Judge Mary McGowan Davis

Judge Mary McGowan Davis, formerly an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York from 1986-1998, has been involved in a variety of matters relating to transitional justice and human rights law since her retirement from the bench.  These activities have included:  serving first as a member, then as Chair, of the UN Committee of Independent Experts monitoring and assessing investigations into allegations of serious violations of International Humanitarian and International Human Rights Law during the 2008/9 Gaza Conflict (2010-1); Chairing the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry for the 2014 Gaza Conflict; conducting an assessment of the gender justice mobile courts in S. Kivu, Eastern DRC, for OSISA and OSJI (2011); consulting on trainings for Mongolian judges and prosecutors in conjunction with The Asia Foundation’s Trafficking in Persons Initiative (2008-10); and mentoring lawyers at Afghanistan’s first full-service public defender office (2004-5). Judge Davis participated in trainings for judges of the Iraq High Tribunal on gender justice and international law organized by the Global Justice Center in Jordan in 2006, then traveled to Iraq in December, 2007 for follow up sessions with local judges and women’s rights activists.

She has been a frequent visitor to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (2000-10) and the International Criminal Court (2008-9), as a consultant and as a participant in trial advocacy training programs for prosecutors and judges. More recently, she has participated in various workshops for judges promoting the Rule of Law in Tunisia, Egypt, Madagascar, and Myanmar.