Hillel C. Neuer (born 1969/1970) is a Canadian-born
international lawyer,
writer, and the executive director of
UN Watch
UN Watch is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of United Nations Charter, its own Charter". It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Statu ...
, a
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
and UN watchdog group based in
Geneva, Switzerland
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
.
Neuer is the founding chairman of
Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy is an annual human rights summit sponsored by a coalition of 20 non-governmental organizations. Each year, on the eve of the United Nations Human Rights Council's main annual session, activists from a ...
, a coalition of 25 NGOs from around the world.
He has written on law, politics and international affairs for the ''
International Herald Tribune'', ''
Juriste International'', ''
Commentary
Commentary or commentaries may refer to:
Publications
* ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee
* Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...
'', ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', ''
Christian Science Monitor
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'',
and the
Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs.
Neuer was selected as one of the "top 100 most influential Jewish people in the world" by Israeli newspaper
''Maariv'',
and by the ''
Algemeiner Journal
The ''Algemeiner Journal'', known informally as ''The Algemeiner'', is a newspaper based in New York City that covers American and international Jewish and Israel-related news.
History
In 1972, Gershon Jacobson founded the Yiddish-language ...
'' in 2017. He is an outspoken defender of Israel and critic of the UN's human rights councils' actions.
Early life
Neuer is from Montreal, Canada.
He holds a BA in intellectual history and political science from
Concordia University, a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Laws from the
McGill University Faculty of Law
The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada, and continually ranks among the best law schools in the world. The faculty is known for it ...
, which he graduated in 1997,
and a
Master of Laws
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
in
comparative constitutional law
Comparative constitutional law is a branch of constitutional law that focuses on the study and analysis of the constitutions of different countries to identify similarities, differences, and trends in the organization and functioning of constitutio ...
from the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
of Jerusalem.
Neuer worked at the pro-Israel think tank
Canadian Institute for Jewish Research while he was an undergraduate at Concordia.
He practiced commercial and civil rights litigation at the international law firm of
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Neuer is a member of the New York bar and co-author of the ''Annotated Copyright Act of Canada and Directors and Officers - A Canadian Legal Manual''.
Career
Legal career
Neuer served as a law clerk to the
Supreme Court of Israel and a Graduate Fellow at the
Shalem Center
The Shalem Center ( he, מרכז שלם, ''Merkaz Shalem'') was a Jerusalem research institute that supported academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeolo ...
think tank.
Advocacy for Darfur victims at United Nations
Neuer advocated at the United Nations for human rights victims in
Darfur.
Neuer chaired the NGO Activist Summit For Darfur in 2007.
He challenged Sudan in 2007 for its rejection of human rights experts in Darfur and demanded justice for child victims in Darfur in 2005. In August 2007, Neuer was the keynote speaker at the
Save Darfur Canada rally in Montreal, along with Gen.
Lewis MacKenzie
Lewis Wharton MacKenzie CM, MSC, OOnt, CD (born 30 April 1940) is a Canadian retired major general, author and media commentator. MacKenzie is known for establishing and commanding Sector Sarajevo as part of the United Nations Protection F ...
, former commander of UN peacekeepers in the Balkans; Prof.
Payam Akhavan
Payam Akhavan (Persian: پیام اخوان) is an Iranian-born lawyer. He is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. He is a senior fellow at Massey College at the University of Toronto and is a visiting adjunct at the ...
, international law professor at McGill, and former senior advisor to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court;
Simon Deng, a black Christian from the south of Sudan who was sold into slavery in the Muslim north; Miss World Canada
Nazanin Afshin-Jam; and
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; ; Somali: ''Ayaan Xirsi Cali'':'' Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī;'' born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, ar, أيان حرسي علي / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī'' 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politicia ...
, author of
Infidel.
United Nations human rights testimony
Neuer has represented human rights victims in testimony before the UN Human Rights Council, a body which he highly criticized.
Neuer is noted for his "scathing commentary" on UNHCR's track record on human rights.
