Andrew Stroehlein

Andrew Stroehlein is an American/Belgian/British journalist, communications professional, and human-rights activist who currently serves as European media director of Human Rights Watch. Based in Brussels, he is responsible for the organization's media activity in Europe, Central Asia, and West Africa. He previously spent nine years as director of communications for the International Crisis Group.

Early life and education

Stroehlein attended Cornell University from 1986 to 1989 and earned a BS in biology. He attended Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic in 1995 and 1996, receiving a certificate in Czech. In 1996 and 1997 he attended the University of Glasgow, earning an M.Phil. in post-communist Central Europe.

From August 2001 to August 2003, he served as training co-ordinator at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. He established IWPR's journalism training program, educating over 1500 journalists in 23 countries, hired and managed trainers for aspiring journalists in Europe and Asia, and coordinated with other NGOs.

He was director of communications for the International Crisis Group from September 2003 to February 2013. Based in Brussels, he directed a media operation active in over 60 countries.

While at the International Crisis Group, he was included on Foreign Policy magazine's 2011 "Twitterati 100" list, the "who's who of the foreign-policy Twitterverse."

In 2017, Spanish foreign policy magazine Esglobal named him one of the 20 most influential experts on Twitter. In the same year, he was named one of the "top 40 EU digital influencers" by Euractiv and ZN Consulting, and again in 2018. In 2019, in addition to being named a top-40 "EU Influencer", he was the top influencer in the "migration and human rights" category, and in 2020, he won that category once more and was the number one "EU Influencer" in the "EU Politics" category. He was the top "EU Influencer" overall in 2022.

On Twitter he is followed by former president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Publications

Stroehlein writes Human Rights Watch's "Daily Brief" newsletter every day. The newsletter was named an honoree in the Webby Awards in 2025.

Stroehlein's commentary articles have appeared in "most major newspapers in Europe and North America, and many in Asia and Africa as well."

In a 2015 essay for Politico, he reported on the war crimes trial of former Chadian president Hissène Habré. In a 2014 article, "40,000 Reasons Why Sri Lanka Is No Model for Nigeria", he criticized the plan by Nigeria to use the "Sri Lankan method" to crush Boko Haram. A 2013 article for The Independent (UK) lamented "Liberia's post-civil war reality", and a 2012 article for the same newspaper entitled "On the Trail of Boko Haram", he reported from northern Nigeria. A 2011 piece for CNN addressed the question of "Why Uzbekistan matters". In another 2011 essay, "Lessons from a Decade of Conflict", for Al-Quds Al-Arabi, he wrote that ten years after 9/11, "it is tempting to wonder if the world has not learned anything at all about conflict and conflict resolution."

In the Financial Times in 2006, he called for "expanding freedom of information projects reporting to and about Uzbekistan." In 2003, he wrote for Time magazine about the influence of Russian media in Belarus. In a 2002 essay, "Censorship Wins Out", published in Online Journalism Review and reprinted in McGraw-Hill book called 75 Arguments, Stroehlein argued that the role of web-based information in authoritarian states was similar to samizdat in former communist Czechoslovakia.

Stroehlein has also authored tens of articles in the Czech daily Britské listy.

Miscellaneous

He is proficient in Czech, German, and Russian.