Notable Alumni | James Rodehaver Pursues Human Rights at Hot Spots Around the World

Editor’s Note: The College of Arts & Sciences Notable Alumni Awards honor alumni for broad career accomplishments, commitment to community service, and valuable contributions to Ohio University and the College of Arts & Sciences.

James Rodehaver ’94 History

James E. Rodehaver has directed field missions for some of the largest human rights field presences in the world—including Syria, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He’s been on the ground during conflicts and as people try to put their lives back together after wars. He’s handled issues ranging from war crimes to economic and social rights to human trafficking.

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Rodehaver earned a bachelor’s in history from the Honors Tutorial College and a Contemporary History Certificate from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University. He earned a J.D. from Washington and Lee University.

Then he launched a human rights career with the United Nations that started in Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Libera.

Investigating Human Rights Violations in Syrian

Since 2014, he has been Coordinator of the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which is mandated to investigate violations of international human rights law in the Syrian Arab Republic.

Before that he was spent four years in Kabul as deputy director of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. He supervised the human rights field presence and programmatic activities related to justice reform priorities within the Unit’s mandate, including arbitrary detention, fair trial rights, combating impunity and accountability, peace and reconciliation.

He also spent four years with the OSCE: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, he led the Department of Human Rights and Communities in Kosovo and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rodehaver was named a Fellow of the Human Rights Law Centre.

• Connect with Rodehaver on LinkedIn.
• Follow him on Twitter.