Karen Hulme

Karen Hulme joined the School of Law at Essex in 2001. She has particular interests in environmental law, the laws of armed conflict and environmental rights. She has worked with the Essex Business and Human Rights Project (EBHR) on a number of reports and consultancies on the extractives industry, including legislation amendments and human rights impact monitoring, and, in particular, on issues of environmental law and environmental human rights.

In 2013 EBHR was commissioned to advise on necessary amendments to Afghanistan’s new Mining Code and Regulations for Global Witness, A Shaky Foundation: Analysing Afghanistan's Draft Mining Law, and in 2013 we were commissioned by Amnesty International, writing an opinion for the OECD National Contact Point examining the legal standards and human right responsibilities of the mining company licensed to undertake the Phulbari coal mining project (the opinion is soon to be published on the NCP website). In 2013 we were commissioned by Amnesty International (Netherlands) to advise on necessary amendments to Senegal’s (Gold) Mining Code in order to ensure compliance with their ECOWAS obligations.

Karen also works with an NGO, the Toxic Remnants of War Project (part of ICBUW – International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons), as an adviser on humanitarian, environmental and human rights issues in eliminating battlefield TRW. In 2009 Karen contributed, alongside the International Committee for the Red Cross, to the report for UNEP on Protecting the Environment during Armed Conflict: An Inventory and Analysis of International Law. Karen is currently writing a report for the UN Independent Expert on the right to a healthy environment – the report is on the right to a healthy environment in times of armed conflict, and is a member of the IUCN, including their special expert group on Warfare and Environment.