Donahoe, Eileen Chamberlain

Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe is an American scholar, lawyer, and diplomat. She notably served as as Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations Human Rights Council, with rank of Ambassador, from 2010 to 2013.

Immediately before her ambassadorship, Donahoe was an Affiliated Scholar at the Center for international Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Her research has focused on norms on use of force, UN reform, and the international rule of law. Her 2006 Ph.D. dissertation entitled: “Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Moral Imperative Versus the Rule of Law,” addressed conflicting legal and ethical justifications for humanitarian military intervention.

Previously, Ms. Donahoe was a litigation associate at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley, where she served technology clients in intellectual property and commercial disputes. Prior to that, she was a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School and law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick. Ms. Donahoe has worked with various human rights organizations including The Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights, where she did research on the nexus between US foreign policy and human rights, and Amnesty International’s Ginneta Sagan Fund, where she did strategy work related to human rights concerns of women and children.

After serving her term as ambassador, Donahoe was appointed as Director of Global Affairs for Human Rights Watch. In 2014, she was also appointed to the board of International Service for Human Rights. She is also a former affiliate of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. Other activities have included:

Donahoe received her B.A. from Dartmouth College, a Masters in Theology from Harvard University, her J.D. from Stanford Law School, an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Ethics from the University of California’s Graduate Theological Union.