Karen Tse
About Karen Tse
Recognised as “One of America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News World Report, International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) Founder and CEO Karen Tse has been instrumental in implementing groundbreaking measures in judicial reform in developing nations. Karen’s interest in the nexus between criminal law and human rights began as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, after observing Asian refugees detained in a local prison. As a U.N. Judicial Mentor, she pioneered rule of law initiatives, established the first arraignment court in Cambodia and trained the country’s first core group of public defenders. Karen founded International Bridges to Justice in 2000 to promote systemic global change in the administration of criminal justice, and truly launched the organization’s momentum by signing an MOU with the Chinese Ministry of Justice in 2001 to support Chinese criminal legal aid. This collaborative approach to engage all criminal justice stakeholders in the process of reforming legal systems to ensure basic legal rights to every individual has become the foundation to IBJ’s work. Karen is a graduate of UCLA Law School and Harvard Divinity School, has been featured in publications such as Forbes and The New York Times, and is this year’s recipient of Harvard Divinity’s First Decade Award and the American Bar Association's International Human Rights Award. As a leading social entrepreneur, she has been recognised by the Skoll Foundation, Ashoka and Echoing Green.