Diane Goodman

Diane is an accomplished international human rights lawyer with more than three decades of experience working in some of the world’s most complex humanitarian contexts. Her work has focused extensively on refugee protection and human rights, with particular emphasis on advancing the rights of women and children.

Throughout her distinguished career with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Diane has held senior leadership roles across Asia, Africa, and Europe. From 2013 to 2018, she served as Deputy Director of UNHCR’s Europe Bureau and Head of Operations for the Syrian refugee emergency. Prior to that, she held senior management roles in Nepal and Sudan. Most recently, Diane led UNHCR’s global efforts to address sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as sexual harassment, and has continued this work as an independent expert.

In addition to her UN experience, Diane has held senior positions with leading civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch and the Women’s Refugee Commission. She has also contributed as a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights and the Institute of Women’s Rights at the University of Oslo’s Faculty of Law. Earlier in her career, Diane practiced law in Toronto.

Diane holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario, and both an LLB and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Toronto.