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NIHR Appoints Al-Fadel as Acting Secretary General

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) announced the appointment of Dr. Khalifa bin Ali Al-Fadel as Acting Secretary-General as of May 1, 2017. His mission is to lead and develop the work of the NIHR’s General Secretariat in compliance with NIHR’s strategy and action plan.

On this occasion, Mr. Saeed bin Mohamed Al-Faihani, Chairperson of the NIHR, said that “through his position as NIHR’s Acting Secretary General, Dr. Al-Fadel will add so much to the work of the NIHR, since he has a distinguished record in the legal and human rights area, and his experience will be very significant in realizing NIHR’s vision, and we are confident that his experience in this area will be a strong pillar for the progress of NIHR’s work, wishing him all success in leading the team of NIHR’s General Secretariat”.

Dr. Al-Fadel has an extensive legal and human rights experience.  He holds a PhD in Law Philosophy from the University of Leeds in the UK, a Master’s Degree in International Law with honors from the same university, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Bahrain.

Prior to his appointment as NIHR’s Acting Secretary General, Dr. Al-Fadel held many important posts at the local and international levels.  He was elected as a member at the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD) and a member at the Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies (DERASAT), in addition to his membership at the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in London and the British Association of Human Rights Lawyers.  He is also a Fellow of the British Society for Middle East Studies and a Assistant Professor of International Public Law at the University of Bahrain.

Dr. Al-Fadel participated in many sessions of the UN Human Rights Council representing the Bahraini civil society.  He also represented the Bahraini civil society in a lot of human rights conferences in Geneva and delivered numerous human rights seminars in various international forums.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Al-Fadel has many works in the areas of international public law, political philosophy and Middle East studies that are published in refereed scientific journals in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.  He has recently published a book in English entitled “The Right to Democracy in International Law:  Between Procedures, Content and John Rolls Philosophy”, which was published by Rutledge House in London of the Taylor and Francis Group.  He also published a number of articles that deal with the current situation in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the GCC in international media, including the Washington Times, Real Clear Politics and Open Democracy