About Us

Stephen Goose

Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch's arms division and a general expert on arms, has been at the forefront of international efforts to address the humanitarian dangers of cluster munitions, helping to bring about the Convention on Cluster Munitions agreed in Dublin in May 2008. Goose and Human Rights Watch were instrumental in bringing about the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, the 1995 protocol banning blinding lasers, the 2003 protocol on explosive remnants of war, and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. He and Human Rights Watch co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1993, Goose was a staff member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and a researcher at the Center for Defense Information. He has a master's degree in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in History from Vanderbilt University.

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Language: English

Katherine Harrison

Katherine Harrison is Policy and Research Manager with Action on Armed Violence (AOAV, formerly Landmine Action). Since 2006 Harrison has monitored the Oslo Process and negotiations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, as well as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings and other disarmament fora at the UN. She has been actively involved in Monitor publications since 2008, with a current emphasis on research for Europe and francophone Africa.

In her capacity with AOAV, Harrison also focuses on policy and research on the issue of the humanitarian harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and is an acting representative of AOAV as a founding member of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW). She has previously worked for the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva, the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and has a degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago.

Location: London, United Kingdom
Language: English

Mark Hiznay

Mark Hiznay has worked with Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor since January 2000.

Location: Washington, DC, USA
Language: English

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan

Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan has lived and worked in a dozen countries, spending most of his adult life in Southeast Asia. In 1995 he co-founded the Thailand Campaign to Ban Landmines. He has been involved in Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor since its inception in 1998, first as the researcher for Burma/Myanmar. Since 2005 Moser-Puangsuwan has worked with Mines Action Canada as the Research Coordinator for Non-State Armed Groups. Moser-Puangsuwan also conducts research on mine ban policy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Location: Victoria, Canada
Languages: English, Thai

Mary Wareham

Mary Wareham has served as senior advisor to the Human Rights Watch Arms Division since July 2008, leading Human Rights Watch’s campaign to convince governments to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. She has also coordinated the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition since its inception.

From 2006 until June 2008, Wareham was advocacy director of Oxfam New Zealand. Before that she worked for Human Rights Watch’s Arms Division from 1998-2006, coordinating the highly acclaimed Landmine Monitor (now Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor) research initiative to verify compliance and implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. In 1996-1997, Wareham worked for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation in Washington DC, helping Jody Williams (1997 Nobel Peace Laureate) to spearhead the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), the movement that was instrumental in securing the international treaty prohibiting antipersonnel mines.

Wareham has produced an award-winning feature-length documentary film on landmines entitled Disarm (2005). She is co-editor of the 2008 book Banning Landmines: Disarmament, Citizen Diplomacy, and Human Security, together with Jody Williams and Stephen Goose. In 2007, Wareham was appointed to the Public Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament. She received a Masters of Arts (with distinction) from Victoria University of Wellington in 1995.

Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Language: English

Kate Castenson

Kate Castenson graduated summa cum laude from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in international relations, with a focus on Latin America. Her honors senior thesis discussed the U.S. military’s expanded role in permissive environments. During college, she participated in a human rights program in Buenos Aires and volunteered with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo – Línea Fundadora. Kate combined her interests in security and human rights the following semester with an internship with the Security Program at the Washington Office on Latin America. She also has experience as an intern with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) in the Western Hemisphere Affairs office.

Languages: English, Spanish