Mazen Darwish

Mazen Darwish is a Syrian lawyer and human rights activist. He currently serves as the Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights and a Commissioner of the International Council of Jurists. He is the Founder and General Director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) as well as the Violations Documentation Center (VDC). He was also one of the Co-founders of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria in 2011. 

Mr. Darwish has received over twelve international awards, including the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law, the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, and the Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award. He was named in the Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2022. He was arrested multiple times by the Syrian regime due to his activism in defending human rights, the most recent of which lasted over three years until his release in 2015. 

Mr. Darwish has served as a member of the Myanmar Expert Committee, a member of the UN Special Envoy to Syria's Constitutional Experts Committee, a member of the national working group reviewing Syrian media legislation, the Deputy of the Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity, and the leader of the observation team in the Moroccan and Jordanian Parliamentary Elections in 2007. He received his law degree from Syria's University of Damascus.