Dr. Ivan Zinger

Correctional Investigator, Canada's Office of the Correctional Investigator, Canada

Dr. Ivan Zinger received his degree in Common Law from the University of Ottawa in 1992 and completed his articles of clerkship at the Federal Court of Canada. In 1999, he obtained his Ph.D. at Carleton University (Ottawa) in Psychology of Criminal Conduct. He is an Adjunct Professor with the Law Department at Carleton University. In 2004, he joined his current employer, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (Federal Prison Ombudsman), and in 2009 he became the Executive Director and General Counsel. On January 1, 2017, Dr. Zinger was appointed as Correctional Investigator of Canada pursuant to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and he was reappointed for another 5-year term on January 1, 2023.
 
Dr. Zinger launched in 2017 the Expert Network on External Prison Oversight & Human Rights under the governance of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA). The Mission of the Network is to "share information, best practices and lessons learned on effective external prison oversight to enhance openness, transparency and accountability of prison authorities."
 
In October 2023, he received the Head of Service Award from the International Corrections and Prison Association for his tireless efforts to improve conditions of confinement and for championing dignified treatment of prisoners.

Andreea Lachsz

Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Andreea Lachsz works and lives on unceded Gadigal and Dharug Country in Australia. She is a Quentin Bryce Law Doctoral Scholar and Teaching Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, completing a PhD that focuses on torture and ill-treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody in the criminal legal system. She has worked for the Australian Capital Territory National Preventive Mechanism and has completed a Churchill Fellowship on culturally appropriate implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT). She was the inaugural Head of Policy, Communications and Strategy at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, and Coordinator of Community Legal Education, Training and Projects at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA). She has worked as a criminal defence solicitor at NAAJA and Victoria Legal Aid. Andreea has volunteered as a Humanitarian Observer with the Australian Red Cross Immigration Detention Monitoring Program, conducting visits to centres on Christmas Island and joint visits with ICRC to centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Rafael Barreto Souza

Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Philippines

Rafael Barreto Souza is a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer based at UNODC in Manila, Philippines, where he focuses on prison reform. He has previously worked at UNDP Brazil on judicial reform and was a federal prison inspector with the Brazilian National Preventive Mechanism against Torture (NMP). His experience also includes the International Bar Association, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and civil society organizations. Rafael is part of the Network of Experts at the Omega Research Foundation, supporting initiatives related to the use of force and weapons standards. He also contributed to the drafting of the Méndez Principles for investigative interviewing. Rafael has taught Law at several universities in Brazil. He holds two master's degrees: one in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and another in Constitutional Law from the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil.