Originally published in the IABA Law Review, Vol. 6, August 2008.
By: Wouter Veening
Member of the Board
Mr. Said Barzegar, is s California businessman and a lifetime activist. He strives for world peace and climate change mitigation. He is also a trainer and coach for Climate Ambassadors’ youth activists.
Maggie is what some have called a reluctant academic. Driven by an inordinate sense of purpose to better understand the nature of leadership and governance on the African continent and in her home country Kenya, she recently undertook her PhD studies in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Her thesis, ‘A Re-Imagining of the State in Africa’ sought to move away from the traditionally state-centred analysis of politics and state in Africa, focusing instead, on the role of ideas and leadership in shaping state formation processes on the same.
Prior to joining the LSE, Maggie worked as a research consultant at the Institute for Security Studies and thereafter, joined the Kenya Institute of Governance where she led a series of nationwide workshops on Collaborative Leadership and Dialogue in Kenya in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme. Bringing together key leaders in government, civil society and the public sector, the programme aimed at supporting the transformation of Kenya’s leadership through the development of effective and holistic strategies for managing and resolving differences while building inclusive processes that advance governance.
Maggie is an ESRC scholar and more recently, a postdoctoral researcher at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa at the LSE.
Dr. Saeed Bagheri is Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) where he served as the Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Law Department from September 2017 to August 2018. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge (Summer 2018), Visiting Lecturer at University College London (UCL) and Visiting Fellow at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University Law School (Spring 2018), and Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Akdeniz University in Turkey (2015-17).
He studied human rights law and international law in Iran and Turkey. He obtained his doctoral degree from Ankara University in 2015. Dr. Bagheri is an Editorial Board of the Scholink published peer-reviewed Journal of Economics, Law and Policy. His main research interests lie primarily in the area of public international law, the law of armed conflict and war studies, law on the use of armed force, international peace and security, human rights, nuclear weapons and disarmament.
Dr. Antonios Kouroutakis is Assistant Professor at IE University in Madrid, Spain and he has taught a variety of law courses and conducted research at the City University of Hong Kong, the Free University of Berlin, FVG Sao Paolo, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Kouroutakis received a DPhil in Law from University of Oxford and an LLM form UCLA School of Law. Dr. Kouroutakis’ research interests lie mainly in the field of constitutional engineering, public law and regulation.
In particular, Dr Kouroutakis is interested in the concept of separation of powers, rule of law, emergency legislation, and the regulation of new technologies; he has published widely on these topics in international and peer reviewed journals, and his work has been cited in numerous reports while his research on the constitutional value of sunset clauses was cited by the British Parliament.
President & Executive Director
Master de Criminology
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Belgium
Francisco Plancarte, a graduate of Mexican and USA law schools, with specialty in domestic and comparative laws, has been a practicing lawyer in the state of Jalisco in Mexico for nearly 40 years.
In addition, Mr. Plancarte, since 2001, when he founded the non-profit, Planetafila AC (accredited by the UN DPI), has been active in civil society and NGO activities advocating United Nations reform and promoting Charter review and establishment of a global parliament (PARMUN). His current civil society efforts, with collaboration with several other Mexican NGOs, is focused on amending Article 39 of the constitution of Mexico to adhere to a federation of nations based on parliamentary representation of global citizens.
Spanish
Egresado de la facultad de Derecho de la UNAM y Maestro en Derecho Comparado, becado por la New
York University (NYU 1969-1970)
▪ Abogado fiscalista y corporativo para la creación de diversos grupos empresariales como:
Grupo Zapata, Organización Autrey, Grupo Herdez; Grupo Corvi
▪ Asesor de la Asociación Mexicana de Distribuidores de Automotores (AMDA)
▪ Consejero Nacional de COPARMEX (1982-1994)
▪ Presidente del Capítulo Jalisco de la barra mexicana, Colegio de Abogados del 2002 a 2004
▪ Actualmente miembro de:
La Barra Mexicana, Colegio de Abogados desde 1971
AMEXE Asociación Mexicana de Expresidentes Empresariales A.C.
