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Karen Naimer, JD, LL.M., MA

Karen Naimer is responsible for spearheading PHR's Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, a forensic training and advocacy initiative that helps to forge networks of collaboration among medical, legal, and law enforcement personnel to support prosecutions and accountability for sexual violence in East and Central Africa. She also leads PHR’s international advocacy efforts for policy reforms addressing sexual violence, and is based in PHR’s Cambridge office.
 
Naimer brings over 15 years of experience in international criminal law, international humanitarian law, human rights, national security, and anti-corruption. Prior to joining PHR, Naimer consulted to the Brandeis Institute for International Judges, and she served as an Associate Professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, where she taught international law. Karen was also the Edmond J. Safra Faculty Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Ethics.
 
Previously, Naimer served as Deputy Counsel at the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-For-Food Programme ("the Volcker Commission"), where she investigated widespread corruption among the most senior UN personnel and Security Council member states. She clerked for Theodor Meron, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, where she worked on cases of mass atrocities in both the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
 
Naimer was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York, and has worked on domestic violence issues at the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic in Toronto, Canada, and at the New York Asian Women's Center. She is a Truman National Security Fellow
 
Naimer received a JD and an MA in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and an LLM in International Legal Studies from New York University. She joined PHR in 2011.