Lura’s colleague remarks that “she has shown resilience, passion, creativity, and problem-solving skills in challenging situations and is committed to feminist endeavors that guarantee equal rights and justice for all.”

Lura Morton is a specialist in women’s rights, feminist perspectives, human rights approaches, and civil society capacity building. A first-generation college student from rural Idaho, Lura earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative politics and government from the University of Puget Sound before embarking on an ambitious career in international development. Lura has served as an intern with the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the National Council on US-Arab Relations, and Amideast; graduated from the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center’s Advanced Arabic Program; and participated in The Campaign School at Yale University, which endeavors to increase the number and influence of women in elected and appointed office.

Lura most recently worked at Democracy International and the International Republic Institute, where she supported local communities in their fight for justice, representation, and good governance and advanced nearly 100 federal grant proposals focused on human rights, with an emphasis on women’s political rights. Lura’s colleague remarks that “she has shown resilience, passion, creativity, and problem-solving skills in challenging situations and is committed to feminist endeavors that guarantee equal rights and justice for all.”

Some of Lura’s most important work centered on building a program for women human rights defenders in Sudan to research, network, and create sustainable advocacy and intervention plans to address women’s pathways to leadership in the wake of the 2019 revolution, 2021 coup, and rising violence against women activists. This work deepened Lura’s interest in international legal studies and ultimately pushed her toward pursuing a JD at UM-Ann Arbor, where she is currently a law student. Lura intends to use her experience in international development, coupled with a law degree focused on international comparative and human rights law, to work with local human rights defenders and activists to create gender-responsive policy.

CEW+ celebrates Lura’s dedicated work as an international women’s human rights defender and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.