Dr. Mutaz M. Qafisheh elected as Chair of Law for Palestine’s Board of Trustees
United Kingdom, 8th July 2021
In its first annual meeting held in two separate sessions on June 8 and 28, 2021, Law for Palestine’s (L4P) Board of Trustees discussed and adopted its Statute, which regulates issues related to the membership of the board, its powers, the organization of its work. Additionally, members of the Board discussed and approved the Organization’s vision and objectives and were briefed on the Organization’s achievements and its financial report for the past year. The session also covered the Organization’s strategy for the coming years.
The Board of Trustees, based on the adopted Statute, elected Dr. Mutaz Qafisheh as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the period 2021-2024. Dr. Qafisheh is an Associate Professor of International Law and former dean of the College of Law and Political Science of Hebron University and former director and founder of its legal clinics. He holds a PhD in international law from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland.
Dr. Qafisheh previously worked as a Human Rights Officer at the United Nations in Geneva. He was also deputy director for the Middle East region at the United Nations Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Beirut and headed the OHCHR office in Ramallah. He previously held the position of director of the legal education program in Palestinian law schools. He also advised several international organizations, including the UN, NGOs, PLO Negotiation Department and represented the Palestinian Bar Association, as an attorney-at-law, before the International Criminal Court.
On the academic level, Dr. Qafisheh has authored six books and over 50 peer-reviewed papers published in international journals in Oxford, Cambridge, London, Paris, The Hague, New York, Washington, Geneva, Leiden, Sydney, Oslo, and others, and supervised doctoral theses in several countries. Dr. Qafisheh has worked in 15 countries and is a member of a number of global bodies, including the Academic Board of Cambridge University Centre for Palestine Studies, International Law Association Headquarters, World Academy of Art and Sciences, New York University’s Scholars at Risk Network, and Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law.
The Board of Trustees of Law for Palestine currently comprises 11 members of senior international law professors and jurists interested in the question of Palestine. They are Prof. John Dugard, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories and former judge at the International Court of Justice; Dr. Anis F. Qassem, a prominent international lawyer, former editor-in-chief of the Yearbook for Palestine and International Law (1984-2000) and the legal counsel of Palestine team before International Court of Justice on the wall case.
The Board also incorporates Ms. Abeer Baker, a lawyer specializing in criminal and constitutional law and former member of Yesh Din’s Public Council; Dr. Alice Panipinto, Lecturer of International Law at Queen’s University Belfast, UK; Dr. Ammar Dwaik, Director General of the Independent Commission for Human Rights and former director of Palestinian Elections Commission; Dr. Basem Boshnaq, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and Advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross; Dr. Muayad Hattab, Assistant Professor of Law and former dean of the Faculty of Law of An-Najah National University and legal advisor at Arden Legal Consulting, UK; Dr. Munir Nuseibah, Assistant Professor of International Law at Al-Quds University and Director of its Human Rights Clinic and Policy Advisor at Al-Shabaka – Palestinian Policy Network; Ms. Rawan Husseini, lawyer and legal advisor to UN Women; and Dr. Salah Abdel-Ati, member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Institute for Middle East Studies and former director of the Palestinian Center Research and Policy in Gaza.
It is noteworthy that Law for Palestine is a non-profit organization registered in both the United Kingdom and Sweden, and was established in March 2020 with the aim of building and creating a global network of legal professionals interested in Palestine and providing objective Palestinian legal content. It also seeks to spread awareness, increasing knowledge and generating dialogue with regard to the question of Palestine from the perspective of international law, and laying the foundations for a comprehensive system that documents academic and policy works pertaining to international law and Palestine.
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