Hanny Megally is a Senior Fellow and Deputy Director at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation focusing on violent extremism, human rights and rule of law. He came to CIC after being the Chief of the Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
Previously, he was Vice-President for Programs at the International Center for Transitional Justice, which he joined in 2003. He has more than forty years of experience in the field of human rights, transitional justice and conflict resolution, and began his professional career at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in 1977. From 1984 to 1994, he headed the Middle East Research department at Amnesty International, based in London. Subsequently, he ran the Ford Foundation’s social justice program in the Middle East from the Foundation’s Cairo office, and from 1997 to 2003 he was the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division of Human Rights Watch.
He has overseen country programs and traveled extensively in the MENA and Asia/Pacific regions, including leading human rights investigation missions and conducting high-level discussions with heads of state and governments. He is a widely sought after commentator on human rights and political developments, particularly in the MENA region.