Interamerican Bar Association con sede en Washington D.C. desde 1970
▪ Miembro de Union Internationale des Avocats con sede en París (1980 – 1985)
▪ En alguna ocasión miembro de:
Barra Internacional de Abogados con sede en Londres
American Bar Association con sede en Chicago
▪ Consejero de diversas asociaciones y cámaras empresariales como:
Presidente del Consejero Directivo del Capitulo Pacifico de la US-México Chamber Commerce de
2012 a 2014
▪ Activista en el ámbito internacional:
Participó en diversos congresos y eventos del Programa DPI/NGOS de la ONU en México y
Nueva York
Ha participado en eventos de ongs en Ginebra, Bruselas, Paris, Nicaragua, Japón, Norte de
África, Libia y Marruecos
En 2012 en Filipinas fue nominado para un premio por la Paz mundial por la Gusi Fundation
▪ Conferencista sobre la revisión de la carta de San Francisco de la ONU, con el fin de crear conciencia de
la necesidad de transformar la Asamblea General de la ONU hacia un Parlamento Mundial, con
fundamento en al artículo 109 de dicha Carta.
▪ Promotor junto con estudiantes universitarios y otras ONGs de varios modelos del Parlamento Mundial
Ciudadano en el Congreso de la Unión al igual que la reforma al artículo 39 de la Constitución Mexicana
hacia la adhesión a México a una federación de Naciones con sistema parlamentario.
▪ Fundador de Planetafilia A.C. en el año 2001 y la resolución PARMUN, donde se propone la creación de
un parlamento mundial ciudadano, organismo que se entregó a un grupo de jóvenes universitarios.
▪ Presidente de diversos clubes rotarios, y a nivel internacional promotor ante el Consejo de Legislación
de Rotary Internacional la Declaración Rotaria por la Paz Mundial, que fue aprobada por dicho Consejo
de R.I. en el año 2010
▪ Socio actual del despacho Guzmán y Plancarte con el apoyo de servicios notariales de la Notaria 49
▪ Director General del Centro Mexicano de Responsabilidad Global CEMERG, A.C.
Actividades ciudadanas
▪ Representante del PAN ante el Consejo electoral del Estado de Jalisco, durante los años 1997-2000
▪ Comisionado Federal del Partido Acción Nacional de la elección presidencial de 1987 y 1988
▪ En el año 2005 renunció voluntariamente al Partido Acción Nacional para continuar dirigiendo la ONG
internacional: Planetafilia, A.C. acreditada ante el Programa DPI/NGOS de la ONU, así como la
implementación de la Resolución PARMUN hacia un Parlamento Mundial Ciudadano en cuatro etapas
sucesivas.
Dr. Antonios Kouroutakis is Assistant Professor at IE University in Madrid, Spain and he has taught a variety of law courses and conducted research at the City University of Hong Kong, the Free University of Berlin, FVG Sao Paolo, and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Kouroutakis received a DPhil in Law from University of Oxford and an LLM form UCLA School of Law. Dr. Kouroutakis’ research interests lie mainly in the field of constitutional engineering, public law and regulation.
In particular, Dr Kouroutakis is interested in the concept of separation of powers, rule of law, emergency legislation, and the regulation of new technologies; he has published widely on these topics in international and peer reviewed journals, and his work has been cited in numerous reports while his research on the constitutional value of sunset clauses was cited by the British Parliament.
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Environmental Law at the University of the South Pacific. Her academic work broadly speaking focuses on the role of law in realising human rights, sustainable development and climate justice. Her recent book, State Responsibility, Climate Change and Human Rights (Hart Publishing) explains when and where State action related to climate change may amount to a violation of human rights. Margaretha’s research builds on more than a decade of involvement in legal processes relating to sustainable development and human rights. Amongst other things, she has acted as a legal adviser to governments at international climate change negotiations, represented non-governmental organisations at the UN Human Rights Council, and advised the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the nexus between climate change and human rights in Africa. She is currently advising the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office for the Pacific on human rights and climate justice, and serves as the Deputy Regional Director for Europe of the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment. She is also a founding Board Member of the Climate Justice Fund, a one of a kind financial facility to support the development and use of legal avenues towards global climate justice.
