Executive Director of Human Rights at Sea International, David Hammond is a former UK military seafarer, veteran Royal Marines Officer and qualified English barrister with a criminal, Public International Law and human rights background. He is the Founder of Human Rights at Sea having established the innovative international policy and advocacy NGO in 2013. This included conceiving the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea in April 2019, achieving UN ECOSOC accreditation in December 2022, authoring in excess of 90 international publications and being involved in law and policy changes in over 50 states before stepping back as CEO in early 2024 to pursue front-end consultancy work. He has practical maritime and legal experience having operated in the North and South Atlantic Oceans, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf and South China Seas. He has also worked in complex and conflict-affected environments advising on human rights, International Humanitarian Law and conducting research and investigations up-to-and-including state, EU and UN level”