Advisory Group

The Advisory Group (formerly known as the Advisory Committee) is composed of respected human rights scholars, civil society leaders and journalists. The Group advises the Secretariat and Board of Trustees on content, on potential new areas of focus, and on suitable international experts to write and review Policy Reports. It also helps guarantee the quality of output. Many of the members of the Advisory Group head major human rights programmes at leading universities around the world. Through these members, the URG aims to recruit interns from all regions of the world in order to ensure equality of opportunity.

The URG aims to achieve regional and gender balance in all its governing bodies and in its Secretariat.

Advisory Group
  • Dr. (Ms.) Basak Cali (Turkey) – Professor at Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany ; Director of The Center for Global Public Law at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey ; Secretary General of The European Society of International Law, Florence, Italy ; and former Director of the Human Rights Programme at the University College London, UK.
  • Mr. Malcolm Langford (Norway) – Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Oslo, Norway ; Co-Director at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, University of Bergen and CMI, Norway ; and former Director of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Programme at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Oslo, Norway.
  • Professor (Ms.) Elizabeth Griffin (UK) – Extraordinary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (Honorary Appointment), South Africa ; former Professor and Executive Director at Global Jindal University, New Delhi, India ; and former Special Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.
  • Mr. Rolf Ring (Sweden) – Deputy Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University, Sweden.
  • Dr. (Ms.) Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona (Chile) – Former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights; and Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD).
  • Professor (Mr.) Frans Viljoen (South Africa) – Director at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
  • Mr. Scott Sheeran (New Zealand) – Senior Lecturer of the LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law programme at the University of Essex, UK ; and Senior Legal Counsel and Leader of the Sanctions and Peace Operations Teams in the New Zealand delegation to the UN Security Council, New York, USA.
  • Mr. Roland Chauville (France) – Executive Director of UPR Info (NGO), Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Dr. (Ms.) Elvira Dominguez-Redondo (Spain) – Senior Lecturer in Law at Middlesex University, United Kingdom.
  • Ms. Julie de Rivero (Peru), former Geneva Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch.
  • Mr. Nick Cumming-Bruce (UK) – Former Bangkok correspondent for the Asian Wall Street Journal; former Bangkok correspondent for the International Herald Tribune (IHT); and since 2008 Geneva-based journalist contributing to the IHT and the New York Times.
  • Dr. (Ms.) Rosa Freedman (UK) – Director of the Global Development Division and Professor of Law Conflict and Global Development, at the University of Reading, Berkshire, UK ; and author of The United Nations Human Rights Council: an early assessment, published in March 2013.
  • Mr. Peter Splinter (Canada) – Former Amnesty International Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
  • Dr. (Ms.) Rose Nakayi (Uganda) – Lecturer, Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC), School of Law, Makerere University, Uganda.
  • Professor (Mr.) George E. Edwards (USA) – Professor of Law and Director of the Programme in International Human Rights Law, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, USA.
  • Ms. Julie Gromellon (France) – Human Rights Advocate at the United Nations Human Rights Council; Consultant for Reporters Without Borders and Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Professor Michael Ramsden – Associate Professor, Faculty of Law; Director of the Centre for Rights and Justice ; and Co-Director of the Clinic for Public Interest Advocacy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China.
  • Dr. Sejal Parmar (UK) – Senior Advisor to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, Vienna, Austria ; and Assistant Professor, Department of Legal Studies at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
  • Ms. Inga Winkler (Germany) – Lecturer in Human Rights and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Human Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights / Department of Political Science, Columbia University.