David Griffiths

David Griffiths has spent over 17 years working in human rights. Alongside his work as an Associate at TrustWorks, he is currently focusing on several projects in an independent capacity, including writing a report on the future of human rights for a flagship initiative at Chatham House.

Previously, David was Director of the Office of the Secretary General at Amnesty International, where he had a broad strategic and operational portfolio of responsibilities. This included facilitating advocacy work at the highest levels around the world, and strategic initiatives such as analysing the implications of populism for human rights.

Prior to this role, he served as Deputy Director for Asia, where he was involved in establishing a new regional office in Sri Lanka. He oversaw the delivery of Amnesty’s human rights work across the South Asia region, with projects ranging from research on Nepal’s post-earthquake reconstruction to a major agenda-setting conference in Kabul, co-hosted with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

David has carried out extensive media work on human rights, including television and radio interviews and numerous articles and op-eds. He has designed and implemented training programmes for many human rights defenders, especially across Asia.

David began his human rights career in country-level research and advocacy focusing on freedom of religion, caste-based discrimination, and minority rights in South and South-East Asia. He grew up in East Africa, spent a brief period living in Syria, and holds degrees from Oxford University and SOAS.

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