The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted the annual lecture featuring Professor Judge Leonardo Brant (International Court of Justice; Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) on Thursday 16th May 2025.

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project is a research centre that draws on the subject-matter expertise of graduate researchers and Faculty experts to produce reports on a wide range of public interest matters. Every year, we invite distinguished speakers to address our researchers, staff, and students at the University of Cambridge.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/ Twitter (https://twitter.com/Cam_ProBono) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CamProBono).

Cambridge Pro Bono Project hosted Eileen Dong at the Faculty of Law on Wednesday, 15 May 2024.

Eileen Dong, a renowned UN Ambassador, distinguished member of the US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants Advisory Board, and expert in combating human trafficking, will explore the critical intersections between UN’s 2030 Global Goals and the ongoing efforts to address gender-based violence and human trafficking. Drawing from her extensive experience and multidisciplinary approach, Ambassador Dong sheds light on the vital role of cross-sector collaborations in addressing human rights violations and gender-based violence.

Serving as the Founder and Executive Director of Hope Pyx Global as well as a consultant for US Center for Countering Human Trafficking, Homeland Security Investigations, Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Dong has committed her work to eliminating abuse, exploitation, trafficking, violence, and torture, while building safe spaces for survivors from all backgrounds. Dong's expertise has been recognized at prestigious events such as the UNODC World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and the OSCE Conference of the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons. Her innovative approaches encourage cross-sector, intergenerational, and multidisciplinary collaborations “glocally”.

Dong has played a pivotal role in advising on the UN's Declaration of Human Rights by the American Youth, aimed at eliminating abuse and exploitation, and participating in the Department of Homeland Security’s Roundtable, offering invaluable insights to enhance policies and programs in investigating human trafficking cases, as well as improving support for survivors. Furthermore, Dong successfully testified in favor of the passage of TX SB 49, resulting in almost tripling the crime victims’ compensation, and the allocation of $1 million for the first Trauma Recovery Center in Texas. Presently, she is engaged in collaborative efforts with international NGOs towards international treaties to end violence against women and girls.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

Additional resources:

Global Goals (Sustainable Development Goals): https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/

Core International Human Rights Treaties: https://www.ohchr.org/en/core-international-human-rights-instruments-and-their-monitoring-bodies

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (un.org): https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/

Book: "Thank Your Predator: A Guide to Trauma Recovery from Abuse": https://a.co/d/bIkDsuG

Polaris Project: Love and Trafficking: https://youtu.be/1RQTd6WeS2Q

TED Talk: Things You Don't Know about Human Trafficking | Eileen Dong: https://youtu.be/DVrwyvNUzMY?si=axpEJF73kUphK1px

To stay to updated on upcoming events and information: Eileen Dong: https://www.EileenDong.com

Hope Pyx Global: https://www.HopePyxGlobal.org

LinkedIn:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileen-dong/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-pyx-global/

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The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted the annual lecture featuring Professor Christine Chinkin, FBA.

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project is a research centre that draws on the subject-matter expertise of graduate researchers and Faculty experts to produce reports on a wide range of public interest matters. Every year, we invite distinguished speakers to address our researchers, staff, and students at the University of Cambridge. This year's Cambridge Pro Bono Project Annual Lecture will be delivered by Professor Christine Chinkin and chaired by Professor Surabhi Ranganathan, Professor of International Law and Deputy Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.

Professor Chinkin, FBA is the founding Director of the Centre for Women, Peace, and Security and Emeritus Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. During her illustrious career, she has served on the Human Rights Advisory Panel established by UNMIK in Kosovo and as Scientific Advisor to the Council of Europe’s Committee for the drafting of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. She is Chair of the International Law Association.

In commemorating the recent 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Professor Chinkin will speak to how human rights law has engaged with women as subjects and agents in international law, with a focus on the women, peace and security context. She will share her valuable insights into the historical challenges, current opportunities, and the anticipated contributions of practitioners, academics, and researchers.

https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this annual lecture, in which Dr Justice DY Chandrachud (Chief Justice of India) discussed the topic 'The Relationship Between Constitutional Rights and Constitutional Structure' on 30 May 2023.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

On Wednesday 19th May 2021 the Cambridge Pro Bono Project hosted Baroness Beeban Kidron.

Baroness Beeban Kidron OBE is a Crossbench Peer in the UK House of Lords and Chair of 5Rights Foundation. For 30 years, Baroness Kidron worked as a film director, making TV and film dramas and documentaries in the UK and Hollywood. She is best known for directing an adaption of the novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.

Baroness Kidron was appointed to the House of Lords, where she takes a particular interest in all things digital. She introduced a ground-Breaking piece of data protection legislation, ‘the Age Appropriate Design Code’, which gives under 18’s a high bar of data protection.

Kidron is the Founder and Chair of 5Rights Foundation, whose mission is to build the digital world children and young people deserve. Most recently, 5Rights supported the UNCRC in drafting General Comment No. 35 on the relevance of children’s right to the digital world. This is anticipated to have global significance on the expectation and duties of States and businesses to children.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) hosted this annual lecture, in which Lord Justice Singh, in conversation with Dr Stephanie Palmer discussed the topic 'The Unity of Law' on 27 April 2022.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see Twitter (https://twitter.com/Cam_ProBono) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CamProBono).

An online event held by Cambridge Pro Bono Project and Action on Armed Violence.

Over the course of its military involvement in the Syrian conflict, the UK Government has claimed that since 2014, some 1,700 British air strikes have only caused 1 known civilian death. Just last week, it was revealed that British forces are linked to the deaths of 86 children and more than 200 adult civilians during the Afghanistan conflict.

The use of airborne explosive weapons by the United Kingdom in recent armed conflicts has created a risk that civilians might be the victims or unintended targets of the UK’s air strikes. By virtue of their operational characteristics and largely indiscriminate area-effects once detonated, airborne explosive weapons have been documented to have a greater potential to cause civilian death and injury than other conventional weapons.

In a report written by Cambridge Pro Bono Project researchers for the London-based NGO Action on Armed Violence, the UK’s obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law as well as domestic public law to investigate, record and report civilian casualties have been examined.

For its first CPP Speaker Series event of this academic year, the CPP in cooperation with Iain Overton, Executive Director of Action on Armed Violence, will discuss the findings of this report together with experts Georgia Edwards, UK Advocacy Officer and Conflict Researcher at Airwars, and Gavin Crowden, Executive Director at Every Casualty Counts.

For more information see: https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) was delighted to welcome Pablo Gonzalez, Lawyer at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to speak on the topic 'Pro Bono Work at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' on 9 March 2021.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk/

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) was delighted to welcome Jason Pobjoy, Barrister at Blackstone Chambers and Founder of Cambridge Pro Bono Project who spoke on the topic 'The Cambridge Pro Bono Project and Beyond'.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk

The Cambridge Pro Bono Project (CPP) is delighted to welcome Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers who spoke on the topic 'The Value of Pro Bono Work'.

Caoilfhionn has acted in many of the leading human rights cases in the UK in recent years, including acting for bereaved families and survivors of the 7/7 London bombings and the Hillsborough disaster.

For more information about the Cambridge Pro Bono Project, see https://www.cpp.law.cam.ac.uk