Claire Ivers - Head: Global Advocacy

Claire is responsible for institutional advocacy development including managing and overseeing the work of the Global Advocacy Team and the development andexecution of innovative targeted advocacy strategies on behalf of human rights defenders at risk ensuring that the issue of human rights defender protection is high on the international agenda. She also heads the EU Office in Brussels.

Claire joined Front Line Defenders in July 2020 and has worked in the human rights field for over 17 years. From 2006-2017 she worked for Human Rights Watch in Brussels where she was responsible for the organisation’s advocacy work with the EU and its institutions. During this time, she also co-chaired for a number of years the Human Rights and Democracy Network, a coalition of over 50 human rights and democracy organisations. She has advised and led projects for numerous organisations including Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International, the International Dalit Solidarity Network and Open Society’s European Policy Institute. She has also served as interim Executive Director of European Digital Rights, a network collective of non-profit organizations, experts, advocates and academics working to defend and advance digital rights across the European continent.

From Cork (Ireland) but now based in Brussels, Claire holds a Joint Honours degree in Law and French and an LLM in Public International Law.