News-prisoners' Rights Bios

"Prisoners' Rights to HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care"  - Speakers Bios
November 23, 2009

Ralf Jürgens
Ralf is one of the co-founders of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and was its Executive Director from 1998 to November 2004. Since December 2004, he has worked as a consultant on HIV/AIDS, health, policy and human rights in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Canada. In January 20010, he will join the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as Senior Advisor to the Fund's Executive Director, Michel Kazatchkine.

Ralf is a member of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights and in 2006 co-chaired the “Policy Track” of the International AIDS Conference. He is the author of many reports and more than 100 articles on legal, ethical and human rights issues related to HIV, including four papers in the Word Health Organization's “Evidence for Action” series on the evidence of interventions to address HIV in prisons.Ralf was the coordinator of Canada's Expert Committee on AIDS in Prisons and taught the first course on AIDS and the law ever to be offered at a Canadian university. In 2009, he was awarded the International Rolleston Award by the International Harm Reduction Association, in recognition of his work on the reduction of drug-related harm.

Ralf has a Master's Degree in Law from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and a doctorate in law from the University of Munich, Germany.

Jim Motherall
Jim is a prisoners' rights activist who has spoken internationally on the challenges and impacts of HIV, Hepatitis, and Tuberculosis on prisoners, and about the prison experience. During his own incarceration Jim formed the first Health Awareness Group within a prison to advocate for health care for prisoners, he ran a "Choosing health in Prisons" Program (CHIP) to educate prisoners about issues of health and stress, and how to survive prison, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.

Following his release, Jim has spoken at conferences locally, provincially, nationally and internationally regarding prisons, punishment and HIV among prison populations.

Richard Elliott
Richard joined the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network staff in January 1999 as Director of Policy and Research, following a one and a half-year term on its board of directors. He became Deputy Director in 2005, and Executive Director in 2007.

A lawyer by training, he has appeared before all levels of Ontario courts, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada. He has coordinated student legal aid clinic services for low-income people with HIV/AIDS, and served on the board of directors of the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic (Ontario), and the Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN). Between 2001 and 2007, he was a member of the Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS.

Richard is a founding member of the Global Treatment Access Group (GTAG), an affiliation of Canadian civil society organizations advocating for access to medicines and other aspects of the human right to health in developing countries.

Richard holds an undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and obtained his LL.B. and LL.M. from the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto. He was called to the bar in Ontario in 1997, and has authored numerous reports, papers and articles on the legal and human rights issues related to HIV/AIDS.