Kirby Anwar

Kirby Anwar is a human rights lawyer who provides technical support for women and LGBTIQ+ advocates seeking meaningful participation and justice in the context of peacebuilding and peace negotiations. Her work focuses on communities facing multifaceted discrimination, including that based on race, gender, ethnicity, disability, nationality and other categories. She has worked with grassroots women’s organizations living in contexts of armed conflict on multiple continents to facilitate their social change goals through legal advocacy at international, regional and local levels. She writes and reports on women human rights defenders’ protection needs; violence based on gender, race and ethnicity in situations of conflict and disaster; and gender justice under international criminal and human rights law. She has also provided technical expertise to Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace regarding crimes based on gender and ethnicity, and co-authored reports on gender persecution in Afghanistan for advocates and judicial actors. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Kirby Anwar volunteered as a human rights observer internationally and organized with communities in the United States for racial, economic, environmental and gender justice.