Peter Bouckaert
Peter Bouckaert
Emergencies Director, Human Rights Watch

Mr. Bouckaert is the Human Rights Watch emergencies director and an expert in humanitarian crises. He is responsible for coordinating the organization's response to major wars and other human rights crises.

A Belgian-born Stanford Law School graduate specializing in the laws of war, Bouckaert is a veteran of fact-finding missions to Lebanon, Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Macedonia, Indonesia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, and many other war zones. His most recent assignments include investigating the September 28, 2009, stadium massacre and rapes in Guinea, the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and the 2005 massacre of hundreds of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan. He has testified about war crimes before the United States Senate, the Council of Europe, and at the Yugoslav Tribunal (ICTY) in the Hague.

Mr. Bouckaert has written opinion pieces for papers around the world. His work has been profiled in Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Stanford Lawyer, and The Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper.

Frontlines of Humanitarian Crises

At the scene of a human rights crises, it is critical to understand the situation on the ground, make prompt judgments, and act swiftly.
At the scene of a human rights crises, it is critical to understand the situation on the ground, make prompt judgments, and act swiftly.