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Stefan Schmitt

Position: Director of the International Forensic Program
Stefan Schmitt

Stefan Schmitt joined Physicians for Human Rights in 2006 as the Director of the International Forensic Program. Prior to joining PHR, Stefan worked for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for nearly a decade, and before that lived in Guatemala, where he founded the country’s first forensic anthropology team in 1992.

Stefan has taught a course on International Human Rights Investigations at Florida State University, where he graduated with a Masters of Science in criminology and criminal justice, designed distance learning courses, and developed training and security related material for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. His background is in forensic anthropology and crime scene analysis, with a leading publication providing a working definition for mass graves. 

Internationally, Stefan has worked for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia and as a forensic consultant to the UN in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Liberia. In addition, he has consulted for human rights groups around the world on cases where forensic science documents human rights abuses in countries including Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Algeria, Russia, and Kyrgyzstan.

Most recently, through PHR’s International Forensic Program, Stefan has been implementing training in Afghanistan as part of a multi-year project on achieving transitional justice in Afghanistan.