United Kingdom || In its annual meeting held on October 26, 2022, Law for Palestine’s (L4P) Board of Trustees (BOT) welcomed Prof. Michael Lynk to the BOT and discussed the organization’s accomplishments and performance. The Board was convened meeting the quorum of 50% of its members. The Board virtual meeting started with reviewing the performance in the past year, discussing and overseeing the organization’s policies and strategies ensuring it is in line with its mission.
Members of the Board of Directors (BOD) were invited to brief the BOT on the Organization’s performance, achievements and challenges. The BOT was in consensus that the Organization’s performance was praiseworthy, especially considering the volunteering nature of its work till the moment. The BOT recommended solutions to overcome the challenges and decided to create an ad hoc working group involving some members of the BOT and BOD.
Professor S. Michael Lynk has been a Law for Palestine Board of Trustees member since October 2022. He is an Associate Professor of Law at Western University in London, Ontario. Between 2016 and 2022, he served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. Earlier in his career, Prof. Lynk worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on human rights and refugee issues in Jerusalem.
The Board of Trustees of Law for Palestine currently comprises 12 members of senior international law professors and jurists interested in the question of Palestine: Prof. John Dugard, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories (2001-2008) and former judge at the International Court of Justice; Prof. Michael Lynk, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories; Prof. 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; and Prof. Mutaz Qafisheh, L4P Chair of Board of Trustees.
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.
