in Colombia, with an Ll.M. from the University of Notre Dame, United States. Helena has dedicated her professional life to the human rights of migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, and women, combining advocacy, litigation, and teaching, working in non-governmental organizations in Colombia, Chile, and the United States. Olea is based in the United States.

Lucy Turay is a Sierra Leonean activist, survivor, former migrant domestic worker in Lebanon and founder of Domestic Workers Advocacy Network (DoWAN).  Her activism is guided by and highlights the similarities of the struggles of Black women and working-class communities across the globe. Her work focuses on ending the Kafala system (modern day slavery) to prevent women from being trafficked into domestic servitude and advocating for the rights and dignity of migrant domestic workers.  Turay works with other women to take collective action and build socio-economic alternatives for women, despite facing dangers as a frontline rights defender and despite corrupt and narrowly self-interested policies which endanger and restrain women in her community. Turay is based in Sierra Leone. 

Michele Levoy is Director of PICUM, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.  She has led the organization for nearly two decades in advocating for undocumented migrants’ human rights towards European and global institutions. Levoy has played a key role as board member for several civil society organisations at the global and EU levels, including Migrant Rights International and the Global Coalition on Migration. She holds degrees in French, Justice and Peace Studies and a master’s in applied sciences (Housing and Development). Levoy is based in Belgium. 

Nalishha Mehta is Senior Program Officer for Migration at the Solidarity Center, the largest U.S.-based international worker rights organization.  She has spent her professional career advocating for the rights of workers, particularly the most marginalized and underrepresented workers, and supporting women workers to find their voice and build their power.  Mehta’s parents immigrated to the United States from India, seeking opportunities for themselves and their daughter.  Their experiences of daily discrimination and racism in the workplace, including wage theft and job loss, has shaped her life work.  Mehta also serves as chief shop steward for the bargaining unit staff at the Solidarity Center’s headquarters with the Office and Professional Employees International Union. She practices Raja Yoga Meditation and has facilitated meditation sessions for union organizers, women workers, and staff at unions and non-profit organizations, supporting youth, activists, and workers to combat burnout and stress and to rediscover their own inner power and strength. Mehta is based in the United States.

Vani Saraswathi is Editor-at-Large and Director of Projects at Migrant-Rights.org and the author of Stories of Origin: The Invisible Lives of Migrants in the Gulf.  She holds a Master’s in Human Rights from the School of Advanced Studies, University of London. She moved to Qatar in 1999, working with several local and regional publications and launching some of Qatar’s leading periodicals during her 17-year stint there. While in Qatar she and others mobilised a grassroots community to help migrants in distress. She also reported regularly on human rights issues in Qatar for publications in India. Since 2014, in her role with Migrant-Rights.org, she reports from the Gulf states and countries of origin with a particular focus of women migrant workers. She also organises advocacy projects and human rights training targeting individual employers, embassies, recruitment agents and businesses in Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE, working with nationals and long-term residents in these countries with a special emphasis on female migrants, including domestic workers. Saraswathi is a member of the Migration Advisory Group of ILO ROAS, Freedom Fund’s Ethiopia Hotspot Programme Advisory Group, and Humanity United’s Forced Labour and Human Trafficking Advisory Group. Saraswathi is based in India.

Previous WIMN Funders

• United Women in Faith (formerly United Methodist Women)
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (in-kind)