Gay J McDougall

Gay McDougall is an attorney who has been instrumental in crafting human rights legislation for emerging democracies. McDougall is engaged in human rights advocacy, litigation, and training activities in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. Her contributions to the fight against apartheid in South Africa have been both innovative and highly effective. She worked closely with South African, human rights attorneys, defended political prisoners, worked with South African negotiators to evaluate constitution options, and successfully lobbied Congress to pass the Anti-Apartheid Act. A lifelong advocate for social justice, McDougall founded the Commission of Independence for Namibia, a bipartisan group of over thirty Americans who monitored Namibia’s transition to independence. She has held several positions at the United Nations, serving on the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which oversees implementation of the International Convention against Racial Discrimination worldwide. McDougall is the executive director of Global Rights: Partners for Justice. She served previously as director of the Southern Africa Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and as executive director of the International Human Rights Law Group. McDougall received a B.A. (1969) from Bennington College, a J.D. (1972) from Yale Law School, and an L.L.M. (1978) from the London School of Economics.