Researchers

Kyung-eun Lee is the founder and director of Human Rights Beyond Borders (HRBB), a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of individuals affected by transnational systems—particularly in the context of intercountry adoption, migration, and statelessness. Through HRBB, she works to promote accountability, structural reform, and international cooperation in addressing cross-border human rights injustices.

Alongside her leadership of HRBB, Lee currently serves as an advisor to the Supreme Court’s Sentencing Committee and as an auditor for Yonhap News Agency. Her career spans decades of work in the field of human rights, including her roles as a research professor at Korea University’s Human Rights Center and as an advisor to the National Assembly, the National Human Rights Commission, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2018 to 2020, she also served as the director of Amnesty International Korea. Between 1995 and 2017, Lee held various positions as a government officer for the Republic of Korea, including in the Ministry of Health and Welfare, where she contributed to policy-making and administrative reforms.

Drawing from her combined experience in government service, academic research, and human rights advocacy, Lee views intercountry adoption as a reflection of Korea’s compounded social and historical traumas, including forms of state violence against vulnerable populations. She advocates for a coordinated and collaborative international response, emphasizing the need for systemic change in both sending and receiving countries to address the long-standing injustices embedded in global adoption systems.

E-mail addresses: contact@hrbb.org, kyung.lee@hrbb.org