Fellows Spotlight

Emilie Palamy Pradichit developed Manushya (Manushya means “Human Being” in Sanskrit) as an Intersectional Feminist organization reinforcing the power of Humans, in particular local communities and women human rights defenders, so they can fight for their Rights, Equality, and Justice. Emilie is an international human rights lawyer specialized in access to justice for marginalized communities.

Growing up as a Lao refugee in the disenfranchised suburbs of Paris, 'la Banlieue', her family having fled there from Laos, she experienced first-hand the negative impacts of injustice, racism, discrimination, exclusion, inequalities, and inequities. The challenges she encountered during her childhood, education, and life, rooted her passion to fight for equality for all, social justice, and the right of local communities to be treated as Equal Human Beings, to be heard, and to be at the heart of legislative and political decision-making processes that affect them, nothing less. She became an international human rights lawyer, proud of where she came from, with expertise in promoting and protecting the human rights of marginalized communities, and in holding governments and businesses accountable for their human rights abuses and violations.

Prior to founding Manushya, Emilie was the Regional Director of UPR-Info Asia and served as a Human Rights and Advocacy Officer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in New York and Bangkok. She also worked for Transparency International Thailand and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris.

Emilie holds a Master of Laws in Public International Law and a Postgraduate Law Degree in International Administration, both from the Sorbonne Law School, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.