Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies Center for International Security and Cooperation Stanford University


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Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, JD, PhD  
Affiliate (former)

not in residence


Research Interests
the international rule of law; historical evolution of norms on use of force; evolving norms on state sovereignty; U.N. Reform; American perspectives on international law and international institutions


Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe is the United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council and a former affiliate at CISAC. Her PhD dissertation, "Humanitarian Military Intervention: The Moral Imperative Versus the Rule of Law," focused on conflicting ethical and legal justifications for humanitarian military intervention. In an earlier publication, The Promise of Law for the Post-Mao Leadership in China, she examined the prospects for the development of the rule of law in China.

Donahoe earned her PhD in ethics and social theory from the Graduate Theological Union at the University of California Berkeley. She holds a JD from Stanford law school and an MA in East Asian studies from Stanford. She also earned an MA in theological studies from Harvard and spent a year studying Mandarin at Nankai University in Tianjin. After law school, Donahoe clerked for the Hon. William H. Orrick of the United States Federal District Court for the Northern District of California. She served as a teaching fellow at Stanford Law School and practiced high-tech litigation at Fenwick & West in Palo Alto, CA. She is a member of the California Bar.

Events & Presentations




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News around the web

UN council affirms support for Internet freedom
“This outcome is momentous for the Human Rights Council,” said Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe. “It’s the first ever UN resolution affirming that human rights in the digital realm must be protected and promoted to the same extent and with the same commitment as human rights in the physical world.”
July 5, 2012 in The Hill (blog)

The US Pressures Iran on Human Rights
In Geneva, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the US representative to the Council is a superstar. She is the face of US human rights in town, a master of building coalitions and cooperation with different partners to make things happen.
May 20, 2011 in Huffington Post (blog)

UN Human Rights Council Condemns Syrian Violence
Michele Norris interviews Ambassador Eileen Donahoe, the United States representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council, about the council's meeting regarding Syria. She says the action by the international community sends a strong message to the Syrian government that it cannot mistreat its people ...
April 29, 2011 in NPR

UN Rights Council to hold special session on Libya
"It's an excellent signal that the council was able to react in real time to a situation," US Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe said. In a strong stance against the violence that has engulfed Libya in the last eight days, at least 53 UN states ...
February 24, 2011 in Jerusalem Post