Amanda Strayer

As Supervising Staff Attorney for Accountability at Human Rights First, Amanda Strayer coordinates the Targeted Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Sanctions Coalition, a group of more than 330 NGOs using the Global Magnitsky sanctions program and other legal authorities to hold human rights abusers and corrupt actors accountable. In this role, she serves as the primary liaison with U.S. government personnel and assists NGOs and pro bono attorneys working to produce recommendations for sanctions in Africa, the Near East, and Europe and Eurasia. She pushed for the successful permanent reauthorization of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2022 and has led original policy analysis of the multilateral use of Magnitsky sanctions in the US, UK, EU, and Canada that identified key gaps and oversights in how these accountability tools are used. Previously, Amanda worked with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights as the Dale and James J. Pinto Fellow focused on human rights advocacy in South and Southeast Asia. She received her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. During her time at Georgetown, she co-authored a report on violence and discrimination against LGBT persons in Guyana as part of the Human Rights Fact-Finding Practicum. She prepared a strategic litigation case to challenge child marriage laws in Botswana with the International Women’s Human Rights Clinic and participated in the Guantanamo Observers Program and spent several weeks monitoring pretrial hearings in the September 11th case. During her summers, Amanda worked with the South African Human Rights Commission in Johannesburg and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Prior to law school, Amanda worked with Women for Women International on communications and advocacy focused on challenges faced by women in conflict-affected countries and traveled to Afghanistan and Rwanda to conduct first-hand interviews with women and men impacted by conflict, displacement, and poverty. She has a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and a minor in French from the University of Virginia.