Sandra Wisner is a Canadian-trained international human rights lawyer who has advocated and litigated for over a decade. For five years, Sandra worked as a lawyer with the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), an organisation that partners with Haitian lawyers and activists to bring grassroots struggles for human rights to the international stage. Sandra developed the organisation’s economic and social rights program, with a focus on business and human rights. She also led its work seeking accountability of foreign actors for emblematic human and environmental rights violations in Haiti, including efforts to secure remedies for victims of the UN-introduced cholera epidemic and child support for victims of UN peacekeeper sexual exploitation.
Prior to joining IJDH, Sandra worked as a legal consultant with the United Nations in Cambodia prosecuting surviving members of the Khmer Rouge regime. She also spent a year in South Africa at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry working alongside the late Advocate George Bizos SC, long-time lawyer of the late Nelson Mandela, to secure reparations for victims.
Sandra received her undergraduate degree from University of Toronto, her JD from the University of Windsor, and a Master of Laws in Advanced Studies in Public International Law from Leiden University, specializing in corporate accountability. She regularly publishes on business and human rights matters and speaks and guest lectures at various schools and venues around the world, including Cornell, Harvard, Sorbonne, and the UN Human Rights Council. Sandra has appeared in the Guardian, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Vice News and TVO's The Agenda. After completing her JD, Sandra articled with Gowling WLG. She works in both official languages.
Contact: sandra.wisner@utoronto.ca
