Felice D. Gaer

Felice Diane Gaer (June 16, 1946 – November 9, 2024) was an American human rights defender and advocate. She worked on human rights matters and was a longstanding member and the former chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. She was a member of the US National Commission to UNESCO.

Gaer directed the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights of the American Jewish Committee, which conducts research and advocacy to strengthen international human rights. Gaer served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2001 to 2012, having been nominated by the Clinton administration and renominated by the Bush administration and Obama administration, and later by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Gaer was the first American to serve as an Independent Expert on the United Nations Committee Against Torture. There, she had been Vice Chair. Gaer was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.