Building a Career in International Human Rights, with U of T Law Grad Diane Goodman

Biography:

Diane Goodman is an international human rights lawyer. She has worked for the United Nations in refugee protection and human rights in some of the most complex humanitarian emergencies over the past three decades.

From 2013 to 2018, Diane was Deputy Director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s Europe Bureau and Head of Operations for the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, and prior to that served in senior management positions for UNHCR in Nepal and Sudan. Most recently, from 2018 to 2023, Diane led and coordinated UNHCR’s global efforts to tackle sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, and is currently working as an expert consultant for an independent review of the work of the United Nations in this area.

A fierce advocate for women and children’s rights, she has also held senior positions with civil society organizations including Human Rights Watch and the Women's Refugee Commission, was a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights and at the Institute of Women’s Rights at the University of Oslo. Before entering international human rights law, Diane worked as a lawyer in private practice in Toronto. Diane completed her LLB and LLM in International Human Rights Law at the University of Toronto.