About the speaker
Raji Sourani is a Palestinian lawyer who has defended and promo
ted human rights in Palestine, the Middle East, and North Africa for decades. As the most prominent human rights lawyer based in the Gaza Strip, he established the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) in 1995 to document and investigate human rights violations committed during Israeli occupation and has defended countless victims before Israeli courts. Sourani has never hesitated to speak truth to power and has been imprisoned six times by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Among others, it is thanks to the work of PCHR and other human rights organizations that the International Criminal Court ruled in 2021 that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.
Raji Sourani was Amnesty International’s prisoner of conscience in 1985 and 1988, a member of the International Commission of Jurists EXCO and IDAL EXCO, and vice-president of the International Federation of Human Rights. He was the recipient of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1991 and was awarded the Right Livelihood Award on 26 September 2013 for his unwavering dedication to the rule of law and human rights under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Sourani served a three-year sentence [1979-1982] imposed by an Israeli court for membership in the Palestine Liberation Movement (PLO) and was also denied a US entry visa in 2012. Sourani was imprisoned three more times, in 1985 and 1986, and held in administrative detention in 1988. On 22 October 2023, Sourani and his family survived bombardment by Israeli airstrikes after his home was destroyed. He now resides in Egypt.
About the seminar
Mr. Sourani will speak first about the work that they do as an organisation, to what extent are international law and international human rights useful and used in their work, and to what extent they work together with academia. After his presentation, there will be some prepared comments and the possibility to ask questions. This presentation will provide insights on the work of NGOs in the context of an armed conflict and occupation and the challenges related to such work.
The event will be moderated by Professor Gentian Zyberi of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights.
Raji Sourani is in Oslo from 22 - 26 April, among other things to participate in the conference "How to ensure the prosecution of war crimes and genocide - internationally and nationally", on 23 April from 13:00 to 16:30 at Litteraturhuset. This conference is organized by the association Defend International Law.
Registration
The seminar is open to all. We do however kindly ask you to register for the event.