In Memoriam - William "Spence" Spencer

William “Spence” Spencer was the Founder and first Executive Director of IILHR. Spencer had more than 25 years of professional experience in diplomacy, human rights, democracy and governance, international law, and crisis management and response, both as a career diplomat and as an advocate in the field. He was intimately familiar with post-conflict rebuilding and peace and constitutional negotiations in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

In 1996, Spencer helped to configure Bosnia’s first post-war elections and oversaw implementation of human rights components of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a career foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department, Spencer served as Senior Duty Officer in the White House Situation Room, supported Transatlantic institutions such as NATO and the OSCE, and coordinated policy and resource support for human rights in the former Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal. He served as a delegate to the Rome Conference to establish an International Criminal Court in 1998.

In Iraq, he advised the government on diverse constitutional and legislative issues from 2005 to 2024. He oversaw a legal team that advised both the Iraqi Federal and Kurdistan Regional parliaments, and he worked on accountability and justice issues with Iraq’s judiciary. He passed away on February 1, 2024, leaving behind an enduring legacy of humanitarianism and human rights advocacy.