Tad Stahnke
Director, Fighting Discrimination Program
Joined Human Rights First in 2008

As Director of the Fighting Discrimination Program, Tad Stahnke leads Human Rights First’s effort to combat discrimination by reversing the tide of antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim violence and reducing other bias crime in Europe, the Russian Federation, and North America through research, analysis, and advocacy.

Prior to assuming his role at Human Rights First, Tad worked at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2000 to 2007, where he served as Deputy Executive Director for Policy, as well as Acting Executive Director in 2002 and 2007. Tad participated in fact finding missions to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Russia, Egypt, France, and Belgium, and led a mission to Pakistan. He served with several official U.S. delegations to human rights conferences of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations. He has also served as an expert in international human rights law in training officials from the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security.

Tad has worked as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at Columbia Law School, teaching a seminar on “Religion, Human Rights, and Religious Freedom,”and as an Associate at Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, a Masters in Urban Planning from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, and a B.A. in Metropolitan Studies from NYU.  Tad was also a law clerk to Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the United States Court of Appeals for the 2d Circuit. 

Tad has authored and coauthored numerous scholarly publications, including “Religion-State Issues and the Right to Freedom or Religion or Belief: A Comparative Textual Analysis of the Constitutions of Predominantly Muslim States,” “Religious Diversity in the European Union: an International Human Rights Perspective,” “The Right to Engage in Religious Persuasion,” and Religion and Human Rights: Basic Documents,amongst others.