Today, esteemed human rights lawyer and marie claire Woman of the Year, Jennifer Robinson, was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize by the Sydney Peace Foundation.
The prestigious award recognises individuals and movements whose work embodies the pursuit of peace with justice and the practice of nonviolence.
Best known for her work defending key human rights and media freedom cases and representing high-profile clients, including WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange, Robinson is a powerhouse in her field.
In 2024, she brought Assange back to Australian soil after a 14-year, politically charged legal battle. Assange had been fighting extradition to the United States for publishing leaked government documents.
“Julian revealed evidence of war crimes and human rights abuses – and was being prosecuted for it. I couldn’t walk away from that injustice. Fourteen years is a long time to stick with the case and a client through some very difficult political times,” Robinson told marie claire.
Robinson has also advised on major defamation cases, including advising Amber Heard during Johnny Depp’s UK libel lawsuit against The Sun newspaper.
After Heard received death threats, so did Robinson. But nothing will silence her. In fact, her work has become fuel for exposing how the law silences women, which she has written about in her book How Many More Women? and a new documentary, Silenced, which premieres in Australia next month at The Sydney Film Festival.
“One thing I really wanted to get across in the book is the importance of protecting women’s right to speak about their experiences, because we can’t properly fund or make policies around gendered violence if we don’t know the extent of the problem,” says Robinson.
Robinson grew up in Berry on the south coast of New South Wales and studied at the Australian National University before moving to England to study at Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
She is also the youngest Australian woman to have appeared before the International Court of Justice.
Today Robinson’s work will be recognised alongside international figures including Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson and Xanana Gusmao.
Congratulations, Jen, we couldn’t be prouder!
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