Sana’a: An activist in his youth, Jamal Bin Omar spent eight years in jail as a political prisoner in his home country Morocco.
Currently he is Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General and served since April 2011 as the UN envoy to Yemen. He was the Director of rule of law in the Office of the Secretary General and interim Director of the Peace Building Support Office.
His work at the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) focused on peace building, governance and rule of law issues in conflict countries. He worked also for four years as the Chief of technical cooperation in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He joined in 1990, as a Director, the Carter Centre of Emory University where he worked with former President Carter on human rights, mediation and conflict resolution issues. His academic background is in international law, economics and political science.
He studied in Morocco and at the Sorbonne in Paris and completed his Doctorate at the University of London. Bin Omar advised on rule of law, governance, peace building and conflict resolution issues in over 30 countries. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries.
In mid-2004 he was the UN Secretary General’s envoy to facilitate the National Dialogue Conference in Iraq. In November 2011, he was the UN mediator in the negotiations that led to the signing in Riyadh of the agreement on the Yemeni transition.
He has authored numerous publications dealing with governance, rule of law, constitution making and peace building issues.
