Seham Areff is a human rights lawyer, policy advisor and strategy consultant to global leaders in the tech, healthcare, multilateral and philanthropic sectors. Seham has spent her career advising senior leaders on geopolitics, international law, business and human rights, tech policy and the multilateral system. She is an expert in strategy, public policy and advocacy, especially for organisations leveraging technology to scale programmes and impact. Most of Seham’s current work focuses on geopolitics, AI policy and governance, and supporting South-South dialogues on tech, health and climate action.

Seham started her career in law: She clerked for Justice Johann van der Westhuizen at the Constitutional Court of South Africa before studying a Masters in Law and a Masters in International Development at the University of Oxford with a focus on international criminal law, human rights, and armed conflict. This continues to be a thread throughout her professional and personal work on human rights issues and responsible technology. In her personal capacity, Seham has assisted in submissions to the International Criminal Court to investigate the targeting of Palestinian journalists and is currently assisting the AI Now Institute’s advocacy around international law’s obligations on the use of AI in autonomous weapons systems. She also serves on the Boards of Promising Trouble and Ndifuna Ukwazi.