Director of the Institute for Human Rights of the Beirut Bar Association and the President of the Women’s Committee at the International Association of Lawyers (Union Internationale des Avocats, UIA)

Elisabeth Zakharia Sioufi is a lawyer, member of the Beirut Bar Association since 1980, with expertise in Corporate Law, Human Rights Law, and International Criminal Law. She is a lecturer on freedom of religion and human rights at the Faculty of Religious Sciences at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. She is currently the Director of the Institute for Human Rights of the Beirut Bar Association and the President of the Women’s Committee at the International Association of Lawyers (Union Internationale des Avocats, UIA), where she was previously the President of the Human Rights Commission for 5 years. She is a consultant on Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, and International Criminal Law. She led many seminars and workshops in Lebanon and Europe and wrote articles on different human rights topics such as trafficking in persons, violence against women, children at risk, implementation of international conventions, human rights in places of detention, prevention of torture. In 2017-2018, Elisabeth was the advisor to the Ministry of Human Rights Affairs in Lebanon. In 2018, she received the Gold Medal from the Beirut Bar Association for her achievements towards the Bar, and in 2014, she was awarded by the US Department of State for combating trafficking in persons.