Anne Gallagher

Anne Gallagher is the leading global expert on the international law of human trafficking, and has worked for twenty years to combat this issue.

She first began working for the United Nations in 1992. From 1998 until 2002 she was an Advisor on Trafficking to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She was instrumental, in that role, in the conversations surrounding the various international documents being prepared at that time, including the Palermo Protocol, and the UN Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking. She represented the OHCHR at the negotiations for the Palermo Protocol. Since 2003, however, she has been the head of a program of the Australian government which is meant to strengthen the rule of law with regards to trafficking in Southeast Asia. They have made significant headway, and have impacted the laws and implementation of those laws in an incredible way in the past 11 years. Her scholarship is extensive, well-respected, and published in a variety of journals around the world. Her perspectives have shaped the way legal experts think about human trafficking, criminal justice responses, and effective prosecutions. In June, 2012, she was given the Order of Australia, which is the second-highest civic honor that Australia awards. In that same year, she was honored as a "TIP Report Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery" in recognition for her incredible efforts and impact in the field of human trafficking. She continues to write prolifically, and produced the first textbook on the international law of human trafficking in 2010. Dr. Gallagher’s contributions to human trafficking work, since the late 1990s, cannot be understated. They have impacted scholars and practitioners from every part of the world.