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Speakers
Dr Helen Durham AO
Member of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross & Red Crescent, CEO RedR Australia, Honorary Professorial Fellow University of Melbourne
Dr. Helen Durham is a humanitarian lawyer and academic and the CEO of RedR Australia since July 2023. She has spent 30 years in the humanitarian sector and has high-level expertise in international humanitarian law, policy and diplomacy.
Helen has significant field experience in Asia and the Pacific, as well as engagement in the Middle East, Africa and diplomatic negotiations in New York, Brussels and Geneva. She is widely published, in particular in the area of women and armed conflict.
Helen was the first woman and first Australian to be the Director of International Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2014 to 2022 in Geneva. In this role she oversaw a Department of 500 experts, from international lawyers and diplomats to former military officers and policy makers. Before this she held various roles with Australian Red Cross such as the Director of International Law and Strategy and National Manager of International Humanitarian Law. She was Head of Office for ICRC in Australia and Legal Adviser to the Pacific. In October 2024 Helen was elected to the Red Cross Red Crescent Standing Commission by the 34th International Conference, the highest decision-making body of the Movement.
Helen has regularly addressed the Security Council on topics such as cyber warfare, counterterrorism, the protection of women in conflict, and is highly experienced in engaging with all areas of the media.
She is a Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School and teaches in the Masters program having previously been a Director of Research at the Asia Pacific Centre of Military Law.
In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Officer of the Order of Australia.
With a Law/Arts degree, a PhD in international law (Melbourne and New York University), as well as being admitted as a barrister and solicitor, she is well regarded and highly sought for her advice and opinion on pressing humanitarian topics.