Board of Trustees*

Structure

The Arab Human Rights Fund (AHRF) is a private foundation with a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. This is the policy-setting body and is ultimately responsible for setting the programs and strategies of the Fund. The Board comprises 10-13 distinguished individuals who meet the following criteria:

• They are from the Arab region, though not necessarily resident therein at the time of service on the Board
• They possess credibility, standing and integrity – all fundamental factors for selection
• They have the relevant skills needed to oversee AHRF, including expertise in the fields of human rights, organizational management and financial administration
• It is desirable that they are familiar with more than one country in the Arab region
• They reflect regional diversity and a gender balance
• They do not hold governmental positions
• They are not in an executive or decision-making position in any NGO or other entity which might be a beneficiary of, or seek support from AHRF
• They are committed to active involvement, including an active role in fundraising

In addition:

• The Board of Trustees is the highest authority and is responsible for all matters pertaining to AHRF. It meets at least twice a year 

• Membership of the Board is rotational. Each member serves a three-year term that is renewable only once.  Once a Board member completes two three-year terms, a two-year period of non-service on the Board is required (as a minimum) before reconsideration is given for re-election to the Board for further terms of service

• The Board delegates certain executive authorities to the Executive Director

• Authority to approve grants rests with the Board. The Board may choose to delegate aspects of that authority to a sub-committee or to the Executive Director 

• Within the framework of commitment to transparency and accountability, the AHRF Board of Trustees will issue an annual report of activities that also details the financial status and fiscal disposition of the Fund

Committees

• The Board is entitled to establish sub-committees of its members on a thematic or program basis, as its growth demands 

• To date, the Board has created an Executive Committee, a Finance Committee and a Fundraising Committee

Board Members

Members of the AHRF Board of Trustees work in a personal capacity and do not represent the organizations they officially work for.

The Board is composed of the following members who volunteer their time and expertise while serving in personal capacity only (positions are included for identification purposes only):

• Fateh Azzam* (Palestinian): Board Chairman; Regional Representative for the Middle East, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Beirut, Lebanon; former Director, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo; former Program Officer for Human Rights, Ford Foundation, Cairo, Egypt
• May Abboud (Lebanese): Board Secretary; Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
• Atallah Kuttab* (Jordanian): Board Treasurer; Director General, Welfare Association, Amman, Jordan
• Leila Zerrougui (Algerian): Supreme Court Judge, Associate Professor at the Ecole Supérieure de la Magistrature, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Human Rights Council
• Mona Younis* (Syrian): Director, Science and Human Rights Program, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington DC, USA
• Adel Abdel Latif (Egyptian): Chief of the Regional Program Division, Regional Bureau for the Arab States, United Nations Development Program, New York, USA
• Ghanem Al-Najjar (Kuwaiti): Professor of Political Science, Kuwait University; Independent Expert appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General on Human Rights in Somalia
• Hanny Megally (Egyptian): Program Director of the Middle East and North Africa  Region, International Center for Transitional Justice, New York, USA

* Member of the Steering Committee that established AHRF. Invaluable support was given by Dr Amin Mekki Meddani (Sudan) and Dr Yoursy Moustafa (Egypt), who worked for three years as a coordinator of the Steering Committee.

Lebanon’s Local Committee is composed of the following members: Dr. May Abboud (Lebanese),  Dr. May Haddad (Lebanese), Dr. Omar Nashabi (Lebanese), Wadi’ Jureidini (Lebanese).