Umar Khan has over 15 years of professional experience in Pakistan, all linked to criminal justice reform in numerous capacities as project lead, legal expert, policy adviser, drafter and reviewer of laws, trainer and legal practitioner. Apart from studying Terrorism during his Masters at University College London, he has considerable experience of working with both government and non-government entities in organized and serious crimes. Umar is a barrister with extensive experience of prosecuting and defending criminal cases in Pakistani courts. Amongst others, he remained on the defense team in various high-profile criminal cases including Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case. He has represented clients in over 100 death penalty cases.

In the development sector, he has executed various projects successfully as a team lead, technical adviser, trainer and evaluator. He recently led a team of experts in FCDO’s UK-Pakistan serious and organized crime project (UPSCALE). The project aimed to increase ability of criminal justice institutions (FIA in particular) in Pakistan to share and receive crime and criminal related information with the UK. Previously, he was the principal investigator in a USIP project to map the provision of fundamental rights in Pakistan’s war-ravaged tribal belt post-merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (https://www.usip.org/publications/2021/04/extending-constitutional-rights-pakistanstribal-areas). He is currently a member of the International Pool of Specialist Consultants for Commonwealth Secretariat’s Countering Violent Extremism Unit. Additionally, he is ABAROLI’s National Consultant for Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programme in Pakistan. The programme is providing technical assistance to federal and provincial institutions of Pakistan to plug the gaps in CFT/AML regime and improving the capacity of judges, prosecutors, and investigators in this area. Umar is linked to academia as well. He has been teaching International Human Rights law at Universal College Lahore since 2008. He founded the Centre for Human Rights (https://cfhr.com.pk/) at the University in 2012-13. His experience in UN treaties includes reviewing Pakistan’s compliance to various International treaties (including CAT, CEDAW, ICCPR, CRC etc.). He also authored Pakistan’s first State Report to CRC Optional Protocol on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. He is also the author of a Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Law guide for prosecutors.