Helen Duffy

Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden

Helen Duffy  is a practicing international human rights lawyer and Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden. She runs ‘Human Rights in Practice,’ specializing in strategic human rights litigation and advice before regional and international human rights courts and bodies on a broad range of human rights issues – including CIA rendition and torture, counter-terrorism, trafficking and equality, climate justice and accountability. Prior positions include: Legal Director, INTERIGHTS; Legal Officer, Prosecutors Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Counsel on International Justice to Human Rights Watch; Legal Director, Centro para Accion Legal en Derechos Humanos (CALDH) Guatemala; Asst. Secretary of Lord Justice Scott’s Arms for Iraq inquiry; lawyer, UK government legal service. Helen is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB Hons) (where she is now honorary professor), University College London (LLM) and Leiden (PHD), visiting professor at Melbourne and American universities. Publications include “The ‘War on Terror’ and the Framework of International law” (Cambridge, 2nd ed. 2015), ‘Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact’ (Hart, 2018) and ‘Law in Armed Conflict’ with Bohrer and Dill (Cambridge, 2020).