Secretariat
The Secretariat manages the daily business and operational activities of UPR Info. It implements its policies, runs its programmes and ensures a timely and efficient use of funds.
The Director of the Secretariat reports to UPR Info’s Executive Board on the implementation of the organisation’s strategy. She/He represents the organisation and, with the team, helps maintain and develop relations with partner stakeholders.
Mona M'Bikay – Executive Director
Mona M’Bikay is the Executive Director of UPR Info since September 2017.
For more than 20 years, she has gained extensive work experience in the field of justice, democratic governance, and human rights.
Before joining UPR Info, she worked for the Swiss Government (Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and UN agencies (UN OHCHR, Regional Office for Southern Africa, UNDP Bangladesh).
She provided technical assistance to various national stakeholders to support the implementation of programmes and projects in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. She also led capacity building projects in Southern Africa and Bangladesh.
She authored articles on human rights and their monitoring mechanisms, and also supervised several research projects. Her specific areas of expertise include results-based management, organisational development, human rights, rule of law, democratic governance, sustainable development, and gender equality.
Mona M’Bikay holds a Law degree from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, a Master’s degree in International Studies with specialisation in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, a Postgraduate Certificate in Conflict Resolution Skills from the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies at Coventry University, United Kingdom, and a Diploma in Sustainable Development and Human Rights from the Human Rights Centre, University for Peace, San Jose, Costa Rica.
She is fluent in French and English and has a good knowledge of Dutch and German.
She is a passionate runner and mother of two children.
Daniel Müller – Finance Manager
Daniel is the Finance Manager of UPR Info since July 2022.
He is an experienced accountant whose progressive career has focused on NGO accounting, trustee, and audit work. Daniel has experience in the private, public, and NGO sectors.
Before joining UPR Info, he worked at DCAF, the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance, where he was responsible for the entire accounting of the Swiss Foundation with a team of 2 accountants, reporting to the Director. His achievements include the introduction of DCAF’s internal control system (ICS), the switch from limited to ordinary audits, and the implementation of the year-end closing of Swiss GAAP.
Daniel speaks English, French, German, Spanish and some Italian.
He enjoys walks, audiobooks and football.
Nicoletta Zappile – Programme Manager
Nicoletta joined UPR Info in July 2018 as Programme Manager. Prior to that, she worked as Project Officer for the ICJ Global Redress and Accountability Initiative for gross human rights violations (2017-2018), and at the International Commission of Jurists as Development Officer (2013-2018). She started her career as a journalist and Digital Editor for The Global Journal, a media start-up focused on international affairs based in Geneva.
Nicoletta holds a LL.M. in International Humanitarian Law from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and a MAS in International Relations with specialisation in international law from the University of Florence. She speaks Italian, English and French.
João Rebelo – Programme Manager
João Rebelo has been part of the UPR Info team since 2021 and currently works as a Programme Manager in the Policy and Advocacy Programme (PAP). Before joining UPR Info, he worked in both non-profit and public sectors, such as the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Switzerland and abroad. His professional path has led him to work on issues related to human rights, conflict prevention/resolution, and sustainable peacekeeping – among others.
João holds a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in European Studies. He is bilingual in Portuguese and French, speaks English fluently, and has a good command of German and a good knowledge of Spanish.
Nargiz Arupova – Programme Manager
Nargiz joined UPR Info in July 2017 as Programme Manager. She has worked extensively in the area of international human rights, development and rule of law.
Prior to joining UPR Info, she worked for the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance, DCAF, where she contributed to monitoring the capacity building of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and to enhancing the good practices of parliamentary oversight of the security sector. She has also gathered professional experience within the Geneva Infant Feeding Association and the International Institute for Humanitarian Law.
Nargiz holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University and an LL.B. in European Law from Maastricht University. She is fluent in Russian, French, English and has a good knowledge of German.
Laura Sinner – Programme Officer
Laura joined UPR Info in January 2018. In her role as Programme Officer, she is now working for the In-country Programme (ICP). She holds a B.A in International Relations and a M.A in European Studies from the University of Geneva with specialisation in Economics and Politics. Prior to joining UPR Info, she worked at the Zurich-based think tank Avenir Suisse where she assisted in communications, translation, logistics, and research on Swiss social and economic policies.
She is particularly interested in parliamentary oversight of the respect of human rights. Laura speaks fluently French, English, and German and has basic knowledge of Portuguese, Albanian and Russian.
Claudia Caicedo – Programme Manager
Claudia joined UPR Info in August 2020 as Programme Manager (a.i) of the Pre-Sessions Programme. Since November 2020, she is responsible for the Digital Innovation and Knowledge Management (DIKM) Programme. She has professional experience in the field of conflict transformation in Colombia, Spain, Switzerland, Equator, and Bolivia, especially in interpersonal, family, and communitarian conflicts. Her expertise includes a human rights- and gender-based approach applied to public policy implementation, and the mainstreaming of both perspectives in specific projects and programs of UN agencies (UNFPA, UNDP).
With strong facilitating, training, and teaching skills in the area of human rights, gender, development, and peace studies, she has worked as visiting professor in universities in Colombia and Spain. Since 2011, she is also Collaborating Lecturer at the online Open University of Catalunya- UOC (Spain).
Claudia holds a Law degree (Colombia), a Master’s degree in Political Studies from the Javeriana University (Colombia), a Master’s degree in Human Rights from the University Carlos III (Spain), and a Ph.D. in International Studies in Peace, Conflict, and Development from the University Jaume I (Spain).
She speaks Spanish, French, and English.