Adv. Abeer Baker

Advocate Abeer Baker is a graduate of a first degree in law from the University of Haifa (2001) and a double master’s degree (with honors) in public and international law from Tel Aviv University and Northwestern University Law School in the USA (2009).

Adv. Baker has been involved in the field of human rights since her studies towards a first degree. As a law student, she began her journey at the Center for the exercising of Social Rights in the urban market in the city of Acre. During her studies, she won the title of “A Worthy Student for Praise” named after Supreme Court Judge (retired) Yitzhak Zamir. In the events of October 2000, Mrs. Baker began volunteering at Adalah: The Legal Center for the Rights of the Arab Minority in Israel, where she was later accepted for legal internship. With her qualification as a lawyer, she became a member of the organization’s legal team until 2011. Her legal work at Adalah focused mainly on promoting rights in criminal law; promoting prisoners’ rights; representing complainants in cases of security force violence including “October 2000 events”; arrests; social rights; women’s rights; adequate representation; discrimination, restriction of political freedom; representing Arab parties in party disqualification proceedings, represented Arab MKs in disqualification and prosecution proceedings; freedom of the press; freedom of expression, demonstration and more.

In 2007, she established the first clinic in the country for prisoners’ rights, at the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa, which she managed until 2014. As part of the clinic, she represented, along with law students, prisoners on various issues, before the legal tribunals, in addition to public work around the issue of prisoners’ rights.

Since 2011, Adv. Baker has served as a legal advisor to Arab women’s organizations (Kayyan – Feminist Organization and Aswar Association for the Protection of Sexual Offense Victims) in the country through which she represented Arab families and women, victims of sexual offenses, violence and murder. In addition, she has served since 2011 as a public defender on behalf of the Public Defender’s Office in the Ministry of Justice. In 2016, she won the title of Outstanding Public Defender from the Public Defender’s Office.

She previously led a social-political program on Jewish-Arab relations in the country (Kayyan-Present), together with journalist Yoav Stern on educational television. She serves as a commentator for public law and human rights issues in Arabic-speaking media. She blogs on law and politics and what’s between them, and manages a personal legal blog “قضاء ومش قدر” in Arabic.