Alison Des Forges died on February 12, 2009. For more information, please see this page.

Alison Des Forges, an expert on Rwanda,  Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is senior advisor for Human Rights Watch's Africa division. Des Forges, named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999 for her work on Rwanda, spent four years interviewing both the organizers of the Rwandan genocide and those targeted for extermination. A historian by training, she has testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and in several national jurisdictions. She has given evidence about the genocide and the current situation in Central Africa to expert panels of the United Nations and Organization of African Unity, the US Congress, the Belgian Senate, and the French National Assembly. Des Forges earned her B.A. in history from Harvard and her Ph.D. in history from Yale. She speaks French.

Human Rights Watch Reports

Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda (March 1999)

Articles

 "Justice or Therapy?" Boston Review, July 1, 2002