Margaretha holds a PhD from the European University Institute, a European Master’s in Human Rights and Democratisation (E.MA) from the European Inter-University Centre on Human Rights and Democratisation, a Graduate LLB from Nottingham Law School and a BA (Philosophy) and BSc (Cultural Anthropology & Development Studies) from the Radboud University. She received a Lord Justice Holker Award from the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (London) and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2014. She is an Attorney at Blue Ocean Law, a boutique international law firm based in Guam specialising in human rights and indigenous rights, self-determination and environmental justice in the Pacific.
President & Executive Director
Dr. Shahr-Yar Mahmoud Sharei is the founding President and Executive Director of the
Center for United Nations Constitutional Research (CUNCR). An authority in
international constitutional law and the UN Charter, he holds a PhD and an LL.M. in
International Law, as well as an M.S. in Computer Science.
A central focus of Dr. Sharei’s scholarship is the strengthening of the United Nations
through Security Council democratization and the constitutional transformation of the
UN Charter. His work on upholding the “San Francisco Promise” and the (re)discovery
of the legality and potential of an Article 109(3) Charter Review Convention advances
pathways toward a more democratic and effective system of global
governance—capable of delivering peace, environmental security, and responses to
emerging global challenges. Under his direction, CUNCR also launched the “How to
Assemble Parliamentary Assemblies” series on capacity-building and cooperation
among regional inter-parliamentary institutions (IPIs), with a view to expanding people-
centered participation in regional and global governance.
Under Dr. Sharei’s leadership, CUNCR has advanced research and dialogue on global
governance through publications and seminar series, including “Climate Justice,
Democracy and Governance,” and initiatives on world governance, space governance,
and AI governance. He conceived the Youth Climate Ambassadors (YCA) initiative, an
education- and movement-building program connecting youth activists across
continents.
For over three decades, Dr. Sharei has been active in civil society and NGO efforts
related to nuclear disarmament, UN reform, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and
democratic global governance. He served on the governing council of the World
Federalist Movement (WFM)/Institute for Global Policy (IGP) during the period when
WFM/IGP convened the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
Dr. Sharei’s personal strive is to see, within his lifetime, the abolition of war as a
mechanism of conflict resolution. His innovative eBook initiative, “1001 Days to End All
Wars,” is a live, ongoing planetary citizen movement on X and Bluesky—inviting people
to participate, collaborate, and co-create one insightful day within those 1001 days
toward the abolition of war.
Having visited 51 countries, Dr. Sharei has presented at conferences and forums on
climate justice and democracy, the demilitarization of space, nuclear disarmament, and
UN democratization through constitutional review and renewal—including engagements
in Brussels at the European Union, the Paris Peace Forum, PARLATINO, the UN-DPI
NGO Conference in Mexico, ACUNS in Seoul, the Inter-Security Forum in Cyprus,
“Future of the UN” events in Germany, the International Conference of Chief Justices in
India, and a peace-building forum in Tokyo. CUNCR, accredited as an NGO observer to
the UNFCCC, has participated annually in the COP climate negotiations since COP25
(Madrid), including COY (Conference of Youth) side events.
Dr. Sharei Has recently published his book legal research on the UN Charter review
process and its potential for letting “we the peoples” govern the world. His book,
Reconstructing Article 109(3) of the UN Charter: Towards the San Francisco
Promise to Constitutionalize the United Nations and International Law (ISBN-13:
979-8991184502), has been well received among international lawyers and policy
makers as a gateway to a rules and justice-based world order.
Board Member Representative, Youth Climate Ambassadors (YCA)
Alsadig Khalil is a climate change and peace activist holding a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (Power Engineering). He is actively engaged in climate advocacy, youth leadership, and peacebuilding, with a strong focus on climate mitigation and policy development. His work extends beyond national contexts through cooperation with international and European Union–based organizations, as the Young European Federalists (JEF), contributing to dialogue on peace, political solutions, and youth engagement.
