Catherine Thornton is a Legal Adviser for the ICRC Regional Delegation to the Pacific, where she supports national authorities to adopt and implement international humanitarian law (IHL) and provides legal support for the ICRC’s activities in the region. Prior to joining the Regional Delegation in the Pacific, she was an Associate at the ICRC Legal Division.

Beyond the ICRC, Catherine worked at Universidad de La Sabana, Colombia, where she taught courses on IHL, and developed internationalised programs for Facultad de Estudios Jurídicos Políticos e Internacionales and supported the development of the 2025 Winter Directed Studies course at the Hague Academy. Her research in IHL has been published in the Anuario Iberoamericano sobre Derecho Internacional Humanitario. She holds a Master of International Law, Master of International Relations and Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Queensland, Australia.