Hanny Megally

Hanny Megally has more than 45 years of experience in the field of human rights, transitional justice, philanthropy and conflict resolution. He currently serves as the Deputy Director and Senior Fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation focusing on improving justice outcomes for victims/survivors in Syria and other conflict-related countries in the MENA region. During his career he has held senior positions in both civil society and at the United Nations.

At the UN, he served as the Director of the Asia, Pacific, Middle East, and North Africa Branch of OHCHR and since 2017, he has been a Commissioner on the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria.

He served for over seven years at the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), including as Vice President for Programmes.

From 1997 to 2003 he was the Executive Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch. Prior to that, he oversaw the Ford Foundation’s Human Rights funding in the Middle East and North Africa.   He also headed Amnesty International’s programmes in the Middle East and North Africa from 1984 to 1993 and previously served as their researcher in the region.  He is originally from Egypt but lives now in New York.