Asha Allen is Director and Secretary General of the CDT Europe Office in Brussels. She previously served as CDT Europe’s Deputy Director and Programme Director for Online Expression & Civic Space. In that capacity, she led our work on issues at the intersection of online expression, civic engagement, and technology, focusing on advocating for the preservation of fundamental rights in European Union/Regional legislation, and democratic accountability in industry content policies.
Asha came to CDT as an intersectional digital rights advocate, with an extensive background in combating online gender-based violence, having worked on projects with the United Nations, Council of Europe and OSCE. She coordinated the #HerNetHerRights II campaign which aimed to increase women’s safety and participation online during the European elections. Reaching over 3 million people, she established herself as the leading policy expert in this field in Brussels.
Asha emerged into this area having worked as policy officer in the field of gender-based and domestic violence, and as an independent researcher, she has published analyses on the intersection between online discourse and the securitisation of migration, and the online facilitation of human trafficking. In her spare time, Asha is one of six women who front the Who Writes the Rules Campaign, which advocates for increased participation of women of colour in EU policy making and the tech industry.
Asha completed an internship in the European Parliament and holds a BA in American Studies and MA in Transnational Studies from the University of Kent. Alongside an MSc in European Studies from KU Leuven, where she specialised in transnational and global perspectives, international human rights law, and EU policy making.
