Helen has been a researcher at Omega since 2009. She works on issues surrounding military and law enforcement weapons including researching and analysing the manufacture and trade of specific weapons of concen, the manufacturing capabilities of various countries, circumstances surrounding the use of weapons, weapons identification, and export control.
She has a regional focus on Asia, as part of our current programme of work under the United Against Torture Consortium she is collaborating with KontraS in Indonesia on use of law enforcement equipment in the policing of protests and in places of detention. She also runs workshops for human rights defenders and people monitoring places of detention on identifying and documenting weapons and equipment used by law enforcement officers. Her recent work in this area has included collaborating with OSCE-ODIHR and Exeter University to provide training for National Preventive Mechanisms in the OSCE region on how to assess legislation and guidelines on use of force in places of detention, and how to monitor and document equipment used.