International lawyer, diplomat, writer and activist, Hillel C. Neuer is the Executive Director of UN Watch, a human rights NGO in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds four degrees including an honorary degree from McGill University for his work to advance human rights, and for being “a voice for those without one.” 

On September 14, 2016, the City of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel adopted a resolution declaring Hillel Neuer Day, citing his role “as one of the world’s foremost human rights advocates” and his contributions to “promote peace, justice and human rights around the world.”

TheTribune de Genève has described him as a human rights activist who is “feared and dreaded” by the world’s dictatorships.

The Journal de Montreal wrote that he “makes the U.N. tremble.”

Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper named him to its list of the “Top 100 Most Influential Jewish People in the World.”

Hillel Neuer is an acclaimed speaker who has testified often before the United Nations and the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Hillel taught international human rights at the Geneva School of Diplomacy, and has served as Vice-President of the NGO Special Committee on Human Rights in Geneva.

Since 2009, he has headed a coalition of 25 human rights groups as chair of the annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, a renowned international gathering that provides a global platform to courageous pro-democracy dissidents from around the world who put their lives on the line to demand fundamental freedoms in oppressive regimes. Concordia University Magazine said he is “helping to shape history.”

Prior to joining UN Watch, Hillel practiced commercial and civil rights litigation and even represented Oprah Winfrey and other high-profile individuals and corporations.  

In 2007, Hillel Neuer’s banned U.N. speech became the most viewed and written-about NGO speech in the history of the United Nations. News reports described it as a “stunning rebuke of the U.N. Human Rights Council” and “a diplomatic moment to remember.” In 2017, Neuer’s “Where Are Your Jews?” speech before the UNHRC, replicated in multiple languages across social media, was seen 3 million times on Facebook and nearly 5 million times on YouTube.