Amy K. Lehr

Amy K. Lehr is the Director of the Human Rights Initiative (HRI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The HRI was launched in June 2014 and is the only program of its kind in the Washington think tank community. From this unique position, HRI brings together key actors, catalyzing creative, game-changing solutions to the globe’s most pressing human rights challenges through a cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary approach.

Lehr comes to CSIS after a decade with Foley Hoag LLP’s unique corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice. In this role, she carried out groundbreaking work across sectors, engaging with international financial institutions, corporations, non-governmental organizations, and governments to help develop best practices and apply international law to address global human rights challenges. Her expertise includes labor rights, privacy and freedom of expression and association, forced labor in global supply chains, security and human rights, land rights, and indigenous rights issues. She has carried out field work across the globe, including conducting human rights impact assessments for large projects.

Previously, Lehr served as legal adviser to the UN special representative on business and human rights, John Ruggie, and in that role helped develop the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. She also served as a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. She previously worked for development NGOs in Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand, including Save the Children. She was a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. Lehr received her Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and her JD from Harvard Law School.