Dr Sabine K Witting
CEO Africa and Europe
Human Rights Lawyer
PhD in Law (Title: ‘Child sexual abuse in the digital era – Rethinking legal frameworks and transnational law enforcement collaboration), Leiden University, 2020
CDT (Centre for Democracy and Technology) Non-resident Fellow
Advanced Legislative Drafting Certification, University of Cape Town, 2022
State examination in Law (equals Master’s degree), Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 2015
About Sabine
Dr Sabine K Witting is a German lawyer and academic with over 10 years of experience in human rights, child rights and digital technologies.
With a passion for Constitutional law and European law during her studies in Germany and China, Sabine always had a keen interest in advancing human rights, particularly those of vulnerable groups, in a rapidly changing digital environment. Sabine started off working for the United Nations on tech law and policy in Eastern and Southern Africa in 2015. During this time, she saw first-hand how digital technologies have the potential to become a positive human rights catalyst, enabling the ones furthest left behind to reach their full potential. At the same time, she always advocated for strict human rights safeguards, to ensure that even well-intended tech innovations do not have adverse impacts on human rights. She returned to independent consulting in 2022 to work with UNICEF’s East Asia and Pacific Regional Office on Children’s Rights and Digital Technologies. In this role, she advised governments, regional bodies, the private sector and UN agencies on laws and policies dealing with human rights, business sector responsibility and digital technologies.
In addition to her work in human rights law in Africa and Asia, Sabine is a committed academic. She holds a PhD in Law from Leiden University and is currently an Assistant Professor for Law and Digital Technologies at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies (Leiden University). Her research focuses on the intersection between human rights, children’s rights, platform regulation and digital technologies, with a focus on the EU. She has provided expert advice on these topics to the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the German Government and the German Bundestag, in addition to speaking at numerous international and national conferences. She recently published a book on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has authored journal articles, blog posts, and newspaper articles on human rights, children’s rights and digital technologies.
Sabine is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and was certified as a legal drafter in 2022 (University of Cape Town).
She is based in Zimbabwe.
Publications
2018
Transnational Cybercrime against Children – An analysis of legal standards and concepts in: Shaping the Human Security Landscape in Southern Africa
Konrad Adenauer Foundation Namibia
2018
The "Greyscale" of "Child Pornography": Of Mangas, Avatars and School Girls: Part 1 and 2
Computer and Telecommunications Law Review
