IDP Business and Human Rights

Mirka Fries studied German and International Law (LL.B.) in Münster and Potsdam (Germany), as well as international criminal law and human rights law (LL.M.) at the University of Amsterdam and Columbia Law School, New York. She gained first professional experience at the International Criminal Court and with human rights NGOs focusing on children’s rights and working with victims of sexual violence and refugees. After finishing her degrees, Mirka participated in the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs. During the year of her Fellowship, she worked on legal and political questions arising in the context of the recruitment and use of child soldiers, i.a. in Uganda. In 2018, Mirka joined the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, where she worked as a Bertha Fellow in the organization’s Business and Human Rights and International Crimes and Accountability departments. She finished her placement in 2020 to return to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, where she supported the team prosecuting Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman. Find out more about her PhD Project here.