Yasmin Omar

Yasmin Omar is the director of the Democracy Matters Initiative at MEDC. She is an international human rights lawyer with a dedicated career focused on defending victims of human rights violations. Having practiced law in Egypt for a decade, she relocated to the United States in 2017. Before joining MEDC, Omar served as a consultant with the United Nations Team of Experts on Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. Additionally, she held positions as the UN and Regional Mechanisms Manager at the Committee for Justice and as a Legal Associate at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. Omar has contributed articles and publications on law and policy in the Middle East and North Africa, publishing in reputable outlets such as the Arab Law Review, Carnegie Endowment’s Sada Journal, and TIMEP. Her expertise has led to appearances and interviews with top media outlets, including the BBC, Al Jazeera, Mada Masr, among others. Omar earned an LLM in international law from Syracuse University College of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Cairo University.