Early life

Edwards was born in Australia and took a bachelor's degree at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

. She holds a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

and a Diploma in International and Comparative Law from the

International Institute of Human Rights The International Institute of Human Rights ( French: ''Institut international des droits de l'homme,'' IIDH) is an association under French local law based in Strasbourg, France. It includes approximately 300 members (individual and collective) w ...

in France. She returned to Australia to take a PhD in Public International Law at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

. She previously worked for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and a Mozambique-based NGO.

Career

Edwards began working at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1998 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by field assignments in Rwanda (twice) and Morocco, rising to become Chief of Section – Protection Policy and Legal Advice, the key institutional legal position, from 2010 until 2015. Then from 2016 until 2021, she led the secretariat of the inter-governmental diplomatic Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI). She also sits on the editorial board of the journals ''

Torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

'' and ''Migration Studies''. She has held academic appointments in law at the universities of Oxford and Nottingham, teaches at universities around the world, and is widely published with over 50 publications. She was appointed the

in July 2022, taking up the position in August 2022. In a report presented to the United Nations in March 2023, Edwards stated "the national duty to investigate torture is alarmingly, universally, under-implemented". She encouraged countries to do more to investigate allegations of torture. She investigated torture in the context of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

. Prior to

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...

's final appeal against extradition to the United States, Edwards urged the UK to stop his extradition because of concerns he would be subject to torture if extradited. She has since welcomed his release. She has warned the Hong Kong courts not to rely on evidence purportedly obtained via torture in mainland China, in the trial of Jimmy Lai. She tried to intervene with Russia on behalf of Alexei Navalny prior to his death in February 2024, alleging that he was being mistreated, was not receiving appropriate medical care for his serious health conditions, and that his constant solitary confinement was against international law And she has since called for a full investigation into his death. She also raised the cases of his colleagues Liliya Chanysheva, Vadim Ostanin and Daniel Kholodny who remain detained. She wrote to airlines and aviation regulators together with Gehad Madi and Siobhán Mullally in April 2024 to caution them against moving people seeking asylum to Rwanda on behalf of the British Government as they could be "compliant" in creating human rights violations. Madi, Edwards and Mullally wrote to the airlines as the UN's special rapporteurs on migrants’ human rights, torture and trafficking to identify the need for companies to comply with international human rights laws. She has been criticised for failing to raise issues about Israeli torture of Palestinians. She denounced the attacks committed by Hamas and other armed groups on October 7th 2023 and called for the release of hostages. She was among the first to acknowledge the scale of the atrocities including mass killings and acts amounting to torture including sexual torture. She has called for a probe into allegations of mistreatment and torture by Israeli authorities against Palestinians. She was vocal in respect of the Hamas-Israel armed conflict, calling for accountability for all international crimes. In 2024 she was nominated for Australian of the Year.

Selected works

* (2017) ''In Flight from Conflict and Violence: UNHCR Consultations on Refugee Status and Other Forms of International Protection'' * (2014) ''Nationality and Statelessness under International Law'' * (2011) ''Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Alice Jill Year of birth missing (living people) Australian legal scholars Australian women lawyers 21st-century Australian lawyers Alumni of the University of Nottingham University of Tasmania alumni Australian National University alumni Amnesty International people United Nations officials United Nations Special Rapporteurs on torture Living people