Erin Gallagher
Erin Gallagher has been an investigator for almost 25 years, most of which have been dedicated to building cases centering on the commission of core international crimes. She is currently an Investigation Team Leader with the IIIM (Syria Mechanism) in Geneva.
Erin served as an investigator at the International Criminal Court, joining in 2015. Prior to this, she was the Director of Investigations for Physicians for Human Rights. She and her team led the documentation of bombings of medical facilities in Syria, assisting in passage of UN Resolutions 2165 and 2191, and trained Syrian human rights defenders on documentation of international crimes. Erin worked as an investigator with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for over 7 years, investigating the Srebrenica genocide. She participated in three genocide trials there: Popovic et al., Tolimir, and Mladic.
Erin has also conducted investigations for the UN Commissions of Inquiry on Syria and Libya as a SGBV expert. She is a trainer for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations, where she has also been a consultant on the Murad Code, leading the work on the Survivor’s Charter. Erin is on the Board of Directors of Synergy for Justice, and was a commentator on the UK FCO’s International Protocol on Sexual Violence in Conflict. She has been a trainer and expert for Justice Rapid Response. Prior to her international work, she was a senior investigator for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office from 1998-2006, investigating cold cases, homicide, sexual assault, and sexual child abuse.
Erin’s profile was discussed with and edited by Sareta Ashraph.
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What drew you to working in international law? And what were your first steps?
I had an indirect career path, which I think benefitted my career as an investigator. Looking back now, I can also see common themes running through many of the choices I made. After college, I worked in intelligence and then went to graduate school, combining gender studies and film, after which I worked in documentary filmmaking for a short time. An early film I worked on was about the female survivors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Later I met a female investigator who was in charge of the Hate Crimes Unit of the San Francisco Police Department. She and her work inspired me to think about becoming an investigator. I am pretty sure that if I had met the male head of the Burglary Unit instead, I wouldn’t be where I am now.
I became a police officer and then an investigator, eventually with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. I started with misdemeanour cases and worked my way up to sexual assault, child sexual abuse, homicide, and cold cases. One day I read a newspaper article about the exhumation of mass graves in Kosovo, and for the first time learned of “UN investigators” doing this work. I had worked some high-profile cases in San Francisco and the idea of working larger even more complex cases appealed to me. I applied to the ICTY and was hired to work on the Srebrenica genocide investigation. I was drawn to the complexity, the intersection of crimes, and the enormous challenges of the international work. And on an emotional level, I was drawn to the survivors.
What have been the high points of your career thus far?
I feel very lucky to have had a variety of high points, both domestically and internationally. The belief I have about justice overall comes from my domestic roots. Early on in my career, there were a number of pivotal cases I worked that shaped the rest of my career and my attitude about criminal justice. The first one was a serial rape case involving sex workers who had been kidnapped, tortured and raped by a middle-class white man. He was convicted and sentenced to 231 years. I witnessed how, with support, thesurvivors became more empowered throughout the process. Every person involved in that case from the responding police officers, doctors, victim-witness advocates, prosecutor, to the judge and jury, were professional and respectful. It rooted in me the belief that when we all do our jobs well, and every link in the chain is a strong one, then the justice process has the potential to be an empowering and healing experience for victims.
Another pivotal case early in my career was investigating the San Francisco Archdiocese for sexual abuse of children. I interviewed many adult men and women who had been sexually abused by priests when they were children. Some of the survivors had reported the abuse to police and authorities at the time but hadn’t been taken seriously. Others disclosed their abuse for the first time ever after 15, 20, and even 30 years. I heard from survivors how their lives had changed for the worse when they were not taken seriously by investigators and prosecutors. At the point a child or adult reports, they are vulnerable and their lives have likely been spiraling downward, and our response to them can send them spiraling downward faster or we can help deflect it in a better direction. I learned early in my career that we should not underestimate the impact we have on victims when they tell us their stories, and the responsibility we therefore carry.
Internationally, the Srebrenica genocide investigation was one of those once in a lifetime cases to work. I am proud to have been a part of that investigation and subsequent trials. I was really fortunate to work with and learn from an excellent team, and together feel a shared devotion to the case, to the witnesses and to their whole community. Due to the longevity of the case, I also saw the arc of justice, from the first reporting of crimes to the investigation to trial to post trial. It wasn’t just a snapshot of a crime, but the whole war and post-conflict experience for victims and witnesses over a 20-year period. Once again, it was that opportunity to see how war crimes impact individuals and communities, and also how investigations and a justice process impacts them too. It fortified my belief in our collective responsibility to do this work well because we do have an impact, for the good or bad.
