Gary Haugen

Gary A. Haugen serves as President and CEO of International Justice Mission. IJM is a human rights agency that works with national governments to secure rescue and restoration for victims of violent abuse and to ensure public justice systems work to protect the poor from slavery, sexual exploitation and other violent forms of oppression.

Haugen received his J.D. from the University of Chicago, cum laude, where he was the Ford Foundation Scholar in International Law and a B.A. from Harvard University, magna cum laude. Before founding IJM in 1997, Haugen was a Senior Trial Attorney with the Police Misconduct Task Force of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1994, he was detailed to the United Nations’ Center for Human Rights to direct the U.N.'s genocide investigation in Rwanda. Haugen previously worked for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, investigating the Philippine government’s response to abuse by the police and military. In the mid-1980s, he served on the executive committee of the National Initiative for Reconciliation in South Africa.

Haugen serves on the Human Rights Leadership Coalition and the Board of the Overseers of the Berkeley Journal of International Law. He has been a frequent witness before Congress and has authored numerous books and articles on international law and human rights.