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The United Nations on Monday said human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, Movie star George Clooney’s fiancé, is set to join other human rights experts and investigate the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The Lebanon-born British lawyer is one of three top human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on a commission of inquiry to probe the aggression; the UNHRC had ordered the probe last month.
The other members of the team are Canadian international lawyer William Schabas and Senegal’s Doudou Diene, who was the United Nations Special Rapporteuron racism and on post-conflict Ivory Coast.
Despite fierce opposition from the United States and Israel, the UN Human Rights Council had voted to create the commission on July 23rd. The decision came after a seven-hour emergency session, where Palestinians and Israelis accused each other of committing war crimes. The commission has been tasked with producing a report by March.
Alamuddin’s family had fled to Britain during the 1975-1990 Civil War in Lebanon. She is fluent in English, French and Arabic, has studied at a French school in the capital city London and holds multiple degrees from New York University and Oxford University.
Alamuddin has been a part of international conflicts and investigations in the past as well. She worked with the tribunal that examined the assassination of ex-Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. She also helped former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in efforts to keep the peace in Syria. Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange are among her clients.
She is reportedly going to marry Clooney, known for his peace campaigning, in Italy in September. News that the two were engaged caused some international media frenzy in April.
