Erin Kilbride

Erin is a Researcher in the LGBT rights program, investigating human rights violations against lesbian, bisexual and queer communities.

Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Erin was the Research Coordinator at Front Line Defenders, providing emergency support to human rights defenders (HRDs) at risk and leading fact-finding missions across Africa, Asia and the Americas. She has authored investigations into military trials of civilians, targeted killings of HRDs and sexual violence perpetrated by security forces in Bangladesh, Egypt, El Salvador, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Tanzania and the United States. She recently led the first global investigation into threats and attacks against sex worker rights defenders.

Erin has worked on border demilitarization, refugee solidarity and Search and Rescue (SAR) with several collectives, and reported on human rights and humanitarian crises for Al Jazeera, NPR, HuffPost, Think Progress and Middle East Eye. She received her BA in Women’s and Gender Studies from Georgetown University.