What is the youth advisory board?
The youth board is a specially selected group of young people aged 16-25 who advise and inform Index on Censorship’s work, support our ambition to fight for free expression around the world and ensure our engagement with issues with tomorrow’s leaders. The current members are sitting from January to June 2020.
Why does Index have a youth board?
Index on Censorship is committed to fighting censorship not only now, but also in future generations, and we want to ensure that the realities and challenges experienced by young people in today’s world are properly reflected in our work.
Index is also aware that there are many who would like to commit some or all of their professional lives to fight for human rights and the youth board is our way of supporting the broadest range of young people to develop their voice, find paths to freely expressing it and potential future employment in the human rights, media, and arts sectors.
The current board is sitting from January to June 2020.
Aliyah Kaitlyn Orr (pen name A.K. Nephtali) is a college student in Britain. Orr has been inspired by the power of words ever since a novel helped them realise their gender-neutral identity. Orr writes inclusive fiction that aims to empower LGBTQ+ people around the world. One of their short stories will be published in a digital anthology by the end of 2020.
Egil Sturk is an intern at the Swedish human rights NGO Civil Rights Defenders. He has studied international relations and global studies at the University of Gothenburg, and Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Sturk is currently the Swedish ambassador for the European Student Think Tank and the former editor-in-chief of the foreign affairs-oriented publication Utblick magazine. He has an avid interest in all issues pertaining to democracy, freedom of expression, the resurgence of nationalism, populism and global governance.
Emily Boyle is studying for a bachelor’s degree in politics and international relations at the University of Exeter in the UK. Boyle is an aspiring writer, journalist and documentary-maker. She filmed and produced her first documentary about women’s economic emancipation in Tamil Nadu, India, in 2017, where she further developed her interest in free speech and censorship. Following her documentary, she has worked with Swiss NGOs active in Cambodia and India. Boyle is interested in the relationship between censorship and technology, as well as the protection of free speech in the digital era.
Faye Gear is a psychology undergraduate based in Ontario, Canada. She has a keen interest in advocating the right to free speech, especially for women. Gear is the founding member of caWsbar.ca, a women’s rights organisation in Canada which promotes women’s right to speak out on sex-based issues. She intends on pursuing a career in women’s advocacy and law.
Hana Meihan Davis is a senior at Yale University, in the USA, where she studies architecture and human rights. She dedicates her non-academic time to journalism, which she hopes to pursue professionally. She has interned with the editorial board of The Washington Post, and with the city desk of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she is from. On campus, she has written and edited for the student-run Yale Daily News. Davis hopes to use a hybrid storytelling, which combines writing and design for the protection of human rights.
Saffiyah Khalique is an international journalism masters student at Liverpool John Moores University. She is an ex-Muslim activist, who advocates for the right to leave a religion freely, and campaigns against repressive apostasy and blasphemy laws. On her blog, The Amber Journals, she discusses politics, religion and women’s rights issues focusing on abuses in the Middle East and South Asia. She is the co-founder and host of The Sinning Skeptics podcast, on which young ex-Muslims and Muslims talk about their experiences with doubting Islam and leaving their religion.
Samarth Mishra is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication at Amity University Madhya Pradesh, India. Mishra’s attention to detail has led him to opt for writing as the tool for putting his views across. He has written for e-magazines including E Hacking News, and also has experience in administering blogs and editing articles. Besides writing and reading, he enjoys outdoor sports like basketball.
Satyabhama Rajoria is MPhil scholar at The University of Hyderabad. She is a singer, theatre artist and a cultural activist. She has been an active member of Indian People’s Theatre Association and Progressive Writers Association and has also performed with National School of Drama, New Delhi. She has also worked in the field of children’s theatre. Rajoria is passionate about literature, performing arts and translation. In the future she hopes to fight against gender, cast, class and cultural hegemony in Indian society.
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