Jamal Benomar

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Jamal Benomar
Benomar at Chatham House in 2013
Benomar at Chatham House in 2013
Born 1957 (1957) (age 58)
Morocco
Occupation UN Special Adviser on Yemen to the United Nations

Jamal Benomar (born in April 1957) is the United Nations Special Adviser on Yemen, at the level of Assistant Secretary-General. He was confirmed to this position by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 1 August 2012. He has been serving in this position since April 2011.[1] In April 2015, he resigned his position as the UN peace envoy to Yemen after losing support from the Gulf nations during the 2015 military intervention in Yemen.[2]

Early years[edit]

Benomar was born in April 1957 in the Rif (Morocco).

Benomar was a political prisoner for eight years in Morocco (1976–1983).[3][4] He was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, which campaigned for his release.[3]

He completed his doctorate at the University of London.[5]

He worked as a lecturer and research associate in African and Middle Eastern politics for the University of Paris VII.[3]

In the early years of his career, he joined Amnesty International and rose through the ranks within the organization. During this time, he spent five years working as an Africa specialist for Amnesty International in London.[6]

Jamal Benomar was member of the Marxist –Leninist group Ilal Amam in Morocco and was imprisoned for his beliefs for 8 years. When the prison rules relaxed, he was able to study there. Following interventions by Amnesty International and his professor in Paris, he was released in 1983, was re-arrested then re-released in 1984, but was subsequently unable to get a passport to leave the country. During his incarceration, he had been visited by an English member of his Amnesty group -Joyce Edling. The couple had fallen in love and Joyce facilitated his escape to London where they got married in 1985. They lived together in London until 1991 when Jamal left to take up an appointment at the Carter Center in Georgia. The full story is told in the book “My Dear Jamal” written by Joyce and published in 1996.

In the 1990s, he worked as Human Rights Program Director of the Carter Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, working with former US president Jimmy Carter on human rights and mediation issues.[6]

United Nations[edit]

He joined the United Nations system in 1994, serving various UN entities, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA).[7]

In the summer of 2004, he acted as the Secretary-General's envoy to facilitate and mediate the National Dialogue Conference in Iraq.[5]

In 2006, he worked in the Office of the Secretary General to help establish the Peace Building Commission and the Peace Building Support Office.[5]

He served in Afghanistan and Iraq as the Secretary-General's envoy to facilitate the National Dialogue Conference.[7]

He was also a director in the Peacebuilding Support Office and the director of the Rule of Law Unit in the Office of the United Nations Secretary General.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Yemen News Agency
  2. ^ "UN peace envoy to Yemen resigns after losing support from Gulf countries". The Straits Times. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015. 
  3. ^ a b c Carter, J.; Boutros-Ghali, B. (1992). Conference for Global Development Cooperation: Meeting Report. Diane Publishing Company. ISBN 9780788184871. 
  4. ^ "Endpiece: Memories of Morocco". new internationalist. Retrieved 2014-04-04. 
  5. ^ a b c http://betterpeace.org/files/WGLL_speakerbios_20oct2008.pdf
  6. ^ a b Benomar, Jamal (1993). "Justice after Transitions." Journal of Democracy, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 3-14. Last accessed 2015-02-22.
  7. ^ a b c United Nations (2012 August 1). "Jamal Benomar Appointed Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Yemen" [press release]. Last accessed 2015-02-22.