05/08/2026
The conference Deinstitutionalization: 30 Years of Fighting for Human Rights – From Institutions to Community (14 October 2026, Hotel Terme Brežice) brings together voices, experiences and knowledge that co-create a future where everyone has equal rights. Find out more about the conference here.
Siobhán McInerney-Lankford is a human rights lawyer with expertise in EU and international human rights law. She is Head of Unit at the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) and Chair of the FRA Legal Task Force.
From 2002-2023 she worked for the World Bank Legal Department, serving as both an operational and advisory lawyer, including as legal advisor to the Bank’s Human Rights Trust Fund. Prior to that she worked in private practice in Washington, D.C..
Siobhán has taught human rights law as an adjunct and is currently an external practitioner for the Oxford MSc in International Human Rights Law. She is the author of over sixty publications.
She holds an LL.B. from Trinity College, Dublin, (First Class Honors), an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and a B.C.L. and D.Phil. (EU human rights law) both from Oxford. She is admitted to practice law in Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.
Siobhán McInerney-Lankford will take part in the panel discussion on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). She will also contribute to the session “The Right to Safety, Physical and Mental Integrity”, where she will present the key findings of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report on violence against persons with disabilities in institutional settings. Her presentation will also highlight the harmful effects of institutional culture and the violence experienced by people living in institutions.