Combating impunity and strengthening accountability is personal for Dr. Fiona Sampson. Born a thalidomide victim, Dr. Sampson developed an early appreciation of battling stigmatization, discrimination, and inequality. Her personal experiences inform her daily work as a human rights lawyer with a PhD in women’s equality law and a highly respected advocate for the rights of survivors of sexual violence in Canada and abroad. Dr. Sampson is the founder and CEO of Equality Effect, an international network of human rights advocates working collaboratively to ensure governments in Commonwealth countries uphold, enforce, and protect the rights of women and girls. She is most known for leading Equality Effect’s “160 Girls Project,” a ground-breaking initiative that won a landmark legal victory in Kenya’s High Court in 2013, when Kenyan law enforcement officials were ordered to investigate and prosecute 160 rapes. In June 2017, the United Nations recognized the Equality Effect’s “160 Girls Project” as a best practice to advance women’s rights and women’s empowerment. Dr. Sampson hopes to not only draw attention to the rampant and often silent sexual violence epidemic, but also to emphasize the crucial connection between health, rape, and the law.

“I was pretty much motivated to challenge injustice from the time that I was able to speak. I think I was maybe DNA-programmed to challenge negative experiences of discrimination.”