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Consultative Panel

The members of the Consultative Panel are:

Matthew Craven, Professor of International Law at the School of Oriental and African Sudies, University of London.

Professor Craven published one of the first major studies on economic, social and cultural rights (The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Perspective on its Development, Oxford 1995), and was member of the drafting group of the 1997 Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He is currently Director of the Centre for the study of Colonialism, Empire and International Law, and Dean of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at SOAS.

Asbjørn Eide, Emeritus, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo

Asbjørn Eide is a senior fellow, founder, and former director of the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, at the University of Oslo. He is the former secretary-general of the International Peace Research Association in Oslo. Since 1981, Mr. Eide has been a member of the United Nations (UN) Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and since 1995, he has served as chair of the UN Working Group on the Rights of Minorities. Mr. Eide has served as special rapporteur for several UN studies focused on topics including conscientious objection as a human right, food as a human right, the new international economic order and the promotion of human rights, and the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. From 1988 to 1989, he was chairman of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. Mr Eide has published extensively on human rights issues.

Cees Flinterman

Paul Hunt, Professor of Law, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex

Paul Hunt was Director of the Human Rights Centre from 2001-2003. He served as an independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1999-2002). In 2002, he was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health for a three-year term that was extended in 2005 for a second term of three years. In the same year, at the request of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, he also co-authored draft human rights guidelines for poverty reduction strategies. He has practised as a solicitor in London and held the posts of Legal Officer and Acting General Secretary with the National Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty) in the UK. He has also lived, and undertaken human rights work, in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific. Professor Hunt has published widely on human rights issues, focusing particularly on economic, social and cultural rights.

Bonny Ibahwoh, Director: Centre for Peace Studies, McMaster University

Dr Ibahwoh has written widely on human rights and African Studies. He has previously been Human Rights Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs, New York; Research Fellow at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen and Associate Member of the Centre for African Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is currently working on several projects funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Rick Lawson, Professor of Law, University of Leiden

Professor Lawson holds the Kirchheiner Chair at the Europa Instituut at the Faculty of Law, University of Leiden. His research and publications focus on human rights in Europe, and has included extensive analysis of extra-territorial application of the European Convention on Human Rights. He served as legal advisor to the applicants in the Bankovic case before the European Court of Human Rights.

Bert Lockwood, Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights at the University of Cincinnati College of Law

Professor Lockwood was a speaker for the United States Information Agency to Sri Lanka and Nepal in 1998 and in 2001 he was sent to Zimbabwe to meet with human rights and women's rights groups in the run-up to the elections. He also served a three-year term on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International, USA. He has served for nine years as rapporteur to the American Association of the International Commission of Jurists Annual Colloquium on The Role of Government Departments in the Formulation and Implementation of Human Rights Considerations in Foreign Policy. He is in his twenty-first year as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Human Rights Quarterly.

Makau Mutua, Dean, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Floyd H. & Hilda L. Hurst Faculty Scholar, Director, Human Rights Center, State University of New York, Buffalo Law School

Previously, Professor Mutua was the Associate Director at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program. He was also the Director of the Africa Project at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. He serves as the Chairman of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and sits on the boards of several international organizations, such as Global Rights, and academic journals, such as the Leiden Journal of International Law. In 2002-03 Professor Mutua was appointed by the Government of Kenya as Chairman of the Task Force on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission. During the same time, Professor Mutua was a delegate to the National Constitutional Conference, the forum that produced a contested draft constitution for Kenya.

Professor Mutua is the author of several books on international human rights and has written numerous scholarly articles exploring topical subjects in international law, human rights, and religion. He has written human rights reports for the United Nations and leading NGOs and has authored dozens of articles for popular publications. Professor Mutua has conducted numerous human rights, diplomatic, and rule of law missions to countries in Africa, Latin America, and Europe. He has lectured and spoken at public fora in many parts of the world, including Japan, Brazil, France, and Ethiopia.

Dinah Shelton, Professor of International Law, George Washington University Law School

Professor Shelton has served as a legal consultant to the United Nations Environment Programme, UNITAR, World Health Organization, European Union, Council of Europe, and Organization of American States. She also serves on the boards of many human rights and environmental organizations. She has authored many articles and books on international law, human rights law, and international environmental law. She is a member of the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law and is a counsellor to the American Society of International Law.