Patricia Iacob

Focus

Patricia Iacob joined our Brussels office in September 2021. She provides legal support to civil society organisations in Gabon for the development and implementation of sustainable forest management processes. The aim is to empower forest-dependent communities to protect Gabon’s vital forests.

Experience

Before joining ClientEarth, she carried out policy work on non-discrimination and Roma rights at the department for justice (DG JUST) in the European Commission. Previously, she was a lawyer at regional and international courts (the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and the UN Tribunal for the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia) and an active member of several international human rights NGOs. She combined human rights academic and grassroots work and delivered legal trainings for community women during a long-term deployment in Nepal.

Education

She graduated in Romanian and European Law at University Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and holds an LL.M in International Human Rights Law from Lund University (Sweden). She qualified as a lawyer in Romania.

Forests have taken the stage in the global climate change mitigation talks. Their protection takes place at the local level and preservation cannot be conceived without securing the ownership rights of all forest-dependent communities. Each group carries a message. Contributing to the development and implementation of laws that give voice to traditionally marginalized groups in the governance of our vital resources is immensely rewarding.