George Koichi Wong is a San Francisco native who grew up speaking Japanese, studied International Relations and Linguistics at the University of California, San Diego, and received a master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University. His educational interests varied from equity in public education to nuclear disarmament, before finally settling at international human rights law.

He spent a summer as an intern at the Pat Finucane Centre in Northern Ireland, which had a great influence on his understanding of the impact of armed conflict on ordinary people. He also had the privilege of participating in a study trip to Malta, where he facilitated a discussion with law students at the University of Malta on the intersection of migration and international human rights law. For his master’s thesis, he produced a report for ICITAP on Ukraine’s maritime border security in the Black Sea, based on research and interviews with US and Ukrainian officials. His previous work experience includes internships at the World Faiths Development Dialogue, the Wilson Center, and the National Immigration Forum. His passion and career goals are to realize a world where human rights are truly universal. George is fluent in Japanese and English, and studied Russian in university.

As a San Francisco native, pre-COVID, his favorite activities were visiting new cafes, exploring urban spaces that are car-free and car-optional, and ranting about land-use and zoning restrictions in the US. Mid-COVID, he is most often seen working on his espresso game, cooking his favorite restaurant meals at home, and reading about modern monetary theory.