
YOUNG JUSTICE LEADERS
The Young Justice Leaders is a cohort of youth change makers from around the world working to achieve people-centered justice for all. Selected in February 2022, the inaugural cohort of seven Young Justice Leaders has committed to representing young innovative voices to influence international dialogues and research around justice. Over the course of two-years, their efforts will lead them to the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit in which SDG 16+ Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies will be a focal point of discussion. Through both their individual and collective efforts, the Young Justice Leaders demonstrate that achieving people-centered justice is not only feasible, but already taking place in many parts of the world.
The Young Justice Leaders engage closely with the Justice Action Coalition with the support of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies, which acts as the secretariat for both the Justice Action Coalition and the Young Justice Leaders.
FOCUS AREAS
Mainstream
People-Centered
Justice
Increase Access to Justice Data and Promote Data Justice
Increase Financing for People-Centered Justice
Reimagine Youth Justice
Engage with Dispute Resolution and Informal Justice
ACTIVITIES
Content Production for the General Public
National and Regional Research
Creating Spaces for Discourse and Co-Creation
Supporting Youth Leaders on Justice Advocacy
YOUNG JUSTICE LEADERS in ACTION
OUR
WORKPLAN
NEWS
UPCOMING
EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
MEET THE YOUNG JUSTICE LEADERS
Amoding Agnes Cynthia
She/Her
Uganda
@AgnesCynthia97
Amoding Agnes Cynthia is a 24 year old female lawyer currently enrolled at the Law Development Centre studying the bar course in Uganda. She recently completed her Law Degree at Makerere University, a Next Generation Fellow at the United Nations Foundation who was invited by the UN Secretary General to be a consultant for the Our Common Agenda Report and Our Future Agenda.
Cynthia is a feminist leader former who has served as Guild Representative Councillor for Students with disability at Makerere University in the 85th Guild and currently the Deputy Chairperson at the Mastercard foundation alumni at Brac Uganda.
She is a Philanthropist thus Founder and Director of a youth led organization Focus on The African Child (FOAC) focusing at empowering girls keep in school through avoiding Teenage Pregnancies and teaching how to make Reusable Sanitary Towels and enhance proper menstrual hygiene management.
She is a social Justice activist who has volunteered with legal aid service providers Organisations like Justice Centres Uganda, Legal Aid Service Providers Network, and Public Interest Law Clinic Makerere among others. While at PILAC, Cynthia was awarded with an accolade as the most outstanding volunteer in the dispensation of social justice in the year 2019/2020.

Gülşen Güler
She/Her
United Kingdom
@GulsenGulerdl
Gülşen Güler is a UK based researcher and data literacy consultant who examines and reimagines the relationship between data, justice, society and power. Gülşen is also a trained social worker and has experience in the criminal justice system where her interest in data stems from. She witnessed the limitations and embedded biases in digital reporting systems as well as the real-world harm these have caused. Her lived experiences in this field inspired her to pursue a master's degree in communication studies where she specifically focused on data literacy and digital inclusion. Through her research, she brings an intersectional approach to data literacy to dismantle techno-deterministic narratives and challenge the dogmatic perceptions around data. Her work is informed by intersectional feminism, situated learning, and sociotechnical imaginaries. Gülşen was the 2021 UK delegate for Inclusive Digital Innovation and listed as a Data Changemaker for her outstanding work in the field.

Iliana Pujols
She/Her
United States
@ilianap_
As the current Policy Director of the Connecticut Justice Alliance, Iliana began her work with the Alliance in late 2017 as one of the founding members of their youth-adult partnership model, Justice Advisors. In July of 2018, Iliana joined the full-time staff of the Alliance and has since played a critical role in recruiting, training and supporting the Justice Advisors as well as determining the policies and practices of the organization's work. Iliana is a 2017-2019 Youth First Initiative's Youth Leaders Network Alum, a 2019 CT Public Allies Alum, and a 2019-2021 Annie E Casey Foundation Youth Advisory Council Alum and a 2021 World Congress on Justice with Children Child and Youth Advisory Group Alum. She also works as a Youth Consultant with the American Youth Policy Forum and is a full-time student pursuing a bachelor's degree. She is a frequent panelist for national organizations, speaking to her expertise around youth and young adult partnership and advocacy based on her personal experiences and professional success.

Kelechi Achinonu
She/Her
Nigeria
@kc_techlawyer
Kelechi Achinonu is a Nigerian lawyer who is passionate about the fusion of law and technology to provide access to justice for all. Her work as the Regional Head of The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), West Africa involves designing and implementing programmes to make justice user-friendly, contributing to HiLL’s mission of ensuring 150 million people are able to resolve their most pressing justice problems by 2030.
She trained as a software engineer and has led product development efforts at the foremost legal-tech company in Nigeria. The products she has built has made it easy for lawyers to have access to digitised law reports and judgements in Nigeria.
She is also the founder of Techlawyered; a media-tech platform that advocates for more tech inclusion in law and highlights profiles of builders in the justice ecosystem in Africa. She also leads Legal Hackers Lagos, a global movement of lawyers, policymakers, designers, technologists who develop creative solutions to the most pressing issues at the intersection of law & technology.
Kelechi is passionate about financing justice as it is only when these solutions are well-financed that they can scale to reach millions of people and grow to be sustainable businesses."

Shaneel Lal
They/Them
New Zealand
@shaneellall
Shaneel Shavneel Lal is iTaukei and Indian and identifies as vakasalewalewa and hijra. They are a member of the inaugural cohort of the Young Justice Leaders.
Lal is the founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group, a group that successfully advocated for the criminalization of conversion therapy in Aotearoa New Zealand. Lal is an executive board member of Rainbow Youth and Auckland Pride Festival and a trustee of Adhikaar Aotearoa, a non-profit charity that provides education, support and advocacy for queer South Asians.
Lal has served as an advisor to the New Zealand Minister of Education for three years and has sat on Amnesty International’s Youth Task Force. Lal has been Global Youth Leader for Open Government Partnership. Lal is a model, political commentator on queer and indigenous rights issues and a law and psychology student at the University of Auckland. Lal is a writer focusing on indigenous queerness.

Vino Lucero
He/Them
Philippines
@vinolucero
Vino Lucero is a journalist and freedom of information (FOI) advocate from the Philippines. They are the Digital Rights and Communications Manager of EngageMedia, an Asia-Pacific non-profit advocating for digital rights, open and secure technology, and video for change. They are also a contributing author for the book "Data Justice and COVID-19: Global Perspectives" published by Meatspace Press in London, UK back in 2020. They are also a fellow for the 2021 GIF-Article 19 Internet of Rights Fellowship, and the national researcher for the Philippines for the 2020-2021 Global Data Barometer.
Vino is also a member of the governance circle of Innovation for Change - East Asia, a non-profit organization supporting civil society initiatives in Southeast and Northeast Asia to defend, expand, and create civic spaces in the region. They are serving as part of the board from January 2022 to December 2023.

Alisa Jimenez
She/Her
United States
@alisa_j_
Alisa Jimenez is the convenor of the Young Justice Leaders. She’s led consultations, partnerships and campaigns alongside partners to build the movement for people-centered justice. She is dedicated to using the international space to elevate the voices and expertise of those are who are changing justice outcomes and systems for people and communities.
