Marika McAdam

Biography

Dr. Marika McAdam is an independent legal consultant and adviser on international human rights law and transnational organized crime. She has a PhD in international human rights law.

Marika is interested in the extent to which international human rights law protects the freedom of religion and belief of atheists and non-believers. She published a book on this topic, titled "Freedom from Religion and Human Rights Law: Strengthening the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief for Non-Religious and Atheist Rights-Holders" with Routledge in 2018.

Marika has written several technical publications on legislative and policy aspects of countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling for United Nations and other agencies, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Organisation for Migration. On these issues, she has had articles published in the International Human Rights Law Review and the Anti-Trafficking Review, also serving on the Editorial Board of the latter. Marika has also contributed chapters to academic books including The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery (Sage Publications, forthcoming 2018); the Routledge Handbook of Human Trafficking (Routledge, 2018) and the International Law in Australia, (3rd ed., Thomson Reuters, 2016).

In her work on criminal justice and human rights based responses to transnational crime, she has trained law enforcers, presented at international conferences, facilitated expert working meetings, conducted legislative assessments and carried out extensive qualitative research throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the South Caucasus.

Her forthcoming publications concern human trafficking in conflict settings, the ethics of data collection in human trafficking and protection of migrants at sea. She is currently researching trafficking shelter practices in the ASEAN region.  

Education

PhD, International Human Rights Law, Monash University

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

International human rights law; freedom of religion and belief; transnational organised crime; human trafficking; migrant smuggling

Personal Interests

In her non-legal life, Marika is a travel writer who has written Lonely Planet books about Bangladesh, India, Poland and the Western Balkans, and hosted travel television shows. She is an Australian who has lived in Europe, the Gulf and is currently based in Bangkok.

Books