He is the Leader of the Youth Climate Ambassadors (YCA) program (2026-2028) and has participated in COP27 (Egypt), COP28 (Dubai), COP29 (Azerbaijan), and COP30, contributing to youth advocacy, policy discussions, and climate action coordination. His work includes advancing climate awareness, supporting mangrove plantation initiatives, advocating for inclusive, youth-led climate policies, and driving climate action.
Dr. Suchismita Pattanaik has a Ph.D. in Biotechnology and has almost 10 years of research experience in the field of biogeochemistry and climatic research. She has authored research articles, review articles, and book chapters with leading international publishers and is a speaker at many national/international conferences. She has experience in diverse capacities in the spheres of teaching, research, and global unification.
Country: India
Dr. Marko Filijović is an experienced researcher and a member of the Social Science Research Division, specifically the Politics and International Affairs Research Unit, at the Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER) in Athens, Greece. He holds a PhD in Defense Studies from the Faculty of Security Studies at the University of Belgrade. Marko is a member of the Young Transatlantic Network – The German Marshall Fund of the United States (Belgrade chapter) and the Space Generation Advisory Council – SCAG, European Space Policy Institute in Vienna, Austria.
He is an active member of the editorial boards of international journals such as International Law Research – Canadian Center of Science and Education in Toronto, Canada, and Journal of Political Science and International Relations – Science Publishing Group in New York, USA. With over 10 years of research experience and more than 55 articles and studies published in various international journals, his areas of scientific interest include geopolitics, international relations, and, more recently, international law.
Joyce is co-founder of several organizations like the Latin American Observatory of Geopolitics of Energy (Infrastructure, Technology, Security and Energy Integration) where she acts as the President of the UNILA (Federal University of Latin American Integration) Chapter with the organization Student Energy. The Binational Youth Collective of the Parana Basin 3, and the Foz do Iguaçu Educative & Environmental Observatory. In Paraguay she co-founded the National Youth Network for Water, and the Youth Network for Climate Action Paraguay, organizing since 2016 the National COYs (Conference of Youth on Climate Change). Joyce is a member of the World Youth Parliament for Water WYPW (also part of the Blue Peace Initiative, promoting water transboundary cooperation), and the Climate Reality Project Brazil.
Joyce is co-founder of several organizations like the Latin American Observatory of Geopolitics of Energy where she acts as the President of the UNILA (Federal University of Latin American Integration) Chapter with the organization Student Energy. The Binational Youth Collective of the Parana Basin 3, and the Foz do Iguaçu Educative & Environmental Observatory. In Paraguay she co-founded the National Youth Network for Water, and the Youth Network for Climate Action Paraguay, organizing since 2016 the National COYs (Conference of Youth on Climate Change). Joyce is a member of the World Youth Parliament for Water WYPW (also part of the Blue Peace Initiative, promoting water transboundary cooperation), and the Climate Reality Project Brazil.
Associate Program Manager
Dr.Wolfgang PAPE is currently free writer and lecturer after recent Fellowships in Seoul and Taipei, having served the European Commission over thirty years. His last diplomatic posting was as First Councillor in Tokyo, where he managed the EU-Japan Centre. Previously in Brussels, he was in charge of the ‘Asia Strategy’ and contributed to the ‘White Paper on Governance’ of the EC. In the 1990’s, Wolfgang worked in the think tank of EC President Delors (incl. a fellowship at the Brookings Institution, USA). Beforehand, he coordinated Asian cases in anti-dumping, after having served the EC during six years in Tokyo until 1988.
Educated in Kassel (D) and New York (USA), he studied law and economics at the universities of Marburg (D) and Genève (CH), researched for his PhD during two years at Kyoto University (J) and Harvard (USA) following his study of Japanese in Osaka (J). He received his Dr.iuris in Freiburg (D) with his book on Japanese law, before joining the EC in 1982, after work as Advisor at the Embassy of Japan in Bonn (D).