His outspoken advocacy for student Yevgeniya "Jenya" Taranenko preceded her release from a Russian prison. Neuer debated Zimbabwe's UN ambassador on CNN over the Mugabe regime's dismal human rights record. In 2007 he spoke out for the Arab, Kurdish, and
Baháʼí victims of violations in Iran. In 2004 he spoke out on victims of torture and censorship in Côte d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan. Neuer also spoke out for the Lebanese victims of Syrian political assassinations and against the rape and enslavement of women in Syria and Iraq; state-sanctioned limits on the movements, education and employment of women in Iran; and the repression of speech in Saudi Arabia.
Neuer is known in particular for criticizing the attitude of the UNHCR towards Israel, in his view, the UNHCR seeks "to demonize Israeli democracy, to delegitimize the Jewish state, to scapegoat the Jewish people. They also seek something else: To distort and pervert the very language and idea of human rights."
Erroneous arrest during 2007 U.S. visit
On November 1, 2007, Neuer presented a report on the United Nations and
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
at the invitation of
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. The day after giving his presentation, Neuer visited a local restaurant in
Needham, Massachusetts, where an employee called the police and falsely reported that Neuer was carrying a gun, leading the police to take him into custody.
On the next business day, the
Norfolk County court fully cleared Neuer and ruled that the police had acted without probable cause.
Initial media reports of a "stand-off" were found to be false and police confirmed that Neuer himself had called 911 twice seeking to exit from the police action that he believed was in pursuit of criminals near the restaurant. "Mr. Neuer was an innocent victim who went to a restaurant in Needham and was traumatized and almost killed," said Neuer's attorney David G. Eisenstadt. On March 31, 2008, the Town of Needham, on behalf of the police, sent Mr. Neuer a full apology, saying he was "an innocent victim caught up in the events of that day."
2009 Toronto Film Festival
In 2009 Hillel Neuer became involved in the controversy over Israel's marketing campaign at the
2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Neuer spoke out against the involvement of activist
Naomi Klein
Naomi A. Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses, support of ecofeminism, organized labour, left-wing politics and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism, ecofascism ...
in protests.
Neuer wrote: "Supporters of liberal democratic values may have a hard time understanding why anti-globalization activist Naomi Klein has recruited
Jane Fonda and other stars to boycott the Toronto International Film Festival for the crime of showing films from
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...
."
Neuer's UN Watch published a report on its website entitled "Naomi Klein Exposed: The Unauthorized Biography".
''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' published a response from Judy Rebick. Rebick wrote: "Naomi Klein didn't start the protest, but she used her contacts and her celebrity to make it more effective. The focus is on her because she is today one of the most prominent Jewish intellectuals in the world, and she is starting to be vocal in her criticism of Israeli human rights violations. She is risking a lot to speak out so passionately on this subject."
Coverage and reception
Neuer has appeared before the
UN Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis ...
for a range of causes including the rape victims of
Darfur,
political prisoners in Cuba, and Middle East peace. He testified as an expert witness before hearings of the U.S. Congress on UN reform in 2007 and 2011, and is regularly quoted by major media outlets including the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
''
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
'',
''
Die Welt
''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...
'', ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
'',
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
, ''
Al Ahram'' and
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
. Neuer has debated UN human rights issues on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and some of his talks at the UN panel went viral.
While working at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Neuer was cited by the
described Neuer as a man who "struggles valiantly and successfully to expose the truth about human rights as practiced in the United Nations and other so-called civil rights NGOs."
He is a regular on the speaking circuit.
recognizing "one of the world’s foremost human rights advocates," and for his contributions to "promote peace, justice and human rights around the world."
'' selected him as one of "the top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life".
In June 2018, Neuer was the recipient of McGill University's highest honorary doctorate degree, Doctorate of Laws, for his work at the
. He dedicated the award to dissidents and political prisoners, among them was Chinese activist
who praised Neuer as "one of the world’s most committed, energetic human rights leaders."
testimony by Hillel Neuer, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, February 2, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neuer, Hillel