
Dr Ewelina U. Ochab
Official Site of Human Rights Advocate
& Author
Bio

I am a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. I work on the topic of genocide, persecution of minorities around the world, with primary projects including Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram atrocities in West Africa, atrocities against the Uyghurs, situation of the Rohingyas, among others.
​
I have written over 30 UN reports (including Universal Periodic Review reports) and have made oral and written submissions at the UN Human Rights Council sessions and the UN Forum on Minority Issues.
I authored the initiative and proposal to establish the UN International Day Commemorating Victims and Survivors of Religious Persecution. The initiative has led to the establishment by the UN General Assembly of the UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on August 22.
I obtained PhD in international law, medical law and ethics.
In the Press
Violence against women and girls has many faces. One does not have to look far to see these faces, they are all around us. It takes the will to see. It takes the courage to speak up against. It takes the strength to fight against. But inaction is not good enough anymore.
Forbes
If we have any respect to the victims and survivors of the several mass crimes that took place since WWII – we need to get better in spotting the signs of mass atrocities, call them for what they are, and take decisive steps to stop them and assist the affected people.
HuffPost UK
More can and must be done however to safeguard vital evidence of ISIL atrocities in Iraq, to help ensure the terrorist group’s fighters are one day brought to justice for the horrific violations and abuses they continue to commit with impunity in Iraq.
Oxford Human Rights Hub
The UK was the leading force behind the UN Security Council Resolution 2379 that passed successfully on 21 September 2017. However, the resolution proposes that Iraqi courts will deal with prosecutions of the perpetrators. The question is whether Iraqi courts can do so.
World Watch Monitor
See other:
HART UK
LSE Human Rights
Catholic Herald
Unheard
Victims of Daesh genocide require urgent help. This includes ensuring people who wish to leave affected areas are prioritized for resettlement. Individuals who decide to stay in the area require assistance with adequate arrangements to stay. The decision whether to leave or stay should be left for the people and never imposed.
Providence
The Nineveh Plains remain an unstable conflict zone. Remaining pockets of radical Islamic fighters and an unreliable security force pose the greatest challenges to long-term stability for Christians in Iraq. The U.S. must play a more proactive role in promoting stability to defend the indigenous Christian population in the region.
Washington Examiner
News & Events
Past Events
2019
​​
-
2-3 December, ‘The Recognition of the Phenomenon of the Persecution of Christians’, London, UK (chair and organiser)
​
-
28 November, ‘Accountability and Acknowledgment of Genocide’ Budapest, Hungary (speaker)
​
-
28 November, ‘The Recognition of the Phenomenon of the Persecution of Christians’, Budapest, Hungary (chair and organiser)
​
-
26 November, ‘Accountability and Acknowledgment of Genocide’ Budapest, Hungary (chair and speaker)
​
-
18-19 November, ‘Istanbul Process’ the Hague, the Netherlands (attendee)
-
4 November, ‘The Need to Prevent the Crime of Genocide’, Launch of the Coalition for Genocide Response, UK House of Lords, London, UK (speaker)
​
-
7 October, ‘Addressing Religious Persecution Globally’, 26th BYU Conference, Provo, US (speaker)
​
-
6 October, ‘Advancing the Punta del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere’, 26th BYU Conference, Provo, US (speaker)
​
-
2-3 August, ‘Building infrastructure at the U.N. for a better implementation of the right to FoRB and prevention of the most egregious violations of the right to FoRB’, ‘Religious Persecution in the World Today: Diagnoses, Prognoses, Treatments, Cures’ Oxford, UK (speaker)
​
-
29 July, ‘Religious Persecution in the World Today’ King’s College, New York, US (podcast interviewee)
​
-
23 July: ‘UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief’, Parliamentary event, UK House of Parliament, London, UK (speaker and organiser)
​
-
18 July: ‘The Question of Genocide Determination in Pursuance of the Duty to Prevent and Punish’ IAGS 2019 Conference, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (speaker, remotely)
​
-
16-18 July: Ministerial on Religious Freedom, US State Department, DC, US (attendee, invitation only)
​
-
10-11 July: Defend Media Freedom Conference, UK and Canadian Governments, London, UK (attendee, invitation only)
​
-
8 July: ‘Addressing persecution and violence based on religion or belief’, ‘One Step At A Time: Addressing Religious Violence and Persecution’ Site event of the 41st UN Human Rights Council, Geneva (speaker)
​
-
24 June: ‘Two Genocides in Half a Decade: Overview, the Response and The Next Steps’, Trinity Law School, The Hague, The Netherlands (speaker)
-
18 June: China Tribunal Interview, London, UK (interviewee)
​
-
14 June: ‘Legal responses to extreme cases of religious persecution: bringing Daesh to justice’ Workshop on Religious minorities in crisis: European solidarity at risk? Aston Centre for Europe (ACE), Aston University, Birmingham, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, Birmingham, UK (speaker)
​
-
1 June: ‘Equality, Equity and Human Dignity’, TEDx, London, UK (speaker)
​
-
3 April: ‘Persecution of Christians around the world’, FCO Independent Review Into Persecution of Christians, London, UK (oral submission)
​
-
5 March: ‘Steven Krulis Champion Humanity Award’, UK Parliament, London, UK (co-organiser)
​
-
18-22 February: ‘Explanatory note on the Punta del Este Declaration on Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere’ BYU, US (researcher and drafter)
