Staff

Rachel Swain - Senior Lawyer

Rachel Swain joined the Human Rights Law Centre in 2024 as a Senior Lawyer working in the Corporate Accountability team. Rachel’s focus is on working with Bougainville communities on their ongoing human rights complaint to ensure Rio Tinto takes responsibility for the remediation and clean-up of environmental and human rights impacts of its former Panguna mine. 

Prior to joining the Human Rights Law Centre, Rachel worked in senior legal, advocacy and policy roles with the European Commission, the Australian Government, INGOs and the Victorian Government. During this time, Rachel has worked on the European Initiative for democracy and human rights looking at ways to improve the effective implementation of core international human rights standards and on programs directed towards abolition of the death penalty, including strategic litigation. Rachel has also worked in civil society to support the development and delivery of Oxfam Australia’s policy and advocacy strategies to support people and communities to eliminate inequality and poverty. While with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Rachel’s work included two and a half years focusing on the successful defence of Australia’s world first tobacco plain packaging legislation to challenges brought in the World Trade Organisation by five countries and related litigation by tobacco companies.

Rachel’s work is informed by a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia and a Master of International Relations from the London School of Economics.