Fernando Sihotang

Fernando is a human rights researcher at the Office for Research and Development Affairs of Kelompok Perlita Sejahtera (KPS). KPS is an NGO based in Medan that carries out education and advocacy around labour issues to educate and empower communities, especially workers. As a researcher, Fernando collects and analyses data for KPS and produces reports in Bahasa Indonesia and English in order to communicate the findings to the international community. Fernando was the recipient of an internship programme at the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva where he carried out advocacy work on the Universal Periodic Reviews of the UN Human Rights Council and some UN Treaty Bodies meetings. He is now researching human rights violations in the oil palm industry in the northern part of Sumatera which includes violation of labor rights, discrimination against women and children, food security issues, issues on indigenous lands and deforestation. He hopes to learn more about the UN Framework for Business and Human Rights, the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework, and other areas of strategic advocacy including international engagement on the protection of human rights in business sector.