​
-
20 February: ‘The case of the Daesh genocide and the needed legal responses’ BYU, Provo, US (speaker)
​
-
2 January: ‘Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria’s Middle Belt’ BBC World, London, UK (interviewee)
2018
​​​​
-
12-14 December: ‘Religious Nature of the Mass Atrocities in Burma’, NUS-BYU Conference Singapore. (Speaker)
​
-
1-5 December: ‘Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere’, Punta Del Este, Uruguay (Secretary and member of the working group)
​
-
27 November: ‘Genocide Convention at 70: Lessons Learned and Yet to be Learned’, UK Parliament, Speaker’s House, London, UK. (Moderator and organiser)
​
-
8 October: ‘Daesh Genocide and Nadia’s Nobel Peace Prize’, Top of Mind with Julie Rosie, BYU, Provo, US. (Speaker)
-
8 October: ‘Genocide as the Ultimate Denial of Human Dignity’, 25th BYU Conference, Provo, US. (Speaker​
-
13 September: ‘A new approach to help Iraqi minorities’, 5th ICLRS Conference, Rio, Brazil. (Speaker)
​
-
4 August: ‘Human Dignity for Everyone Everywhere: Responding to Distortions, Abuses and Hostility towards Human Rights’ ICLRS, BYU, OJLR, Oxford, UK. (Speaker, summary presentation)
​
-
25 July: ‘Between Scylla and Charybdis? Preventing The Historical Fate of Religious Minorities’ ICLRS Writers Course, Oxford, UK. (Speaker, book proposal presentation)
​
-
18 July: ‘The Question of Genocide Determination in the UK’ , All Party Parliamentary Group on Burma meeting, House of Commons, London, UK. (Speaker)
​
-
17 July: ‘20 Years of the Rome Statute’, Al Jazeera, London, UK. (Speaker)
​
-
6 July: ‘Bringing Daesh to Justice’, Founding Conference on Bringing ISIS to Justice, The Hague, The Netherlands. (Speaker and co-organiser)
-
4 July: ‘Persecution of Religious Minorities: The Case of Women and Girls’ The International Conference on Human Right, Warsaw, Poland. (Speaker)
-
27 June: ‘Daesh Genocide Against Religious Minorities: Overview And The Next Steps’, Trinity Law School, The Hague, The Netherlands. (Speaker)
​
-
21 June: ‘Daesh and Genocide: Prosecuting Terrorism and The Counter Terrorism Risks at Home’ Foreign Policy and Geopolitics in the Era of President Trump, Oxford, UK. (Speaker)
​
-
20 March: ‘The Question of Genocide Determination: Behind the Argument of 'International Judicial System’’, Parliamentary Hearing, House of Lords, London, UK. (Organiser and speaker)
​
-
8 March: ‘Boston Roundtable: Edward Lansdale's Vietnam: Lessons for Afghanistan and Iraq’ Harvard Faculty Club, Cambridge, MA, US. (Roundtable attendee)​​
​
-
6-9 March: ‘Religious Persecution in the Middle East’, Series of Lectures at Universities and Colleges in Boston, MA, US. (Speaker)
2017
-
4 December: ‘The Rights to Return: Their Only Hope’, Expert Workshop, University of Stefana Wyszynskiego, Warsaw, Poland. (speaker)
-
17 November: ‘The Right to Return under International Law and the Empirical Reality’, Third European Congress for Defending Christians, Krakow, Poland. (speaker)
-
11-13 October: International Consultation on Christian Persecution – Finding the Appropriate Answers to a Long-Neglected Crisis Persecution of Christians, Conference and Workshop, Hungarian Department of Human Capacities, Budapest, Hungary. (attendee)
-
28 September: ‘The Right to Return under International Law’, ‘Return to the Roots: Christians in the Nineveh Plains’ Aid to the Church in Need Conference, Rome, Italy. (speaker)
-
22 September: ‘The Situation of Religious Minorities in Iraq’, ‘Untold Experiences of Vulnerable Refugees’ Conference, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. (speaker)
-
4 August: ‘The Situation of Religious Minorities in Iraq’, Philos Project Fellows Workshop, New York, US. (speaker)
-
12 July: ‘Convention on Genocide Approaching 70’, The Thirteenth Meeting of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Brisbane, Australia. (speaker)
-
22-23 June: 'The Impact of Counter-Extremism Strategy on the Enjoyment of the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief in the UK', OSCE/ODIHR First Supplementary meeting, Vienna, Austria. (speaker)
-
25 April: ‘Prosecuting and Punishing the Crimes Against Humanity or Even Possible Genocide Committed by Daesh’, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Hearing, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France. (speaker)
-
6 April: ‘Daesh Atrocities Against Women and Girls and the Needed Response’, European Centre for the Study of Extremism Conference on Syria, London, UK. (speaker)
-
26-27 January: Persecution of Christians, Conference and Workshop, Hungarian Department of Human Capacities, Budapest, Hungary. (attendee)
2016
-
14 December: ‘Bringing Daesh to Justice’, Parliamentary Hearing, Dutch Parliament, Den Haag, the Netherlands. (speaker)
-
26 November: ‘Attacks on Christians by Fulani Herdsmen and Boko Haram’, ‘Embattled: Christians Under Pressure in Europe and Beyond’ Conference, Vienna, Austria. (speaker)
-
24 November: ‘Situation in the Recently Liberated Nineveh Plains’, Oral Submission, UN Forum on Minority Issues 2016, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. (speaker)
-
24 November: ‘Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East’, Book Presentation, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland. (speaker)
-
6 November: ‘Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East’, Book Presentation, Second European Congress for Defending Christians, Krakow, Poland. (speaker)
-
10 July 2016: ‘Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East’, Book Presentation, Bratislava, Slovakia. (speaker)
-
30 June: ‘Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East’, Book Presentation, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium. (speaker)
2015
-
28 September: ‘Situation of Christians and Religious Minorities in Syria’, Oral Submission, UN Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland. (speaker)