Overview
- Omar Shakir quit after a draft report asserting that Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees’ return could constitute a crime against humanity was halted, and assistant researcher Milena Ansari also resigned.
- In a statement, HRW said the draft was paused pending further analysis because elements of the research and the factual basis for its legal conclusions required strengthening.
- The unpublished draft, described in reports as 43 pages based on interviews with 53 refugees and fieldwork in camps in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, was scheduled for release on December 4 before incoming executive director Philippe Bolopion intervened.
- Internal fallout included large staff briefings and a town hall, with reporting of complaints that normal processes were bypassed and accounts of a staff letter warning the move could erode trust in HRW’s review system.
- Former executive director Kenneth Roth publicly backed the pause as addressing a novel and insufficiently supported legal theory, and Bolopion indicated HRW planned to seek an external legal review by Jenner & Block.