Development Policy Centre Podcast

The episode opens with Helen describing her unexpected route into humanitarian law, beginning as a labour lawyer before being drawn into international work through her involvement with women from the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Her early efforts to help establish rape as a war crime led her to gather evidence for war crimes tribunals and pursue a PhD on the laws of war, focusing on the prosecution of sexual violence and the impact of civil society on legal change.Helen recounts her experiences working at the grassroots level in Thailand and the Pacific, where she learned the importance of listening to affected communities and adapting legal frameworks to local realities. She reflects on her time at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where she became the first woman and first non-Swiss to lead the International Law and Policy department. Helen discusses the cultural and gender dynamics she navigated, the need for a more open and solution-oriented approach, and her efforts to highlight the