Karin Ryan

Activist, Artist, Brainstormer, Change agent, Global soul, Idea generator, Musician, Parent, Producer, Writer/Editor

Karin Ryan is Senior Adviser for Human Rights and has been with The Carter Center since 1988. She works with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter on a wide-range of issues, including efforts on behalf of victims of human rights violations through their personal interventions with government leaders. She has represented the Center in many international negotiations, including the Beijing World Conference on Women, International Criminal Court, the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and the establishment of a U.N. Human Rights Council. She spearheaded ongoing human rights and extractive industry transparency programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well human rights projects in Israel and Palestine. Since 2003, Ryan has convened the Human Rights Defenders Policy Forum, which is chaired by President Carter; its aim is to support those on the frontlines of the struggle for human rights and democracy all over the world. The Forum has hosted eight gatherings on the world's most pressing human rights challenges, including the erosion of human rights resulting from the "war on terror", advancing the rule of law, among others. The current focus of the Forum is the “Mobilizing Action for Women and Girls” initiative, including the “Forum on Women, Religion, Violence and Power” website, which will serve as a vehicle for ongoing dialogue and collaboration among hundreds of activists, religious leaders and leading organizations. Ryan worked closely with President Carter on his bestselling book "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power" in which he offers his own startling assessment of various forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls worldwide. Ryan holds bachelor's degrees in political science from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and in contemporary writing and production from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Universal human rights and an end to war in my lifetime. My children. Music. Nature. Reading. Painting.

I believe we can shift military spending into real solutions in every sphere of human life on this planet. My goal is to help people shift from fear to confidence, from war to peace, from dehumanization to love.

Counter terrorism, Human Rights, Religion, sexual exploitation, war, militarism, and peace, Women, Peace and Security

I am attending because my boss and collaborator former President Jimmy Carter asked me to figure out how he and The Carter Center can help catalyze a new movement for the human rights of women and girls, including the right to global peace.

Singing and painting. Like Joni Mitchell (I wish).