Fred Abrahams is a researcher, writer and human rights advocate who has worked for thirty years in areas marred by political crises and armed conflict, including the Balkans and Middle East. Until May 2024, he was Associate Program Director at Human Rights Watch, where he oversaw the Crisis & Conflict, Arms and Technology divisions, including the Digital Investigations Lab, and led the organization’s internal research training. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New Statesman, and Der Spiegel, among other places, and he co-authored A Village Destroyed: War Crimes in Kosovo (University of California Press, 2002). His book, Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy in Europe (NYU Press, 2015), explores the fall of communism and Albania’s turbulent transition. Abrahams has a bachelor’s degree in German and International Studies from Washington University and a master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University‘s School of International and Public Affairs. He speaks English, German and Albanian.
Communist-era Disappearances Still Haunt Albania, Balkan Insight, March 15, 2021.
Modern Albania released in Serbian at Belgrade Book Fair, October 2019.
Declassified US Documents Released (ne Shqip).
Coverage of the Albanian-language book launch in Albania, December 2015.
Audio of book launch at the Open Society Institute in New York, June 9, 2015.
Storming of the foreign embassies in Tirana, July 1990 – The Huffington Post (English) and Spiegel Online (German).
Interview with Deutsche Welle in English and Albanian, July 2, 2015.
Interview with BBC World Service, June 8, 2015.
