Biographies PUBLIC HEARING - 21 MARCH 2018 “PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF TERRORISM IN THE EU” SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TERRORISM Guest speakers Seraphin Alava pg. 1 Levent Altan pg. 2 Tiina Astola pg. 3 Walter Benjamin pg. 3 Bianca Biwer pg. 4 Heather Cartwright pg. 5 Elizabeth Krahulecz pg. 6 Joëlle Milquet pg. 7 Dr. Raúl Nehama Masri pg. 8 Elisabeth Pelsez pg. 9 Sonia Ramos Piñeiro pg. 10 Philippe Vansteenkiste pg. 11
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Biographies PUBLIC HEARING - 21 MARCH 2018 “PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF TERRORISM IN THE EU”
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TERRORISM
Guest speakers
Seraphin Alava pg. 1
Levent Altan pg. 2
Tiina Astola pg. 3
Walter Benjamin pg. 3
Bianca Biwer pg. 4
Heather Cartwright pg. 5
Elizabeth Krahulecz pg. 6
Joëlle Milquet pg. 7
Dr. Raúl Nehama Masri pg. 8
Elisabeth Pelsez pg. 9
Sonia Ramos Piñeiro pg. 10
Philippe Vansteenkiste pg. 11
1 | P a g e
Seraphin Alava
Member “Maison des Sciences de l'Homme”
Professor of education at the University of Toulouse II.
Member of the multidisciplinary team of the “Maison des Sciences de l'Homme” in Toulouse in the
field of radicals and regulations, the professor of education at the University of Toulouse II. He works
in the Joint Unit of Research in Education Training Work Knowledge. It works on formal, non-formal
and informal training systems and on the virtualization of its training systems. Leader of numerous
European projects in the analysis of the uses and misuse of social networks. It is at the initiative of the
PARIYS consortium and coordinates the H2020 PRACTICIES project on the characterization and
prevention of radicalization online. He has produced summaries of training courses against illiteracy
and is a senior expert in the context of the ESF project, the AUF and OIF projects. He wrote the OIF
report on the place of Francophonie training within universities (432 universities analyzed). As a
European expert on the digital uses of young people, he co-authored the French report Eu Kids online
with Professor Catherine Blaya. As a UNESCO expert on the violent use of young people and cyber-
discrimination, he leads the team of experts in the context of UNESCO’s global report on radicalization
and social media. Professor Séraphin ALAVA addresses the question of the radicalization and the exit
of the radical cycles through an educational approach aimed at reintegrating the young person into a
citizen journey. He heads the PARYS (Preventing and fighting Against Radical Ideas) network, which
brings together more than 35 researchers from 16 countries in Europe and heads the Europe office of
the UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Radicalization.
Expert in the framework of UNESCO, the OIF, the EU on educational issues, discrimination and
cybercrime he is a cyberspace sociologist and specialist in violent and delinquent negative practices in
social networks.
cont
2 | P a g e
Levent Altan began his career in the UK Ministry of Justice before working in the European
Commission, as well as other UK Ministries including in the Home Office and in the Cabinet Office
under Prime Ministers Blair and Brown. In 2009, he worked in the European Commission as a
national expert tasked with writing an EU Directive on victims’ rights. Over the next three years, he
developed the European Union’s policy on victims’ rights, leading the development and negotiation
of the EU Directive which establishes minimum rights for victims of crime in 27 Countries across
the European Union.
Following a two year stint leading a Justice and Home Affairs team in a European Consultancy,
Levent returned to the victims world in 2014 as Executive Directive of Victim Support Europe. In
that role, he has been leading the organisation in its work helping to establish and improve victims’
rights and services across Europe and internationally.
Since the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, Levent has led VSE’s efforts to ensure the European
Union, the international community and national governments put in place victim oriented terrorism
responses. This work has included co-ordinating VSE’s international NGO responses after all recent
attacks in Europe, developing proposals and guidance for the EU and UN on legislative, policy and
practical measures to respond to the needs of victims of terrorism, supporting national governments
review their response capability, and assisting NGOs develop their capacity to support victims.
Levent has spoken at a range of conferences on terrorism including for the US based International
Leadership in Counter-terrorism Conference. He is also a member of a victim focus group for the
Northern Ireland police investigation – Operation Kenova – focused on alleged murders during the
Troubles.
Levent Altan
Executive Director
Victim Support Europe
3 | P a g e
Since 1 February 2016, Ms Astola is Director-General for Justice and Consumers at the European
Commission. The DG deals with civil justice, including contract and company law, criminal justice,
fundamental rights, including data protection and free movement, equality and consumer law and
policy.
Before joining the Commission, Ms Astola was Permanent Secretary of the Finnish Ministry of Justice,
with overall responsibility for both international and domestic law matters, including courts and
prisons. Prior to that, she headed units responsible for civil law and European law at the Department
of Legislation of the Ministry and has also worked for the Finnish Ministry of Finance and the Finnish
Foreign Trade Association.
