“Be courageous. Challenge orthodoxy. Stand up for what you believe in“, Amal told Vanderbilt University graduates in a speech. Most probably, you are unaware of Amal Clooney, but if you are curious about the Human rights Lawyers who are defending the victims of the Russia-Ukraine War and the Rohingya refugee crisis, you will be impressed by Amal Clooney’s courage and belief in the possibility of justice for these people. Amal is a Lebanese-British lawyer, human rights activist, and humanitarian with expertise in international criminal law, human rights law, and public international law.
Before international courts including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights, she has defended the rights of several vulnerable and tortured humans, journalists, and government officials. In addition to defending clients in courts, she and her husband co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice in 2016 to advance and protect human rights globally.
Early Life:
Amal can connect so well with these vulnerable people’s stories and lives since she was a refugee. Amal Clooney was born on February 3, 1978, in Beirut, Lebanon. However, At the age of two, she fled to Europe with her family during the deadly Lebanese Civil War. Despite the struggles of being a refugee Amal excelled at her school as well as in her career.
Amal earned her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Oxford in the UK and went on to get her Master of Laws at New York University in the US.
Remarkable Career:
After being admitted to the New York bar in 2002, she spent three years working at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. She was also admitted to the Bar of England & Wales at Inner Temple, London, in 2010, enabling her to practice law in the US as well as the UK. With that, Clooney began working at Doughty Street Chambers.
Amal’s name means “Hope” in Arabic. Her name has a significant influence on her personality, as well as all the times she has stood up for the courageous individuals who faced inhuman torture and atrocities of abusers and still believed in the light of justice. Together, they confronted the abusers and brought justice to the darkest corners of the earth. She has represented political prisoners all throughout the world, including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. She has also been engaged in several important human rights cases, including the first trial in history where an ISIS member was found guilty of killing Yazidis. She also served as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. At the UN’s highest court, where Myanmar is accused of committing genocide, Amal Clooney fought for justice for Rohingya Muslims. Amal spoke up during a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York City on behalf of the innocent victims of the Russia-Ukraine war. She is recognized as “a brilliant legal mind” who handles cases of real international importance and knows her brief inside out in the top legal directories.
Achievements and Humanitarian Works:
She also actively contributes to the field of education by teaching students as a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School. Legal directories “Legal 500” and “Chambers and Partners” recognize Professor Clooney as a “leading barrister“. She has been nominated as 2014’s Most Fascinating Person by Barbara Walters.
Amal has been a constant advocate of women’s rights across the world and was described as the “feminist superhero“. She founded the Amal Clooney Scholarship in collaboration with Aurora Humanitarian Initiatives with the intention of supporting women in Lebanon. Each year, the scholarship helps one female student from Lebanon to attend the United World College in Dilijan.
Amal Clooney encourages young women to embrace life’s challenges and change their perspective from “Why me?” to “Why not me?” failure, in her view, comes from giving up. ‘If she can do it, anyone can’- her humanitarian measures and mindsets may inspire young people across the world and give them confidence and hope.
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Writer
Sumaiya Islam Sonali
Intern
Content Writing Department
Youth School for Social Entrepreneurs