Yacine Rezki
President

I am Geneva tax lawyer practicing in the fields of national and international taxation. I had the opportunity to represent and advise multinationals in international taxation issues. Before that, I started my career as a teaching assistant in tax and international tax law at the University of Geneva under the supervision of Professor Xavier Oberson.

Probably due to my Algerian origins, I’ve always had trouble understanding why I was so lucky to be born in a rich country such as Switzerland while my cousins were struggling to make it in Algeria. I was determined to fight against social and economic injustices between developed and developing countries. It could be hard to understand how I ended up being a tax lawyer.

Today, I think I have finally connected the dots.

Through my experiences, I realized that small changes in the international tax system could break the economic inequalities between Northern and Southern countries. Since then, I am obsessed by the idea of promoting a fair tax system.

Tax law could become the most efficient tool to help reducing the world inequalities. I am therefore determined to use my experience and time to promote this idea.

Sonya Figueredo
Vice-president

The sense of Justice that has animated me since my early childhood has always guided my choices not only in my private life but also in my professional life. Reason why I decided to dedicate myself to the Law and its struggles in the name of Justice. I had the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Law in Geneva, where I obtained my Lawyer's Certificate. For several years I have been practicing as a lawyer specializing in tax law in two of the most renowned law firms in Switzerland.

My legal training and my various professional experiences, particularly in the field of international taxation, have made me realize that the law defends a relative justice, conceived by and for the most powerful.

This reality stimulates me to commit myself concretely, not only as a lawyer but above all as a citizen and a mother who dreams of universal justice for us and our children. I am convinced that the Fair Trade Tax project will enable us to live up to our convictions and to bring us in line with a fairer international tax system that allows for a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Inès Rezki 
Community Manager

I chose to study law very early in my life, because I’ve always felt this strong sense of justice. I couldn’t name it, but I knew something had to be done.

As a second year law bachelor student, I first tried to express myself and my ideas through rhetoric, therefore competing in a lot of verbal jousting, and involving myself in the Geneva Debating Club.

But I quickly realised that talking without purpose is meaningless, and that I had to bring this strong desire to fight against socio-economical injustices back into my speeches, into my studies and into my life. I firmly believe that something has to be done from the soil, so that the tree of equality can finally grow, and that the Fair Trade Tax Project is the roots of it.

Dominika Bednarova 
Communication Manager 

My academic background and professional experience are predominantly guided by the desire to alleviate human suffering. With Master degree in Humanitarian Action and Human rights from SciencesPo Paris, and work experience with international NGOs, I profoundly believe in and celebrate the human dignity and resilience, which is so inherent to every single human being. It is this deep belief and trust in human potential, that makes me want to work and support the Fair Trade Tax movement.

In the past years, facing human misery in many countries of the Global South, I saw that poverty is rarely the fault of the poor. It is rather a consequence of the system we live in. While I don’t have a legal or financial background, the Fair Trade Tax vision is close to my own belief, that the change of the lives of millions of poor in this world is possible. It is possible if only we can change the system that created poverty in the first place.

Camille Tistounet
Treasurer

Camille Tistounet is an associate in our Corporate/M&A and Banking team at Walder Wyss, Geneva. She advises Swiss and foreign companies, banks, and financial institutions, on transactions and corporate law matters, as well as on regulatory aspects related to their activities.

Camille Tistounet studied at the University of Geneva, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws (2017), a Certificate of Transnational Law (2018) and a Master of Economic Law (2019), the last semester of which she completed at the University of Sydney. She then obtained the Certificate of Advanced Legal Studies (Ecole d'avocature) at the University of Geneva (2019) and successfully sat the Geneva Bar Exam in October 2021. In parallel to her studies, Camille Tistounet was a member and the president of a student-held free legal clinic (PJE), the legal consultant of the International Finance Students' Association as well as a member of the committee of the European Law Students' Association. Furthermore, she interned at a prestigious law firm in London, as well as in the legal department of a bank in Geneva and at a leading Venture Capital Fund in Stockholm.

Camille Tistounet works in French and English, and has a good command of German. Camille Tistounet is registered with the Geneva Bar.

Ludovic Boichat
Secretary

I describe myself as an Innovation Designer, meaning that I am constantly looking for new ideas of innovation applicable to various business fields.

During my professional journey, I studied various fields of expertise and went through multiple different experiences; from mechanical engineering through technical drawing, to Art and Game Design through video game conception, then to data analysis and business management through my project Ludens, whose goal was to understand the user experience (behavior and performance) of players in games.

My main objective is to bridge together multiple fields of expertise together to create impactful innovative changes based on design thinking, so when Yacine Rezki came to me for help with his idea of a time-based taxation approach, I first saw it as a brilliant idea as a concept and then I understood how this idea could change the social-economic relationship between exporting and importing countries.

