On Thursday, April 2nd the American Corner Nablus held a Skype conference with the ِAmerican attorney and human rights advocate Mr. Omar Shakir.

The event was attended by Mr. Mohammad Abushehab, Instructor at the Faculty of law as well as a number of students from the Faculty, and other interested participants from a variety of academic fields.  The discussion included an overview of Mr. Shakir's professional background in law and human rights advocacy and how one can enter this field. Mr. .Shakir outlined different forms of human rights advocacy including lobbying, bringing law suits to organizations or countries, and creating reports that "name and shame".

Mr. Omar Shakir reflected on his work with the international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch and the importance of pursuing testimonial and opinions of people and organizations from every side of an issue as well as conducting interviews that allow the interviewee to recount the event how they remember it through open ended questions. Mr. Shakir also discussed the International Criminal Court, the cases he's previously worked on, and alternative ways to entering the field of human rights advocacy. 

To conclude the session, students had the opportunity to ask questions pertaining to human rights, Palestine, and reporting. 

Notes:

-       After receiving his BA from Stanford University, Mr. Shakir went on to receive an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University and a JD from Stanford Law School.  Omar Shakir was the 2013-2014 Arthur R. and Barbara D. Finberg Fellow at Human Rights Watch and currently is a Bertha Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York.