Omar Shakir, "Human Rights Advocacy in Israel/Palestine & Apartheid"

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There is consensus today in the global human rights movement, spanning the major Israeli, Palestinian and international organizations, that Israeli authorities are committing the crime against humanity of apartheid against millions of Palestinians. More and more other voices, from the former Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry and ex UN Secretary General to the governments of South Africa and Namibia and foreign ministers of Luxemburg and France, have also referenced apartheid in relation to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine Director Omar Shakir, who authored the organization’s major report on Israel’s apartheid and who the Israeli government deported in late 2019 over his human rights advocacy, will present how Human Rights Watch reached the apartheid determination and the road forward to dismantling apartheid.

Omar Shakir serves as the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, where he investigates human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza and has authored several major reports, including a 2021 report comprehensively documenting how Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of Palestinians. As a result of his advocacy, the Israeli government deported Omar in November 2019. Prior to his current role, he was a Bertha Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he focused on US counterterrorism policies, including legal representation of Guantanamo detainees. As the 2013-14 Arthur R. and Barbara D. Finberg Fellow at Human Rights Watch, he investigated human rights violations in Egypt, including the Rab’a massacre, one of the largest killings of protesters in a single day.