I saw in this project a way to bring my past experiences in different fields to improve the initial concept but also to participate in an association that could use innovation as a whole to change things drastically.

Lilia Benkara
Marketing et podcast manager

The pursuit of justice has been my guiding light since childhood, propelling me into the realms of law and advocacy. As a multicultural person, I've witnessed first-hand the systemic inequalities that perpetuate global poverty. The Fair Trade Tax association resonates with my belief in transformative systemic change to uplift the marginalized.
With a background in international business and finance law, I've seen the Fair Trade Tax idea's potential for tax reform to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations.

Reinaldo Figueredo
Former Ministrer, Presidency and Foreign Affaires, Venezuela

Reinaldo Figueredo was Minister of the Presidency and Foreign Affaires of Venezuela from 1989 to 1991. He held the position of Senior Advisor to the Secretary General of UNCTAD and Director to the joint UNCTAD/UNDP Project on Globalisation, Liberalisation and Sustainable Human Development during the period 1999-2004. In parallel to his career as a governmental and international civil servant, he has presided over many international meetings, mainly in development issues and integration. He was the Representative of Venezuela to the OPEC Economic Committee. He has now retired from the UN and is presently an Associate Fellow at the Netherlands Clingendael Institute of International Relations - International Energy Programme.

JUDGE Fatsah Ouguergouz
FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN COURT OF HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS

Dr. Fatsah Ouguergouz, an Algerian and French national, is a consultant in international law and an independent arbitrator in commercial and investment arbitration, He has over 30 years of experience in international law, including more than 25 years of practice in international judicial matters, arbitration, mediation and conciliation.

He chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Burundi (2016-2018) established by the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva) and was United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi (2010-2011).

From 2006 to 2016, he was one of the first eleven judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Arusha, Tanzania), elected by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union; he served as Vice-President from 2012 to 2013.

Prior to his election to the African Court, Dr. Ouguergouz was Secretary of the International Court of Justice (The Hague) where he practiced for twelve years (1995-2006). Before joining the main judicial body of the United Nations, he was a legal officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (New York) (1992-1994), then a Human Rights Expert dispatched to Rwanda by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva) to investigate the genocide.

He is notably an Associate of the Institut de droit international (Geneva) and a member of the curatorium of the African Institute of International Law (Arusha); he is also a founding member and was Executive Director of the African Foundation for International Law (The Hague), as well as a former Associate Editor of the African Yearbook of International Law.

Dr. Ouguergouz taught public international law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva for four years (1989-1992). He was an Orville H. Schell Fellow at Yale Law School (New Haven, Connecticut, USA). He was also Father Robert F. Drinan Professor of Human Rights at Georgetown University Law Center (Washington D.C., USA) and Visiting Professor at the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II, France), at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). In 2018, he was Senior Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) for the preparation of the special course he gave at the Hague Academy of International Law in July of the same year.

Dr. Ouguergouz holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of Saint-Etienne (France) and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International Studies of Geneva (Switzerland); he is the author of numerous articles and books, including “L’Union africaine: cadre juridique et institutionnel – Manuel sur l’Organisation panafricaine” (co-edited with Abdulqawi Yusuf, Editions Pedone, Paris, 2013, 471 pages).

Fouad G. Sayegh
Attorney at Law Partner

Fouad Sayegh is a partner in the tax team. His expertise covers most aspects of domestic and international taxation. He regularly advises high net worth families in their relocation, wealth reorganization, asset protection, estate planning and charitable projects, which often includes tax advice in relation to trusts, private foundations and investment vehicles. In the field of corporate tax, his practice includes advising on M&A transactions, corporate reorganizations, double tax treaty applications and employee incentive plans, where negotiations with tax authorities may be required to secure tax rulings. He frequently represents clients in tax litigation and criminal tax proceedings.

Fouad Sayegh is a regular lecturer on various tax matters. He is listed by Chambers & Partners, Legal500, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal as a Tax and Private Client leading practitioner. Clients and market commentators praise him: “Fouad Sayegh is a very bright, smart tax lawyer, who has sound knowledge of the Swiss tax law and is very creative”.

Fouad Sayegh holds a law degree from the Geneva Law School and an LL.M. in International Taxation from New York University (NYU). Prior to joining Walder Wyss, he was a partner in another leading Swiss law firm. His work experience also includes positions in New York and Hong Kong. Fouad Sayegh served as an associate judge at the Administrative Tribunal of First Instance of Geneva (tax section).

Fouad Sayegh is fluent in French and English. He is registered with the Geneva Bar, and admitted to practice in all Switzerland, as well as in New York. He is a member of the Swiss Bar Association, the Geneva Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the International Fiscal Association, and the Swiss-China Chamber of Commerce.