The Chair of the Rainforest Tribunal
Kaspar Müller — President
Economist and friend of Bruno Manser
Kaspar Müller is an economist and was formerly, among other things, President of the Ethos Foundation in Geneva and Chairman of responsAbility Investments AG in Zurich. Today, he is president of the 5R-Saint-Ursanne Foundation for the Circular Economy. As a friend and representative of Bruno Manser's heirs, he has been involved for many years with the concerns of the lost environmentalist.
«Human rights protect people — but only, if these rights are defended with commitment. Worldwide.»
The Jury of the Rainforest Tribunal
Cynthia Gabriel — Chair of the Jury
Lawyer and anti-corruption expert
Cynthia Gabriel, Founding Director of the Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center) in Kuala Lumpur, is a trailblazer and key advocate of human rights and good governance in Malaysia. She has degrees in both science and law. She is a member of the Global Future Councils Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and was conferred the prestigious global "Anti Corruption Champions Award" by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in 2022.
«It was a hard fought seven years that finally saw a historic and unprecedented jailing of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister for a 1MDB related offence.»
James Bujang
Penan activist, Miri, Sarawak
James Bujang is an employee of the Penan self-help organization Keruan and supports the communities in remote rainforest areas through projects in the areas of infrastructure, education and agriculture.
He was born in the jungle near Long Sabai and experienced the nomadic Penan way of life in his childhood and youth. James Bujang draws his daily motivation from the certainty that his work brings concrete improvements for the Penan, who are severely affected by deforestation.
Nina Burri
Lawyer and expert on business and human rights at HEKS, Zurich
Nina Burri, who holds a doctorate in law, investigates and documents human rights violations and regularly advises NGOs and authorities. Her main areas of expertise are international criminal law, international human rights protection and corporate responsibility. In addition to her work with the aid organization HEKS, she is a consultant with the Zurich law firm RISE Attorneys at Law. Previously, Nina Burri worked as an assistant state attorney at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, at various law enforcement agencies in the Canton of Zurich, and at the Institute for International Law and Foreign Constitutional Law at the University of Zurich.
Voon Shiak Ni
Lawyer, Kuching, Sarawak
Voon Shiak Ni has been a practising lawyer in Kuching, Sarawak, since 2001, specializing in public law, and has been involved in a variety of cases for the human rights movement and Indigenous rights. She is the founder of SN Voon & Associates, Advocates. The firm is proud to have represented the Penan and Berawan communities in the Mulu land rights case, in which two leases for oil palm plantations covering more than 4000 hectares of land adjacent to Gunung Mulu National Park were revoked. Thus, the integrity and the Outstanding Universal Value of the UNESCO World Heritage Site with its unique nature, ecosystem and landscape could be protected.
Joe Lamb
Writer, activist and arborist, Berkeley, California
Joe Lamb is a writer, activist, and arborist living in Berkeley, California. His poetry and essays have appeared in Earth Island Journal, The Sun, Caliban, Wind, Orion, and other magazines. Joe holds degrees in biology, ecology, and film. He has taught biology and ecology in the United States and in Mexico. He worked as a field organizer on the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, and as a film distributor for The Video Project. Joe founded The Borneo Project, an NGO that has worked to promote Indigenous rights and rainforest protection for over 30 years.
Harrison Ngau Laing
Land rights lawyer and former Member of Parliament, Miri, Sarawak
Harrison was born and brought up in the Kayan longhouse of Kampung Long Kesseh in middle Baram, Sarawak. Harrison has been involved in defending native lands since 1975 after logging encroached onto the ancestral land of his longhouse, destroying the forest and polluting the rivers. He worked with Friends of the Earth (Sahabat Alam Malaysia/SAM) from 1981 to 1990 as director for Sarawak during which time SAM was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) for its work in Sarawak. In 1990, he was personally conferred the Goldman Environmental Prize. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the Baram Parliamentary Constituency from 1990 to 1995. In 2001, he started legal practice and has defended numerous native customary land, environmental and human rights cases since. Though operating from the town of Miri, he still regularly returns to his longhouse and actively continues the farming, hunting, fishing and gathering of forest produce.
Charlie Holt
Lawyer, Greenpeace legal advisor, London
Charlie Holt advises on legal strategy for Greenpeace International, where he leads the organisation’s SLAPP resilience strategy and sits on the European Commission’s Expert Group on SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). He sits on the Steering Committee of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and co-chairs the UK Working Group on SLAPPs. Since 2016, Charlie has advised on the response of Greenpeace International to two aggressive large-scale SLAPPs targeting Greenpeace entities in the USA, and in 2018 helped to set up the US anti-SLAPP coalition Protect the Protest. Charlie previously advised on campaign strategy for the free speech organisation English PEN and now works part-time with Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef) to build support for climate activists facing SLAPPs and other legal threats.