Panel Members

Senator Mehreen Faruqi

Senator Mehreen Faruqi is the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens and Senator for New South Wales. A civil and environmental engineer by training and a former academic, she has dedicated her life to the pursuit of justice—social, racial, and environmental.

Making history in 2013 as the first Muslim woman to enter any Australian parliament, Senator Faruqi has since become one of the country’s most uncompromising voices for human rights. In the Senate, she has relentlessly challenged systems of power and privilege, bringing an unapologetically feminist and anti-racist approach to federal politics.

Senator Faruqi is the strongest voice on justice for Palestine in the Australian Parliament, consistently calling for an end to Israel’s occupation and apartheid. She has fearlessly exposed the bipartisan political consensus that enables ongoing oppression, despite sustained attacks from right-wing media and political opponents. In response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, she has tirelessly demanded an immediate and lasting ceasefire, an end to military trade with Israel, sanctions on Netanyahu and his war cabinet, and the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador.

Whether fighting for justice on the global stage or dismantling systemic racism at home, Senator Faruqi is a principled and unyielding force for human rights, standing firmly against all forms of oppression.

Helen Jarvis

Helen is a Vice-President of the Permanent People’s Tribunal. Since the mid-1990s, she has worked on issues relating to crimes against humanity and genocide, mainly focusing on Cambodia, with Yale University’s Cambodian Genocide Program; the Cambodian Government Task Force for the Khmer Rouge Trials; and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Helen served as a member of the panel of judges in the Permanent People’s Tribunal in the sessions on Sri Lanka (2013), Myanmar (2017) and Murder of Journalists (2022), as well as the International Peoples Tribunal on Indonesia 1965. Helen is a Life Member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and member of the International Committee for Memorial and Human Right Museums and the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Memory of the World program (2013-2018). Helen Jarvis received a PhD from the University of Sydney and was formerly Head of the School of Information, Library and Archive Studies at the University of New South Wales, where she was an elected staff member on the Academic Board. She holds both Australian and Cambodian nationality and is currently living in Phnom Penh.

Lama Qasem

Lama Qasem is a Palestinian advocate based in Canberra. She is an executive member of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and an organiser with the Palestinian Action Group Canberra.

Linda Briskman

Linda Briskman holds the Margaret Whitlam Chair of Social Work at Western Sydney University. She conducts research, writes and teaches in the fields of human rights, migration and anti-racism and has won awards for her work. She was co-convenor of the People’s Inquiry into Detention. Linda is a member of the advisory committee of the Jewish Council of Australia and is on the committee of management of the Australian Council for Human Rights Education.

Gill Boehringer

Gill Boehringer is Co-Chair of the Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers of the International Association of People’s Lawyers; a member of the Judges Panel of the Permanent People’s Tribunal; Deputy Chair, International League of Peoples Struggles (Australian Branch); a member of Philippine Australia Union Link; Action for Peace and Development in the Philippines, and the Australian environmental action groups Future Sooner and WaterForRivers.

James McVicar

James McVicar is a leading organiser of Students for Palestine in Melbourne. He is the 2025 National Union of Students Education Officer. 

Patricia Fox

Patricia Fox is a retired lawyer. She is currently Chair of the Australian Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ACHRP); spokesperson for the Asia Pacific region of the Coalition (APCHRP); spokesperson for the Philippine Australia Solidarity Association (PASA); committee member of the International League of People's Struggles, Australia; and Victorian secretary for Pax Christi.