Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes Erika Dailey as the organization’s new Director of Advocacy and Policy. In this role, Dailey will lead the expansion of PHR’s advocacy work mobilizing and leveraging PHR’s vast network of health and science professionals to promote human rights worldwide.
Dailey joins PHR with more than thirty years of experience in the human rights field, with a special emphasis on anti-torture efforts. She comes to PHR most recently from the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), where she served simultaneously as Senior Officer for Research and acting director of its Climate and Economic Justice Division. Over the last seven years, Dailey played a critical role in the formulation of internal and external policies for OSJI, overseeing the production of more than 40 original human rights reports.
Over the course of her career, Dailey has completed more than 20 human rights fact-finding missions, bringing to light the use of torture and other ill treatment, laws of war violations, and ethnic discrimination. She has also helped to provide protection to and advocate on behalf of human rights defenders around the globe. Formerly Human Rights Watch’s Moscow Office director, Dailey has advanced work on HIV/AIDS in Central Asia and the rights of asylum seekers across the region. Her recent efforts to seek accountability for torture have focused on Argentina, Kenya, and Türkiye. She has also been a forceful advocate before United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures, the European Commission and European Parliament, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, the U.S. State Department and Congress, the media, and numerous academic and policy institutions.
“I am delighted to introduce Erika Dailey, who brings decades of research and advocacy expertise and will help propel PHR’s policy influence to new heights,” said Jennifer Sime, Interim Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. “This position is foundational to PHR’s leadership and organizational direction, and I feel confident that Erika is an exceptional fit for the position, the Executive Management Team, and our organization’s evolving culture.”
As Director of Advocacy and Policy, Dailey will serve as PHR’s chief policy expert, framing, articulating, and guiding policy recommendations, priorities, and strategies to leverage the organization’s research. She will implement innovative campaigns to further local, national, and international policy goals, monitor the global human rights landscape to identify opportunities for PHR to engage our expertise and network, and serve as a spokesperson for international human rights issues. Dailey will develop and support the growing advocacy team to foster innovative approaches to advocacy.
A Russian speaker, she holds a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in Slavic Studies and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from Columbia University.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.