Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Helmi Muhammad Ahmad Al-Zawati was born in Nablus in 1953. He is married and has three children. He studied primary school at Al-Ittihad School in Beit Iba, then continued his secondary education at King Talal and Al-Jahiz Secondary Schools in Nablus, from which he obtained his high school diploma in the literary branch in 1972. He obtained a diploma in teaching English from Khadouri Institute in Tulkarm in 1974, a bachelor's degree in law from Beirut Arab University in Lebanon in 1978, a postgraduate diploma in public law from the University of Khartoum in Sudan in 1985, a master's degree in comparative international law from the University of the Punjab in Pakistan in 1986, a master's degree in economics from the same university in 1987, a doctorate in political economy from Columbia Pacific University in the United States in 1993, a master's degree in comparative law from McGill University in Canada in 1998, and a doctorate in international criminal law from the same university in 2004.
He worked in the Media and International Relations Department of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) from 1981 to 1991, where he oversaw publications and served as editor of the quarterly journal "Oil and Arab Cooperation," which focuses on energy issues. During this period, he was seconded to teach petroleum media at Kuwait University. He also worked as a visiting professor at Bishop's University in Canada from 1994 to 2005. He has headed several legal research and studies centers and is a member of a number of American and Canadian legal associations. He chaired the International Legal Advocacy Foundation (ILAF), based in Montreal, Canada, from 2006 to 2015. Since 2015, he has founded and directed the Centre for International Accountability and Justice (CIAJ), also based in Montreal, Canada. In addition to his work in research, he is an international human rights lawyer.
In addition to his academic achievements, Al-Zawati is a poet, playwright, and novelist. He has participated in numerous poetry festivals in Palestine and abroad, and has given many interviews to Arab magazines about his poetic experience and literary views. He has published several poetry collections, including: *Songs of the Wound* (1970), *The Scent of Blood* (1973), *With Spears on the Face of Loss* (1976), *The Opening of Death and Anger* (1978), *The Trilogy of Death and Departure* (1978), *A Kiss on the Forehead of the Sun* (1979), *Poems Forbidden to Roam* (1982), *The Horses Refuse the Saddle* (1982), *Agon from the Cities of Ash* (1983), *My Heart Is for My Homeland* (1985), and his complete poetic works in multiple volumes (published seven times, most recently in 2019). He also wrote a novel titled *Sailing in the Memory of the Homeland: An Autobiographical Tale* (1982), and three plays: *The Flame of Wounds* (1972), *Dancing on the Edge of the Knife*, and *The Sword's Edge*. (1976), and The Embrace of Death (1977), and his literary studies include: In the Realms of the Sun: Art, Childhood, and Occupation (1979), and The Militant Face of Palestinian Folk Song in Kuwait (1982). His poetic works have been translated into several languages.
Al-Zawati was interested in legal and political studies and taught, researched and lectured in the fields of public international law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human rights law, international environmental law of armed conflicts, Islamic law, the concept of war and peace between Islam and public international law, and the failure of international law mechanisms to stop the genocide in Gaza.
Zawati has been active in the field of human rights since the early 1990s. He was a critic of the performance of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone, and later the International Criminal Court, for failing to prosecute perpetrators of sexual violence during armed conflicts. He developed the theory of fair procedural designation and proportionality in international criminal law, and drafted the Charter of the World People's Court to prosecute perpetrators of sexual violence during the Arab Spring. Zawati's legal opinions are documented in the records of the International Criminal Court and American and European national courts with universal jurisdiction. Some of his books are considered standard textbooks in law schools at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford.
Rafeh Al-Zawati spoke on behalf of victims of sexual violence during the Arab Spring before the Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in the Canadian Parliament, as well as before the Human Rights Committee of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development in the Canadian House of Commons, in March and May 2015. His arguments helped convince the Canadian government to host thousands of Syrian immigrants who were subjected to the most heinous forms of abuse during the Arab Spring.
He published more than 160 research papers, studies, and articles. Among his studies published in Arabic are: Palestinian Rights Between Theoretical Reality and Practical Application in the Occupied Territories (1979), Self-Rule and the Expected Palestinian State (1981), and International Law and Jewish Settlements in the Occupied Arab Territories (1986). He also has books in English, including:
International Energy Political Economics: OAPEC and Arab Joint Ventures, 1968-1992 (1995)
“The Political Economy of International Energy: The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and Arab Joint Ventures, 1968-1992”
Is Jihad a Just War? War, Peace, and Human Rights under Islamic and Public International Law (2001)
“Is Jihad a Just War? War, Peace, and Human Rights in Islamic Law and Public International Law”
The Triumph of Ethnic Hatred and the Failure of International Political Will: Gendered Violence and Genocide in the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (2010)
“The triumph of racial hatred and the failure of international political will: Gender-based violence and genocide in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.”
Fair Labeling and the Dilemma of Prosecuting Gender-Based Crimes at the International Criminal Tribunals (2014)
“Fair classification and the dilemma of prosecuting gender-based crimes in international criminal courts.”
Among his most recent studies published in English are:
Reining in Impunity: A People's Tribunal for the Arab-spring Gender-Based Crimes, (2022).
Curbing Impunity: A People’s Court to Prosecute Gender-Based Crimes During the Arab Spring (2022).
His most recent lecture was at Rutgers University Law School in February 2025, entitled:
Humanity's Betrayal: International Law Mechanisms and the Failure of Protecting Gaza's Civilians (2025)
Betrayal of Humanity: The Mechanisms of International Law and the Failure to Protect Civilians in Gaza (2025).
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