Manfred Nowak

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Manfred Nowak
07-09-02 14-44-06 Manfred Nowak 1.jpg
Born (1950-06-26) 26 June 1950 (age 74)
Bad Aussee, Austria
NationalityAustrian
Alma mater University of Vienna (LL.D.), Columbia University (LL.M.)
Occupation(s)Secretary General, Global Campus of Human Rights, Professor of International Human Rights, University of Vienna
TitleUniv.-Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult.

Manfred Nowak (born 26 June 1950 in Bad Aussee) is an Austrian human rights expert, who served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture from 2004 to 2010. He is Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights (formerly European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation, EIUC) in Venice, Italy, [1] Professor of International Human Rights, and Scientific Director of the Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. [2] He is also co-founder and former Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights and a former judge at the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2016, he was appointed Independent Expert leading the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty. [3]

Contents

Career

Nowak was a student of Felix Ermacora, and cooperated with him until Ermacora's death in 1995. They co-founded the Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte (with Hannes Tretter) in 1992.

In addition to his function as Professor of Constitutional and International Law and Human Rights at the University of Vienna, Nowak was:

Since 2016, he is the Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice, Italy, which is responsible for eight Master's programmes on human rights in all world regions, and many other activities in the field of human rights and democracy education. He regularly teaches at various other universities, including the American University in Washington, DC.


As United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, [4] Nowak was one of the five authors of a United Nations report on the detention of captives at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba (2006) and one of four authors of a UN report on secret detention in the fight against terrorism (2010).

In 2005, Nowak visited China, claiming that torture remained "widespread" there. He also complained of Chinese officials interfering with his work. [5]

In September 2006, he alleged that torture may be more of a problem in Iraq since the Iraq War than under Saddam Hussein's regime. Much of the torture, he argued, is carried out by security forces, militias and insurgents. [6]

From 6 to 9 November 2006, he presented at the international panel at Gadjah Mada University for adoption of Yogyakarta Principles and has become one of the 29 signatories. [7]

In February 2008, Nowak was a founding member of the 'Research Platform Human Rights in the European Context' at the University of Vienna. [8]

As internationally renowned expert in the field of human rights, he carried out various independent expert functions for the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE as well as for NGOs and in the corporate sector. The most important expert functions are the following:

Nowak is author of more than 600 publication in the field of constitutional, administrative and international law, human rights as well as development studies.

Key publications:

Honours

In 1994, Nowak was awarded the UNESCO Prize for the Teaching of Human Rights (honorable mention), in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the development of the teaching of human rights.

In 2007, he received the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights for outstanding achievements for services to international human rights and the University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award for his "defense of fundamental human rights" in 2013. [9]

In 2014, Manfred Nowak was honored with the Otto Hahn Peace Medal. [10]

See also

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References

  1. Global Campus of Human Rights. "Global Campus of Human Rights Website".
  2. University of Applied Arts Vienna. "Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights".
  3. OHCHR. "Manfred Nowak: Independent Expert for the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty".
  4. "Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights . Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  5. "China torture 'still widespread'". BBC News . 2 December 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2010. There were serious incidents of obstructing my mission, Manfred Nowak, UN rapporteur on torture said.
  6. "Iraq torture 'worse after Saddam'". BBC News . 21 September 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  7. Signatories to the Yogyakarta Principles, p. 35 Archived 2014-04-03 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "The Research Platform Human Rights in the European Context". University of Vienna . Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  9. brann, Kontakt oss Kontaktpunkter UiO Adresse Universitetet i Oslo Boks 1072 Blindern 0316 Oslo Nødnummer Ved; Ring 22 85 66 66, Ulykker Og Alvorlige Hendelser. "Tidligere vinnere av UiOs menneskerettighetspris – Universitetet i Oslo". www.uio.no.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold intlaw.univie.ac.at