American Civil Liberties Union : Biography of Jamil Dakwar

The ACLU Human Rights Program works to ensure that the U.S. government complies with universal human rights principles in addition to the U.S. Constitution. The Program uses human rights strategies to complement existing ACLU advocacy on national security, immigrants' rights, women's rights and racial justice. Learn more about the Human Rights Program.

Biography of Jamil Dakwar

Jamil Dakwar is the Director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program. He has more than 10 years of human rights litigation and advocacy experience in the U.S. and abroad. He is leading the ACLU human rights advocacy before the U.N. Human Rights Council and treaty bodies which regularly examine U.S. compliance with ratified human rights treaties. He is one of a team of ACLU lawyers litigating Ali v. Rumsfeld, a suit challenging U.S. interrogation and detention practices in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dakwar is also the co-chair of the American Constitution Society's Working Group on International Law and the Constitution, which focuses on the relationship between international law and the Constitution, and the implications of this relationship for human rights.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Dakwar worked at Human Rights Watch, where he conducted research and published reports on issues of torture and detention in Egypt, Morocco and Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories. Before coming to the United States, Dakwar was a senior attorney with Adalah, one of the most prominent human rights groups in Israel focusing on Arab Palestinian citizens. At Adalah, Dakwar filed and argued dozens of human rights cases before the Israeli Supreme Court, and advocated before international bodies. Dakwar received several human rights and public interest fellowships including the Furman International Human Rights Fellowship, NYU Law School Public Service Law Fellowship and Washington College of Law - NIF Law Fellowship. Dakwar received his law degree from Tel-Aviv University and LL.M. from New York University Law School.

IN THIS SECTION

RELATED INFORMATION