Peter Bouckaert is a human rights activist who served as emergency director for

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

from 1997 until 2017. He has investigated Human Rights abuses in Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and the Central African Republic. He now works for

Blue Ventures Blue Ventures is a charity focused on marine conservation. It is based in the UK. The organization operates in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, with sites in Madagascar, Belize, Indonesia, and Timor-Leste. They also manage ...

, a marine conservation group. His is the subject of the 2014 documentary E-Team, a documentary about the atrocities in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

He has been based in Madagascar since 2019, where he manages a farming project in Andasibe, Moramanga.

Early life

Bouckaert was born in Pellenberg, Belgium, in 1970, and grew up on a farm. He spent part of his youth in the United States.

Education

He graduated from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, in 1993, and from

Stanford University Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

in 1997.

Career

Bouckaert began work for Human Rights Watch immediately after law school. He was involved in early efforts to investigate and publicize atrocities carried out by the Serbian government in the

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

region in the late 1990s. This work is credited with having inspired the

Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

to support the NATO intervention in Kosovo. Bouckaert helped to create the emergency program for Human Rights Watch to increase the ability of the organization to respond rapidly to major human rights crises. In addition to his work in Kosovo, he was involved in human rights investigations in Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and the Central African Republic. The film E-Team documents his investigative work in Libya during the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

intervention in 2011. Bouckaert serves on the board of directors for

The New Humanitarian The New Humanitarian, previously known as IRIN News, or Integrated Regional Information Networks News, is an independent, non-profit news agency. The agency states that it intends to report on stories from regions that it considers overlooked or ...

and is employed by

conservation organisation.

Awards and honors

In 2012, he was won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Leuven in 2016.

Selected publications

* Peter Bouckaert and Fred Abrahams, ''Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : a week of terror in Drenica: humanitarian law violations in Kosovo New York,'' 1999,

* Peter Bouckaert, ''Center of the storm: a case study of human rights abuses in Hebron district,'' 2001,

* Peter Bouckaert, ''The Unravelling: Journey Through the Central African Republic Crisis'', 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouckaert, Peter Belgian human rights activists 1970 births Living people Human Rights Watch people University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Stanford Law School alumni