Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights
Georgetown Law established the Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights in 2006. This position is designed to bring distinguished human rights practitioners to Georgetown Law to teach and engage with our community.
2022-2023 Drinan Chair in Human Rights
David Tolbert
Professor Tolbert has been an innovative leader in international organizations and NGOs for more than 30 years and played an essential role in the development of the transitional justice field. He has worked at various international courts and Tribunals, including nine years at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Most recently, Professor Tolbert served as the Registrar for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a position to which he was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Read the Georgetown feature about Professor Tolbert.
Past Drinan Chairs
Former Executive Director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Former President and CEO of Human Rights First
Former UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders and former President of the World Organisation Against Torture
Former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. Distinguished Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide and The Hague Institute for Global Justice.
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and Full Professor at the McGill University Faculty of Law
Founder and Executive Director of Disability Rights International
Former UN Human Rights and Political Affairs Officer; Senior Advisor at TrustWorks Global
Former UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues
President Emeritus, Open Society Foundations
Justice, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Former Judge, International Court of Justice