Bonnie Docherty

Bonnie Docherty is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) and Director of its Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative. She is also Senior Arms Adviser in the Crisis, Conflict, and Arms Division of Human Rights Watch.

Docherty has done extensive work in the field of humanitarian disarmament as a lawyer, field researcher, and scholar. She played a key role in negotiations of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, providing legal advice to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. She was deeply involved in negotiations of the 2022 declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. She now works on implementing these instruments.

Docherty’s publications have helped shaped arguments for a new treaty on autonomous weapons systems, and she has spearheaded efforts to strengthen international law on incendiary weapons.

Docherty has also developed principles for addressing the environmental impacts of armed conflict, examined the effects of mining on disadvantaged and indigenous communities, and written about the problem of climate change migration.

Docherty received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her A.B. from Harvard University.