Bella Hounakey is a Program Manager at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), under the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She has extensive experience in child welfare, migration policy, and program management, with a focus on the government, nonprofit, and international development sectors.

Prior to her role at ORR, Ms. Hounakey served as an Asylum Officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where she conducted asylum interviews and contributed to the adjudication of cases involving vulnerable populations. She has also worked on grassroots interventions, policy initiatives, and multilateral collaborations.

Ms. Hounakey is a recognized expert in human trafficking prevention and response. She has testified before the U.S. Congress, including the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability, offering insights on trafficking policy and survivor-informed solutions. Additionally, she has addressed the UK Parliament and spoken before the 45th President of the United States, contributing to high-level efforts to combat trafficking.

Ms. Hounakey holds both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University.

Dr. Mattar is a Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Law Clinic at Qatar University College of Law. Dr. Mattar’s professional expertise is in comparative and international law.  Recognized as an international expert on anti-trafficking legislation, Dr. Mattar has worked over 15 years in more than 75 countries, including countries in the Middle East, to promote state compliance with international human rights standards and to advise governments on drafting, and enforcing human rights laws. Dr. Mattar has testified in the United States on the status of human trafficking around the world at various Congressional Hearings. He also testified before the Russian Duma, the Mexican Senate, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Egyptian Parliament.

He was the Executive Director of The Protection Project of the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., from 2005 to 2014. In this role, he directed and supervised seven areas: Trafficking in Persons; Clinical Legal Education; Corporate Social Responsibility; Legal Reform; Promotion of Religious Dialogue; Enhancing Capacity of Civil Society; and Human Rights Education. He monitored, analyzed and reported on violations of human rights, conducted training and capacity building programs for NGOs, government officials and service providers, while working towards universal implementation of human rights.

He has taught at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. Dr. Mattar teaches courses on International Trafficking in Persons; Labor Law; Corporate Social Responsibility; International Contract Law; Investment and Trade Laws of the Middle East; Islamic Law; Introduction to the American Legal System; International Business and Human Rights; and Legal Ethics. His latest publications include Medical Liability for Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Human Experimentation: International Standards and Comparative Models from Arab Jurisdictions, International Annals of Criminology 2017.

Dr. Mattar is a consultant at The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where he advises on International and National Laws on Combating Trafficking in Persons, Legislative Drafting, Drafting of Strategies and Action Plans, Legal Aid, and Middle East Legal Systems.

Dr. Mattar received his Doctorate of Juridical Sciences (S.J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M) from Tulane University, his Master of Comparative Law (M.C.L.) from the University of Miami, and his License en Droit (LL.B.) from Alexandria University where he still serves as a non-resident distinguished professor of law.

Anna Y. Park is the Regional Attorney for the Los Angeles District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Ms. Park is one of fifteen Regional Attorneys tasked nationally to oversee and direct all employment discrimination litigation on behalf of the EEOC within the Office of General Counsel. Ms. Park’s vast region covers Central & Southern California, Nevada, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories which includes Guam, American Samoa, Wake Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands. She is the first AANHPI woman to hold this position.

Since joining the EEOC, Ms. Park has brought influential and innovative cases to advance the civil rights work of the EEOC. Ms. Park has been recognized for her work on groundbreaking cases like EEOC v. Trans Bay Steel and EEOC v. Global Horizons, et al., challenging labor trafficking as a civil rights violation under federal anti-discrimination laws. Notably, Global Horizons was the largest national origin/race discrimination case brought by the EEOC, garnering judgments and settlements exceeding $23 million on behalf of Thai farmworkers.

She has also brought significant cases on behalf of vulnerable populations spanning a myriad of industries, including agriculture, construction, trucking, gaming, entertainment, garment, hospitality, food and beverage, travel, and janitorial services. Recently, Ms. Park resolved the sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and related retaliation case against the video game giant Activision, et. al. for $18 million, the largest sexual harassment resolution the district has ever recovered.  The case of EEOC v. ABM Industries, Inc. et al., was featured on PBS’s Frontline: “Rape on the Night Shift,” which resolved for $5.8 million and was one of the first cases brought on behalf of women working in janitorial services by the EEOC. In 2020, she was the architect of the $10 million resolution with JPL for age discrimination.

Ms. Park is consulted as a subject matter expert within and outside of the EEOC on discrimination issues including human trafficking, intersection of employment and immigration laws, sexual harassment, and other complex employment discrimination issues. She also serves on numerous regional taskforces for human trafficking and is an active member of the White House Initiative on Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders Regional Network.