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Advisory Group on Human Rights

The Advisory Group was established to give the Foreign Secretary the best possible information about human rights challenges; and for the Foreign Office to benefit from outside advice on the conduct of its policy. It met for the first time in December 2010.

The group is chaired by the Foreign Secretary who holds two meetings a year. Junior ministers and Foreign Office officials also chair additional meetings (sub-groups) on key issues agreed by the group.  

To date, the group has met three times (December 2010, June and December 2011). Its next meeting will take place around June 2012. It has discussed a wide range of human rights issues including those relating to conflict, security and counter-terrorism, the events of the “Arab Spring”, business and human rights, and religious freedom. Sub-groups have also been held on the death penalty and torture prevention.

Members of the Group:

  • Kate Allen*, Director of Amnesty International UK. Kate Allen is the Director of Amnesty International UK, a major human rights campaigning organisation with a quarter of a million members

  • Dr Chaloka Beyani, LSE and UN Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced People. Dr Beyani is a Senior Lecturer at the LSE, specialising in human rights law and recently assisted drafting the new Kenyan constitution.

  • Dr Agnès Callamard, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19. Agnès Callamard is the Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, a leading international NGO defending freedom of expression and information.

  • Joel Edwards*, International Director of Micah Challenge. Mr Edwards is International Director of Micah Challenge, a global Christian charity working for the eradication of poverty and implementation of the MDGs. He was formerly a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

  • Malcolm Evans OBE, University of Bristol, member of the United Nations Sub-committee on the Prevention of Torture. Malcolm Evans was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at Bristol. In addition to his expertise in torture prevention he is currently a member of the OSCE Advisory Panel on Freedom of Religion and Belief

  • Sapna Malik, Partner, Leigh Day and Co. Solicitors. Sapna Malik is a partner at Leigh Day & Co, with 12 years of litigation experience, specialising in bringing international claims and group actions.

  • Professor Susan Marks, LSE. Susan Marks joined LSE in 2010 as a Professor of International Law. Her research interests include democracy, poverty, torture and counter-terrorism.

  • Tim Otty QC, Blackstone Chambers. Tim Otty joined Blackstone Chambers in 2010 and is a leading commercial, public and public international law expert.

  • David Mepham, UK Director of Human Rights Watch. David Mepham directs the London Office of Human Rights Watch, one of the world’s leading independent organisations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights.

  • Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, University of Essex, Member of the UN Human Rights Committee. Professor Rodley is Chair of the University of Essex Human Rights Centre. He is a former UN Special Rapporteur on torture and currently a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists.

  • Dame Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive of Oxfam GB. Barbara Stocking has been Chief Executive of Oxfam GB since 2001. Oxfam is a major international non-government organisation whose mission is “to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering”

  • Professor Surya Subedi OBE. Professor Subedi is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds and serves as the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia.

  • Sir Nicholas Young, Chief Executive, the British Red Cross. Sir Nicholas has been Chief Executive of the British Red Cross since July 2001. The British Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world's largest independent humanitarian organisation.

The group helps inform the Foreign Secretary’s policy making.The Foreign Secretary wants to work with a broad range of non-governmental experts and practitioners to help identify creative solutions to tackling human rights challenges to increase the UK’s international influence and ability to achieve human rights results. 


   

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