Aryeh Neier Oral History

In March 2022, the Columbia Center for Oral History Research at Incite Institute was awarded a grant from the Open Society Foundations to conduct an oral history project exploring the life, influence, and legacy of Aryeh Neier over the course of his long career in the field of human rights.

Neier worked for the American Civil Liberties Union for fifteen years, including eight as national Executive Director (1970-1978), served as Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (1981-1993), which he co-founded as Helsinki Watch in 1978, and later became President of the Open Society Foundations (1993-2012). Neier is a prolific author, having written seven books Dossier (1975), Crime and Punishment: A Radical Solution (1976), Defending My Enemy (1979), Only Judgment (1982), War Crimes (1998), Taking Liberties (2003), and The International Human Rights Movement: A History (2012).

Over 18 months between 2022 and 2023, the CCOHR team conducted more than 50 oral history sessions with 24 narrators, totaling 75 recorded hours. These include twelve interview sessions with Neier himself, as well as with many of his closest contributors and fellow leaders. Interviews concluded in mid-2023 and will be available through the Oral History Archives at Columbia.