An Episcopal priest, Father Keith Roderick was a Cold War human rights activist on behalf of Soviet citizens facing religious persecution under Communist rule. A chance encounter with an Egyptian Muslim who faced death threats upon converting to Christianity awakened Roderick to the problem of religious persecution in the Muslim world. He now serves as Christian Solidarity International's Representative in Washington, D.C. Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is a Christian human rights organization for religious liberty helping victims of religious repression, victimized children and victims of disaster. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland but has office in several countries, including the U.S. www.csi-usa.org Father Roderick has served as Secretary General of the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR) since 1993. The Coalition is a consortium of over fifty-five organizations working together to champion the rights of minorities living in Islamic countries. Its primary focus is the condition of religious minorities living in Islamic countries. Members of the Coalition include Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Assyrians, Armenians, Bahai, Copts, Lebanese, Indonesians, Iranians, Pakistanis, Indians, Sudanese, Nigerians, and others. Father Roderick has testified to the Senate and House of Representatives on the issue of religious freedom and human rights concerns of non-Muslim minorities in Islamic countries. www.dhimmi.com He is an Episcopal priest of the Diocese of Quincy, serving as the only Canon for Persecuted Christians in the Episcopal Church. Father Roderick also serves as Executive Director of the Sudan Campaign and was one of the organizers of daily demonstrations at the Sudan embassy in protest of slavery and genocide in Sudan in 2004. Father Roderick and his wife, Mary Beth, have six children, Seth, Micah, Noah, Sarah, Joseph and Susannah. Formerly he was the Director of Spoon River College in Macomb, Illinois and taught religion and philosophy for fifteen years. He founded the Society of St. Stephen in 1982 that worked on behalf of religious prisoners of conscience and their families in the former Soviet Union. He served as the Co-Director of the International Task Force, formerly The Task Force on Soviet Jewry. Education 1996 - Doctor of Divinity, Faith Theological Seminary, Gujranwala, Pakistan 1986 - Certificate for Post-Graduate Studies, Nashotah House, Delafield, WI 1980 - Master of Divinity, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA 1976 - Bachelor of Arts, University of Illinois - Springfield, Springfield, IL
Middle East Regional Coordinator
Amin Nehme
Mr. Nehme has successfully combined his business knowledge and his interest in the social service field and made of this marriage a profitable consultancy. Owner of ServiLine Ltd., a marketing management agency established in 1997, recognized in offering business development programs to small and middle enterprises (SMEs), he is founder and president of LDN - Lebanese Development Network, which provides capacity building strategies to the non-profit sector. He graduated from the American University of Beirut (AUB) with a BA in political science, later joined the Lebanese American University (LAU) in order to acquire a BS in marketing, and received his MBA in international affairs and diplomacy from Notre Dame University (NDU). He started his career as a sales manager at the Middle East Cement Factory, then as a marketing manager with the Middle East Dental Corporation, a 3M-Unitek dealer. In 2006, he successfully completed a professional development program in leadership simulation, "The Strategic Leadership Simulation - Mobilizing People and Organizations," which adopts the leadership paradigms published by Harvard University scholars and was offered by Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership (CIGL). Between 2001 and 2006, Mr. Nehme served as the International Program Coordinator for Auxilia. He has been the Program Developer for the Lebanese Emigration Research Center (LERC) at Notre Dame University for the last two years; as well as the Middle East Regional Coordinator for the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), a Washington, DC based organization. In 2007, Mr. Nehme was selected to be the Program Developer of the Lebanon Education Aid Fund (LEAF) - the development organization of the General Secretariat of the Catholic Schools in Lebanon.
Middle East Regional Assistant
Jean-Pierre Katrib
Mr. Katrib holds an M.A. in Political Sociology from the Lebanese University and an M.A. in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Malta and the National University of Ireland, Galway. Since 2001 he has been volunteering at the Foundation for Human & Humanitarian Rights, an independent, non-governmental organization in Lebanon, where he is active in both human rights advocacy and education. In 2005, Mr. Katrib co-founded along with several political and independent activists, Alliance Loubnanouna (Our Lebanon), which is a center advocating scholarly research and informed debate on federalism for Lebanon. He lectured at universities, schools, and various social clubs on human rights and democratization issues in the Middle East, federalism and diversity, globalization, citizenship, good governance, and the rights of the child. In addition, he has written several reports and articles for bulletins, newspapers and web portals on topics pertinent to the political sociology of Lebanon, federalism, human rights and international humanitarian law. Mr. Katrib is currently working as an analyst at a Beirut-based political communication agency.
