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 Director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program. He has more than 10 years experience in human rights litigation and advocacy in the U.S. and abroad. He leads ACLU human rights advocacy efforts before the United Nations' Human Rights Council and treaty bodies which regularly examine U.S. compliance with ratified human rights treaties. Since November 2004, Dakwar has observed numerous proceedings of the Guantánamo military commission system and advocated for the closure of the detention facility. He has also worked on and supported numerous ACLU cases challenging post 9/11 torture and detention policies such as Ali v. Rumsfeld, a suit challenging U.S. interrogation and detention practices in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Prior to joining the ACLU, he worked at Human Rights Watch where he conducted research and published reports on issues of torture and detention in Egypt, Morocco, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Before coming to the United States, Dakwar was a senior attorney with Adalah, a leading human rights group in Israel that focuses on issues concerning Arab Palestinian citizens. At Adalah, he filed and argued human rights cases before the Israeli Supreme Court and advocated before international forums. He received several human rights and public interest fellowships including the Furman International Human Rights Fellowship, New York University Law School's Public Service Law Fellowship, and the Washington College of Law - NIF Law Fellowship. Dakwar is 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.

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