IPEN General Assembly Elects New Co-Chair Gohar Khojayan of Armenia

Gohar Khojayan of the Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE), a seasoned environmental health advocate with over thirty years of work for strong policies on chemicals and waste, has been elected as IPEN Co-Chair, the key leadership position in the global network. Gohar will share chairing responsibilities with Co-Chair Yuyun Ismawati of the Indonesian NGO Nexus3, as Pamela Miller of Alaska Community Action on Toxics steps down after serving two terms as Co-chair. 

IPEN, a network of over 600 public interest environmental health groups in more than 130 countries, works to eliminate threats to health and the environment from the world’s most harmful chemicals, aiming for a healthy, toxics-free future for all. 

Starting as an English teacher for children in Yerevan, Armenia, and abroad, Gohar has worked in the public, development, and non-profit sectors throughout her career. In 2011, she joined AWHHE as Communication Specialist to participate in the national environmental movement, through which she became active in IPEN.

“AWHHE’s vision of ‘Healthy Environments for our Children, Healthy Generation for Armenia’ blends perfectly with IPEN’s mission,” Gohar said. “This resonates with my personal passion, my hope for the future. As IPEN’s Co-chair, I will put all my team-building, networking, and communication skills to bear to help preserve the beautiful organizational culture which the IPEN Network has managed to build over the years.”

“Gohar has the passion, skills, and energy to help lead IPEN in this critical time, and I am looking forward to working with her as IPEN’s Co-chairs”, said Ismawati. “Plastics and chemicals create global threats to our health and the healthy environments we deserve. With Gohar’s experience and commitment, I am confident she will bring new energy to IPEN’s network and help forge pathways to a healthier future for all.”

Gohar has served as an IPEN Steering Committee member and a key voice in IPEN’s participation in the Plastics Treaty talks, among other leadership roles. She is active in working for women’s rights and furthering awareness of the links between chemical safety and women’s health, including as a leader in the IPEN women’s caucus. In a recent “Green Forum” article on National Implementation Plans (NIPs), she wrote:

Chemicals affect women and men differently, and women shoulder much responsibility for family health and food preparation, placing them at the front line of exposure and protection. However, women’s perspectives remain underrepresented in  decision-making on chemicals and waste. Without gender considerations, policies risk missing key exposure pathways and community needs. For policymakers, this is not a question of fairness alone but of effectiveness: inclusive NIPs are stronger NIPs. 

As Gohar’s term begins, Pam Miller steps down after two terms as IPEN’s Co-chair, while pledging to continue her decades of work with IPEN as an advisor and partner. During her time as Co-Chair, IPEN has achieved significant victories in its work on highly hazardous pesticides, toxic plastics, and many other areas. 

Pam remains primarily involved in work to end threats from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), having been active since the first international talks toward the Stockholm Convention on POPs and contributing to the deliberations of the Convention’s POPs Review Committee (POPRC) since its inception. A proven local to global leader, Pam’s hometown was a cancer cluster impacting family members and friends due to a chemical industry producing the highly toxic plastic chemicals, chlorinated paraffins. During Pam’s time as IPEN CoChair, short and medium-chained chlorinated paraffins were added to the Stockholm Convention for global elimination.  

Pam is the Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and a staunch advocate with and for Arctic Indigenous Peoples, who have some of the highest exposures to POPs of any population on Earth. She will also continue to serve as a liaison for IPEN to Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks), a group of scientists, health professionals, and children’s health advocates working to prevent harm to children’s developing brains.