Kathryn Cameron Porter

Kathryn Cameron Porter, founder and President of Leadership Council for Human Rights, has spent her career working on critical human rights issues, specifically ones dealing with the Kurds and with women. Prior to creating LCHR, in 1995 she founded the Human Rights Alliance, an organization which worked to protect and promote the reality of both human rights and human responsibilities throughout the world. Porter was also the catalyst for the formation of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Trained as an anthropologist, with an extensive background of political activism, Porter possesses determination, unique insights and tireless energy on behalf of human rights, which for more than 20 years have brought her to the forefront of battlefields in many countries throughout the world. Until 1995, Porter also served as Director of Gender and Social Policy for Conservation International (CI), an internationally recognized non-profit dedicated to ecosystem conservation integrating biological preservation with economic opportunity in local communities.

Prior to her work at CI, Kathryn served in both the Reagan and Bush Administrations. As Special Assistant for International Affairs to the Secretary of Energy, she negotiated international agreements for the exchange of energy research and development and was also responsible for emergency preparedness programs. In this capacity, Kathryn worked with the National Security Council on issues relating to NATO.

A particular focus of Porter’s throughout her career has been on the precarious plight of the Kurds. She has traveled on numerous occasions to Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria to investigate human rights and minority rights, in particular those of the Kurds. As a result of these fact-finding missions, several reports were published and released to international institutions and to the public. She served as a mediator in conflicts of various armed guerrilla groups. She negotiated the exchange of prisoners, and the allowance of humanitarian corridors for civilian populations in conflict areas. Porter has worked to bring about a cease-fire between Kurdish factions. She has worked to achieve confidence building measures and to prevent further deterioration of the situation of the Kurds.

Porter has also focused the attention of the Congress on the crimes against humanity of Saddam Hussein and his regime. She launched a campaign for the establishment of an international criminal court to bring Saddam to justice and she continued to work for the establishment of a permanent international court for crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide and serious crimes of war. Her efforts on behalf of refugees and internally displaced persons have been internationally recognized. She has helped to focus the attention of the United Nations and its various agencies as well as the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the OSCE on these issues.