Leadership
Dr. Janet E. Buckingham - Director of Global Advocacy
Dr. Janet E. Buckingham is the Director of Global Advocacy for the World Evangelical Alliance since July 2021. She is also the Executive Editor of the International Journal for Religious Freedom, the flagship publication of the International Institute for Religious Freedom. Dr. Buckingham is a Professor of Political Studies at Trinity Western University with a research focus on religious freedom law in Canada and internationally. She is also the Co-Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom (Vancouver). She has a doctorate in Public Law from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Gaetan Roy - WEA Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva
Gaetan Roy is Chairman of network-m, Board member of the Association of Evangelical Missions (AEM), and represents both in the German and European Parliaments. He has extensive experience in international humanitarian aid and advocacy. He is also Missions Director of the Evangelical church Jugend-, Missions- und Sozialwerk (JMS) in Germany and leads the Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Initiative of the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (pard.international). Since 2022, he also serves as the WEA Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.
Wissam al-Saliby - Director of WEA Geneva Office
Wissam al-Saliby is Lebanese. He holds a master degree in international law from the Universty of Aix-Marseille, France. In February 2013, he moved from a career in human rights advocacy and education to ministry by taking on the position of Development and Partner Relations Manager at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) in Lebanon. In 2018, he reconnected with his human rights law education and experience by joining the World Evangelical Alliance in Geneva as United Nations Advocacy Officer. Since September 2022, he also serves as the Director of WEA Geneva Office.
Albert Hengelaar - WEA UN Geneva Advocacy Officer
Albert Hengelaar (1952) from the Netherlands spent his professional career until 2009 as a CEO of a Christian charity in the Netherlands, pioneering high degrees of partner project ownership. This concerned mainly evangelical church denominations in Africa and Asia. All of this triggered his interest in the value of churches for society. He serves as advocacy officer to the UN in Geneva.
Matthias K. Boehning - WEA Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Bonn
Matthias K. Boehning serves as Co-Director of the World Evangelical Alliance Sustainability Center and Permanent Representative of the WEA to the United Nations in Bonn, Germany. Matthias is also the Chief Diplomat for the Secretary General of the WEA. He has an academic background in development economics and business administration and has studied in Hohenheim, Germany, and Stellenbosch, South Africa. He has worked in different positions in international cooperation in Europe and Africa over the past decade.
John J. Girgis - WEA Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York
Born in Egypt, John is an American businessman with extensive multicultural experience as an international businessman and local church leader. He started a career in the energy business which gave him the opportunity to work, live and travel broadly meeting and working with many cultures and nationalities. He was part of starting an international church (Jakarta International Christian Fellowship) with over 30 nationalities from many religious backgrounds. John serves as the permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.