His publications in English, German, Japanese and French cover Europe and Asia as well as global governance, for which he coined the term “Omnilateralism” (see http://omnilateralism.blogspot.com).
PhD candidate in Philosophy and Political Thought at “ScuolaNormaleSuperiore”, Pisa. He works especially on theories of democracy and critical theory.
Alumnus of the “College of Europe”, he recently developed research interests on IR theory, geopolitics and theories of global justice, being also member of the former Council of WFM-IGP (World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy) and ideating the UN World Citizens’ Initiative concept. He also worked at “Association Jean Monnet” and in the Mediation and Dialogue Support Unit of the European Parliament (DG External Policies, Directorate for Democracy Support).
He established journals of cultural and political debate such as “ilcontesto” and “ilPensieroDemocratico”, worked at “Corriere della Sera” and “La Repubblica” and currently collaborates with “Micromega” and “The Federalist Debate”.
He is among the contributors of the project “Charta 2020- A Charter of European PublicGoods” and one of the initiators of “CIVICO Europa”, a civic platform for transnational deliberative democracy which recently developed the paneuropean consultation “We Europeans”.
His researches for CUNCR focus on UN Security Council reform/UN Charter review and on possible models of participatory and deliberative democracy at the global level.
Intern
Undergraduate student at University of California, Davis. Majoring in Political Science and Chinese Language and Literature; with a minor in French. President and Event Coordinator of California Women’s List, UCDavis Chapter; an organization which promotes pro-choice democratic women in office.
Plans to get an LLM in International Law once she graduates in June 2020.
Intern
MA student in International Relations and European Studies at Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne University with a minor in Chinese at l’Inalco in Paris. She also graduated with honors from a Bachelors in Public Law and Political Science at the Catholic University of Paris. Before joining CUNCR, Anne-Laure was highly involved in Model United Nations in Paris and other European cities.
MA social integration student in Budapest EötvösLoránd University (ELTE), his program focuses on multicultural education, social inclusion, and Human Rights. His areas of interests are migration and integration. He is the International Student Ambassador of his university and he is working on raising awareness among university students about the current climate crisis.
Law graduate who received her Master’s degree in European Law with a specialization in Human Rights Law at Maastricht University, Netherlands. Her main areas of interest are International environmental law and equality and anti-discrimination law. Before joining CUNCR, Blanca completed an internship at the Spanish Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva in the Human Rights Department where she drafted reports on a number of topics discussed during the Human Rights Council and conducted research. She also completed an internship at the Spanish Permanent Representation before the European Union in the Environment Department.
Dr. Thomas L Muinzer is from Northern Ireland, and undertook his qualifying law degree and other legal qualifications at Queen’s University Belfast. He has been a friend/member of CUNCR for some time now, commencing collaboration with the group almost 3 years ago, and contributes to the group as an academic advisor. He is currently a Lecturer in Law at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at Dundee, Scotland. He has been involved in an advisory capacity with a broad range of energy, environmental and other actors, including NGOs, political representatives in the UK’s devolved governments, and others.
He has written two books, one of which is the first monograph on the world’s first case of a national Parliament implementing economy-wide legally binding long-term emissions reduction targets in national framework legislation order to combat climate change: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319946696
He is currently compiling the first edited collection on state-level climate framework legislation for Hart Publishing.
He is Co-editor of Freckle Magazine, the sustainability-themed magazine that celebrates people and place in Ireland and beyond, read widely in Ireland – http://www.frecklenorthernireland.org/subscribeandbuy/
Member of the Board
Marjolijn Snippe holds a master’s degree in international law from the University of Amsterdam. She is a founding member of the Centre for United Nations Constitutional Research (CUNCR). Marjolijn Snippe, for several years was Erskine Childers research-assistant (reform and renewing the United Nations), and co-editor of “Erskine Barton Childers – For a democratic United Nations and the Rule of Law”, published by the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation in 2011. She is also a board member of the World Federalist Movement in the Netherlands (WFBN), and co-editor of the WFBN-quarterly “Eén Wereld” (One World).
