Draft:Shamira Sooklal

Shamira Sooklal is an attorney-at-law in Trinidad and Tobago, who advocates for human rights, gender equality and social justice.

Education
Sooklal is a graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School located in St. Augustine, Trinidad. She was placed on the Principal's Honor Roll upon graduating. This distinction is awarded to students who achieve high academic standards at the law school by attaining at least six "A" grades or more out of the 11 courses.

Career
Sooklal collaborates with various legal professionals in Trinidad and Tobago and provides free legal advice to victims of domestic and sexual violence. She has been involved in various legal cases and advocacy efforts aimed at promoting equality and justice, particularly for marginalized communities. She has been active in raising awareness about issues such as gender-based violence, discrimination and access to justice. Her work has earned her recognition both locally and internationally as a dedicated advocate for human rights and social change.

She is an activist involved in advocating for legal reforms and providing support for victims of cyberbullying and sexual harassment in Trinidad and Tobago. She is associated with The Humanitarian Foundation for Positive Social Change, a non-profit organization that as worked on addressing the issue of sex predator networks in the Caribbean region. Sooklal's efforts include helping numerous victims of child pornography and non-consensual intimate image sharing (NCII) through legal support and working with law enforcement authorities to improve their handling of such cases. In April 2024, the High Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling in a constitutional motion filed by The Humanitarian Foundation for Positive Social Change regarding the government's failure to properly investigate reports of criminal offenses against victims of online predators.

In addition to her efforts, she has also worked alongside Meta Platforms Inc., in particular its office situated in Mexico and which oversees the use of the popular social media platform in the Latin American and Caribbean region, where she has highlighted various social media safety issues faced by minors and adults in Trinidad and Tobago and she also provided recommendations to the social media company on strengthening the safety of its online platforms to protect her people from online crimes and to ensure sufficient preventative measures are undertaken by the company in relation to such. The company has since considered her concerns that she raised and her efforts to curb online offences and it eventually made changes to its platform and community guidelines by implementing additional safety features to protect minors and the LGBTQ+ community online.

She has volunteered across many non-profit organizations as an advocate, including serving as a facilitator for the First Time Last Time programme hosted by The Coalition Against Domestic Violence in the year 2021.

She was employed at the Legal Aid Clinic of the Hugh Wooding Law School for a period of one (1) year and she is presently employed as a State Attorney and continues to dedicate her expertise to serving the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.