Lucie Leblond is a master student in Humanitarian Action and is currently writing her thesis on the legislation and policies addressing sexual violence and homophobic crimes towards lesbian women in South Africa.
She also graduated from a Master of International Law, a two year program undertaken at University College London and the University of Stockholm. She has worked as assistant coordinator at a human rights NGO involved in promoting respect for the fundamental rights of Roma migrants in France and recognition of their rights before the law. She then interned at ORAM, a NGO dedicated to helping refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their home countries due to persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Both the populations she was been working with that year, the Roma people and LGBTI refugees, are suffering widespread, systemic discrimination and she came to realize that the most vulnerable were always the women. This is why Lucie decided to engage herself further in actions favouring empowerment of women and promoting gender equality. She is convinced that this goal cannot be achieved without engaging men to fight against gender inequality and sexual violence.
At Sonke, Lucie will be assisting the International Programmes and Networks Unit.
