Soraya Bauwens > 1MCB > London, England > Barrister Profile

Soraya Bauwens

020 7452 8900 clerks@1mcb.com View profile View profile

Work Department

Crime, International Human Rights, International Criminal Law

Position

Soraya combines a busy Crown Court practice with an established career in international human rights. She is known for her robust advocacy, methodical analysis, and exceptional client care.

Soraya is an engaging trial advocate, frequently instructed in cases involving serious violence, large scale drugs trafficking and firearms offences, and is well regarded for her sensitive witness handling skills and strategic case preparation. She has prosecuted and defended in cases with an international and human rights element, including the trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation, historic child cruelty and sex offences, and large, multi-handed drugs and money laundering conspiracies.

Soraya has been led and appeared alone in regulatory and criminal matters, and is often instructed by governments, large consultancies and small boutique dispute advisory firms to advise on money laundering and terrorist financing legislation. She frequently advises on sanctions regimes, particularly under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 and UN Security Council sanctions measures.

Soraya is an established expert in capital defence and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, with her work towards abolishing the death penalty being described as ‘groundbreaking’. Before coming to the Bar, Soraya spearheaded Reprieve’s strategic casework in the MENA region and has frequently appeared before the UN as an advocate and expert on state compliance with international law.

She has guest lectured at Leiden University on terrorism and human rights, and at Goldsmiths University in London on the UN Universal Periodic Review mechanism to hold states to account for their human rights record.

In her international criminal practice, Soraya has been instructed in peoples’ genocide tribunals, as well as in cases involving victims of state-sponsored sexual violence and gender-based atrocity crimes. She has advised on complicity for war crimes of national banks and whether domestic legislation complies with the duty to prosecute genocide and war crimes.  She is trained and experienced in the conduct of Istanbul-protocol compliant investigations into torture and ill-treatment.

Soraya is an appointed member of the Accountability Unit, an NGO focusing on providing urgent legal support to obtain redress for survivors of gender-based rights violations in conflict settings and hold to account perpetrators of conflict related sexual violence. Soraya is also an appointed member of the Executive Committee of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales.

Career

Called to the Bar 2018

Languages



• Arabic (native)
• French (native)
• Hebrew (fluent)
• Spanish (intermediate)
• Farsi (beginner)
• Brazilian Portuguese (beginner)

Memberships

Bar Human Rights Committee

CPS Level 2 General Crime Panel Advocate

Education

BA (Hons) Arabic and Hebrew – The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Graduate Diploma in Law – BPP Law School

Bar Professional Training Course – City Law School, University of London