My work then shifted more to human rights, working on UN Commissions of Inquiry and at Physicians for Human Rights which was a great experience with collaborating, partnering, and coalition building with civil society, international and national NGOs, and UN agencies. This was a pivotal point in my career in being able to understand how criminal justice and human rights can complement one another. My time at the ICC was also a great learning experience, especially to understand better the power dynamics which exist doing international investigations and prosecutions in a current conflict. My time with the Court reinforced my views on the responsibility we carry as documenters and investigators. This perfectly coincided with work I recently did on the Murad Code. I had the opportunity to hear from survivors of SGBV themselves what it was like to tell their stories to documenters; what helped them open up; what silenced them; and what empowered them. Their messages are ones that transcend our work whether in human rights or criminal law.
What are some of the challenges that you faced coming up in your career?
One challenge, at different times in my career. has been that feeling of invisibility or underestimation as a woman in the workplace, whether intentional or unconscious. It’s rarely been an issue in the actual work in the field or on the streets though; in fact, I think it has often been an advantage being a woman. But in the workplace, it has meant I’ve had to spend a certain amount of energy figuring out how to navigate through that environment. Also, conflict-related SGBV crimes had not always been taken as seriously as other crimes, so at times I had to fight for visibility and inclusivity of the crimes and even women in war, as well. It can be a lonely place to be. And as a female investigator, you do get typecast as the one who will focus on gender, which is always assumed to only be about women. There are also moments when I envy the immediate support, grooming, and mentoring that many of the men have in the workplace. On the other hand, I think our own career journeys as women probably help build the extra grit and perseverance we need to do our actual work.
My international investigative work has always involved fairly intensive travel which I love, but I have to always make choices and sacrifices between my work and personal life. It’s not easy to have a “normal” life. It frequently gets off balance where work dominates my life; where I have little control over my schedule; don’t get to see family and friends as much as I’d like; exercise nor enjoy hobbies or social events. I have to find my ways to feel grounded and to pace myself, and recalibrate whenever I can. I’ve not always been good at it. It does mean learning how to take good care of yourself. That is magnified even more depending on where you are based. I think that what comes with this work are difficult decisions we sometimes have to make about our personal lives.
Do you have any advice for people, particularly women, hoping to work in the international legal arena in the future?
Worry less about finding the quickest, most direct path, but instead get some life and work experiences first. I’m glad I came to the international work later in my career. You need to have maturity because the stakes are high. All your life-workexperiences will better prepare you for field work. Investigative work is all about building relationships whether it’s with a victim, a witness, the alleged perpetrator, the authorities, the village chief, a government official, a military commander, an NGO, or refugee camp director. We need to be able to understand an array of perspectives and handle difficult and sensitive situations in a mature and professional way. It would be hard to be a 25-year-old right out of an internship who then interviews a 70-year-old grandfather who has fled his country, lost his family, is now living in a refugee camp and looking to you to bring about justice. We are often a source of hope for victims and we have a responsibility to do this work well for them.
Build a foundation from local laws and practices first, as a solid reference. I came from a very clear criminal investigation profession, which I recognize is not for everyone. I think as a field practitioner it was a very helpful path. Early on I had a lot of hands-on courses, worked under trainers, and then started with smaller criminal cases and built my way up. I had a good systematic foundation of knowledge which I then got to practice and make mistakes without grave consequences. By the time I came to doing international work, my learning curve was about how to apply my domestic foundation to an international setting and specific contexts. In lieu of that, I recommend that people get some practical domestic experience early on if they can. Find a place where you can practice and make mistakes that don’t matter as much and hone your skills. Find good local and international courses. Read and follow reputable guidelines and protocols.
Find a variety of mentors to learn from and see different styles. Watch and learn from others. And know that you will still have gaps and weaknesses, and you’re still going to make mistakes. This work is too dynamic and fluid and there’s so much we can’t control. We never get it perfect, but hopefully we can make good decisions based on a solid foundation. And never forget the positive or negative impact we have on victims and witnesses and consequently their families and communities.
Request and demand the same opportunity for training, mentoring, and varied assignments that the men often get.Managers often hire or promote someone based on the fact that they have the experience and technical expertise and that divide will continue to grow and be reinforced until you can get that experience yourself. Women need to have the same opportunity as the men in building a track record. Usually the experience that is often valued is of a technical nature so do your best to build a diverse toolkit. There is more to investigations than interviewing so build up the additional skills as early as you can. Ask for the opportunities to learn the forensics, financial, open source, military, crime scene, and other specialized skills and knowledge. And for those of us who are in positions to mentor or advocate for, we also need to help create those opportunities for other women so they can build these track records.
Erin’s profile was discussed with and edited by Sareta Ashraph. Sareta is a barrister and consultant specialized in international criminal law, with expertise in the gendered commission and impact of international crimes. She serves as a Senior Legal Adviser to the the Center for Justice & Accountability, and to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide. She is a co-founder of ATLAS.