Tarek Tawil
Tarek Tawil has worked in international affairs since 2014. He worked with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) during the conflict in Syria until 2019. As a specialist in the protection of civilians and displacement situations, Tarek carried out a variety of professional activities to enhance the humanitarian response in Syria, e.g., delivering training to more than 1000 workers in local NGOs, advocating with different stakeholders to promote the protection of civilians, and co-developing operational strategies to address various developments.
Having subsequently moved to Geneva, Tarek worked on a policy level as a Humanitarian Affairs Consultant at the Headquarters of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In this role, he contributed to the development of guidance documents on Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) and reviewed area-based coordination models/approaches applied in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Afterwards, he worked for the Global Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster (CCCM), IOM team.
As of 2021, Tarek pursued a new career endeavor as a Compliance Specialist in the area of anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing. Leveraging his transferable skills, interdisciplinary education, and a thorough knowledge of global politics, in particular, the geopolitics of the Middle East. In 2022, he was officially certified as an AML Specialist. Currently, Tarek works with a global financial institution in Switzerland, where his work focuses on the MENA and APAC regions from a political risk standpoint.
Tarek holds three post-graduate degrees: a Master’s in international law in Armed Conflict, a Master in Humanitarian Action, and a Diploma in International Affairs and Diplomacy with a focus on the Middle East.
As a researcher, Tarek researched the child protection response during the war in Syria and humanitarian negotiations with non-state armed groups during the global war on terror. Subsequently, he researched humanitarian access governed by Economic, Social and Cultural rights during armed conflicts. Furthermore, as a Research Associate at the Counter-Terror Project at the University of Geneva (2020-2021), Tarek investigated the Islamic State cross-border ties with other Salafist-Jihadist groups for the purposes of IHL application.
I am a member of the GA since 2023.