On 22 March 2016 at the airport in Zaventem, Walter Benjamin is about to board to visit his daughter
when a suicide bomber blew himself up a few metres from him. Violently thrown back, he discovers
that he has lost one leg.
After lengthy months of hospitalisation, physiotherapy, and numerous operations, Walter Benjamin
must fight a daily struggle against his distress, black ideas, and learn to live in in a new body. Looking
for answers, he went to meet Molenbeek youngsters, in order to understand who they are. He also
regularly visits the department of the hospital where he was receiving treatment to bring hope and the
desire to fight to other patients with severe disabilities.
Walter Benjamin was born In Ixelles in 1968. He studied photography at the Academy of Arts in
Brussels. After having worked in the hotel industry, he founded together with a friend in 1995 a
matrimonial agency.
Tiina Astola
Director-General for Justice and Consumers
European Commission
Walter Benjamin
Author of the book ‘J'ai vu la mort en face’
4 | P a g e
Bianca Biwer, born 1975 in Fulda, has been in charge of WEISSER RING’s operational business since
2013.
Before, she gained professional experience as a lawyer in Great Britain, the USA and in Zagreb and
Sarajevo after the Balkan wars.
She worked in a leading position for the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce – the umbrella
organization of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHKs). She was then for seven years managing
director of IHK Rheinhessen.
Bianca Biwer
Managing director
Weisser Ring
5 | P a g e
Heather Cartwright
Director of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism
National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
Ms. Heather Cartwright is the Director of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism
(OVT) in the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. OVT provides support
to U.S. citizen victims of overseas terrorism by helping them navigate foreign criminal justice
systems and by advocating for their voices to be heard around the world. Prior to that position, Ms.
Cartwright spent 17 years in the Department of Justice in various capacities including: Chief of the
Victim Witness Assistance Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia where
she managed the largest prosecution-based victim assistance program in the federal court system;
Federal Division Director at the Office for Victims of Crime where she developed policy and
managed grants for federal victim programs; and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of
Columbia where she prosecuted violent crimes in the local and federal courts. Ms. Cartwright
received both her Undergraduate and Law Degrees from the University of Illinois in Champaign,
Illinois.
On November 3, 2017, the American Bar Association awarded Ms. Cartwright its Frank Carrington
Crime Victims’ Rights Attorney Award for her leadership in the advancement of the rights of crime
victims and contributions over the course of her career to improve the rights of crime victims in the
criminal justice system.
6 | P a g e
Based in Brussels, Elizabeth is former diplomat, accomplished government and public affairs
professional with an excellent EMEIA stakeholder network. In her role she engages with regulators and
public policy makers. Elizabeth has deep knowledge about Corporate Governance, Financial and
Professional Services, bringing representatives from the public and private sector together to collaborate
on possible solutions to enhance growth and competitive advantage. Elizabeth holds an M.A. in
International Relations from Westminster University. In 2014, she was awarded an Hungarian Gold
Cross of Merit (HCM) for strengthening bilateral business relations.
Elizabeth Krahulecz
Director
Head of EMEIA Regulatory & Public Policy Brussels Office
7 | P a g e
Joëlle Milquet is a graduate in Law from the Université catholique de Louvain and has a LLM in
European Law from the Europa Instituut-Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Between 1985 and 1992, she was a lawyer of the Brussels Bar. She worked also as an auxiliary clerk to
the Belgian judge at the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg.
Between 1987 and 1992, she was a parliamentary assistant, political secretary of the PSC group in the
Senate and assistant to the Minister of Education.
In February 1995, she became the political secretary of the party PSC before being elected Senator in
June 1995, when she chaired the Senate Committee on Internal Affairs.
Between 1995 and 1999, she became the Vice President of the PSC and was elected in October 1999
President of the political party and she organised the rebranding of the PSC to “cdH” where she served
as President from 1999 to 2011.
From 2008 to 2011, Joëlle Milquet was Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Employment, from 2011 to
2014, Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs and finally from 2014 to 2016, Minister for
Education and Culture.
She is currently Member of Parliament, lawyer of the Brussels bar, special adviser to the President of the
European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker for the compensation of the victims of crime and local
councillor in the Brussels-City.
Joëlle Milquet
Member of Parliament -
Special adviser to the President of the European Commission for the
compensation of the victims of crime
8 | P a g e
Dr R. Nehama Masri is 70 years old and doctor specialising in psychiatry.
Cash not Ex-professor of Psychiatry at the Complutense University of Madrid.
Guidance analítico-existencial psychotherapist.
Training in Family Therapy Systemic.
Since the 90s, particularly active in the field of psicotraumatología and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2000, the founder and first secretary of the Sociedad Española de Psicotraumatología and