HAYDÉE DIJKSTAL Human rights barrister, 33 Bedford Row Chambers
Haydée Dijkstal is a human rights and international law barrister known for her advocacy in complex cases involving arbitrary detention, atrocity crimes, fair trial rights and enforced disappearance. Raised in Wyoming with Dutch and Puerto Rican roots, she credits her commitment to helping others to her family, particularly her Puerto Rican grandmother, a pioneering surgeon. ‘She was never afraid to stand up for her beliefs, whether advocating for health as a human right in the 1950s or volunteering at a civilian hospital in Vietnam in opposition to the war,’ she says.
‘At its core, human rights protect the dignity and value of humans just because they are human,’ she says. ‘In a world gravitating towards “might is right”, the law provides the tools to protect these core rights.’ This belief led Haydée to international law and ensuring all parties are fairly heard.
Her work focuses on representing victims of war crimes and serious human rights violations across Sudan, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Palestine, Syria and Iran. She is also an expert in cases of wrongful detention abroad and hostage-taking, having been part of Anoosheh Ashoori’s
legal team. ‘No one should be detained or convicted for exercising a right, such as peacefully expressing an opinion or simply because of their nationality,’ she says. Haydée currently represents Ahmed al-Doush,
a British citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia on charges related to freedom of expression, and has provided parliamentary evidence in relation to British nationals Lindsay and Craig Foreman, who are detained in Iran. Other work includes examining attacks on cultural heritage in Sudan, and representing a group of Afghan human rights victims participating at the International Criminal Court (ICC). She has secured landmark UN decisions recognising arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, including a high-profile ruling for a Rohingya community leader detained in Bangladesh. A member of the Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) Executive Committee, which focuses on the rights and safety of advocates, judges and human rights defenders, she says the most meaningful outcome of her work remains seeing ‘someone who has suffered, sometimes years of unjust deprivation of their freedom, return home and reunite with their family’.
‘No one should be detained or convicted for exercising a right, such as peacefully expressing an opinion’
RACHEL CHARLTON-DAILEY Disability rights journalist, author and activist
Rachel Charlton-Dailey lives in Sunderland and has been disabled all her life. Her work centres disabled voices and challenges systemic injustice. She is the author of Ramping Up Rights: An Unfinished History of British Disability Activism, the first book to chart over 100 years of UK disability rights battles. Last year she toured nationally on why disabled history must not be forgotten – and why there’s still a fight.
26 AMNESTY SPRING 2026
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just.barold
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