Boris Dittrich grew up in Utrecht and went to law school at Leiden University, working as a lawyer in Amsterdam from 1981 until 1989 and later as a judge in the district court of Alkmaar from 1989 until 1994.

Dittrich was strongly against Dutch military participation in the Afghan province of Uruzgan and he tried to persuade both the government and Parliament not to get involved in the war.

A few months later D66 withdrew its support from the government after three years because of a dispute with minister for integration and asylum affairs Rita Verdonk about the way she handled the issue of the Dutch passport of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

During his career, Dittrich became a national figure for his initiatives on issues like same-sex marriage, euthanasia, legalisation of specific forms of sex work, and decriminalising the use of soft drugs.

For instance when groups in Cameroon asked Human Rights Watch to research the effects of the law that criminalizes homosexual conduct in that country.

In all events human rights defenders from different parts of the world shared their personal stories about how discriminatory laws and practices influenced their lives.

In 2012 he received the Bob Angelo Medal, an award from the Nederlandse Vereniging tot Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC for defending the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people.

[2] On the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) May 17, 2013 Dittrich received the national Jos Brink Award from the Dutch government for his activism on LGBT rights during three decades.

In 2013 Dittrich also received a golden pin (Gouden Wimpel) on behalf of the Dutch Postcode Lottery for his LGBT work for Human Rights Watch.

In 2019 Dittrich received the ‘Living Legend Award’ from the organization Workplace Pride in the Netherlands and the Jillis Bruggeman Penning [nl] from the city of Schiedam for his work promoting LGBT rights.