Faculty Profile (Back to Menu)
Karima Bennoune
Professor of Law and Arthur L. Dickson Scholar
Professor Bennoune graduated from a joint program in law and Middle Eastern and North African studies at the University of Michigan, earning a J.D. cum laude from the law school and an M.A. from the Rackham Graduate School, as well as a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies. In 1995 she served as a Center for Women’s Global Leadership delegate to the NGO Forum at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. From 1995 until 1999, she was based in London as a legal adviser at Amnesty International. Before coming to Rutgers, Professor Bennoune was a visiting scholar and then visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
Her publications have appeared in many academic journals, including the American Journal of International Law, the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, the European Journal of International Law, and the Michigan Journal of International Law, and have been widely cited, including by the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Her most recent article, “Terror/Torture,” is the lead article in the Berkeley Journal of International Law in spring 2008. In 2007, Professor Bennoune became the first Arab-American to win the Derrick Bell Award from the Association of American Law Schools Section on Minority Groups. From 2003-2006, she was a member of the executive council of the American Society of International Law. She also served on the board of directors of Amnesty International USA from 2005-2008. Currently, she sits on the board of trustees of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Professor Bennoune has also been a consultant on human rights issues for the International Council on Human Rights Policy, the Soros Foundation and for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Her human rights field missions have included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Korea, southern Thailand, and Tunisia.