Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal (applicable everywhere) and egalitarian (the same for everyone). These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national and international law. The doctrine of human rights in international practice, within international law, global and regional institutions, in the policies of states and the activities of non-governmental organizations has been a cornerstone of public policy around the world. It has been said that: "if the public discourse of peacetime global society can be said to have a common moral language, it is that of human rights." Despite this, the strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature and justifications of human rights continue to this day. Indeed, the question of what is meant by a "right" is itself controversial and the subject of continued philosophical debate.

Many of the basic ideas that animated the movement developed in the aftermath of the Second World War and the atrocities of the Holocaust, culminating in the adoption of the ''Universal Declaration of Human Rights'' in Paris by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The ancient world did not possess the concept of universal human rights. Ancient societies had "elaborate systems of duties... conceptions of justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human rights". The modern concept of human rights developed during the early Modern period, alongside the European secularization of Judeo-Christian ethics. The true forerunner of human rights discourse was the concept of natural rights which appeared as part of the medieval Natural law tradition, became prominent during the Enlightenment with such philosophers as John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, and featured prominently in the political discourse of the American Revolution and the French Revolution.

From this foundation, the modern human rights movement emerged over the latter half of the twentieth century. Gelling as social activism and political rhetoric in many nations put it high on the world agenda.

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Theory

History

Document name	The Bill of Rights
Image width	200px
Date created	1689
Date ratified	16 December 1689
Location of document	National Archives of the United Kingdom
Writer	Parliament of England
Purpose	Ensure certain freedoms and ensure a Protestant political supremacy. }}

The modern sense of human rights can be traced to Renaissance Europe and the Protestant Reformation, alongside the disappearance of the feudal authoritarianism and religious conservativism that dominated the Middle Ages. Human rights were defined as a result of European scholars attempting to form a "secularized version of Judeo-Christian ethics". Although ideas of rights and liberty have existed in some form for much of human history, they do not resemble the modern conception of human rights. According to Jack Donnelly, in the ancient world, "traditional societies typically have had elaborate systems of duties... conceptions of justice, political legitimacy, and human flourishing that sought to realize human dignity, flourishing, or well-being entirely independent of human rights. These institutions and practices are alternative to, rather than different formulations of, human rights". The concept of universal human rights was not known in the ancient world, not in Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient India, Ancient China, nor among the Hebrews; slavery, for instance, was justified in ancient times as a natural condition. Medieval charters of liberty such as the English Magna Carta were not charters of human rights, let alone general charters of rights: they instead constituted a form of limited political and legal agreement to address specific political circumstances, in the case of Magna Carta later being mythologized in the course of early modern debates about rights.

The basis of most modern legal interpretations of human rights can be traced back to recent European history. The Twelve Articles (1525) are considered to be the first record of human rights in Europe. They were part of the peasants' demands raised towards the Swabian League in the German Peasants' War in Germany. In Spain in 1542 Bartolomé de Las Casas argued against Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda in the famous Valladolid debate, Sepúlveda mainted an Aristotelian view of humanity as divided into classes of different worth, while Las Casas argued in favor of equal rights to freedom of slavery for all humans regardless of race or religion. In Britain in 1683, the English Bill of Rights (or "An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown") and the Scottish Claim of Right each made illegal a range of oppressive governmental actions. Two major revolutions occurred during the 18th century, in the United States (1776) and in France (1789), leading to the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen respectively, both of which established certain legal rights. Additionally, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 encoded into law a number of fundamental civil rights and civil freedoms.

These were followed by developments in philosophy of human rights by philosophers such as Thomas Paine, John Stuart Mill and G.W.F. Hegel during the 18th and 19th centuries. The term ''human rights'' probably came into use some time between Paine's ''The Rights of Man'' and William Lloyd Garrison's 1831 writings in ''The Liberator'', in which he stated that he was trying to enlist his readers in "the great cause of human rights".

In the 19th century, human rights became a central concern over the issue of slavery. A number of reformers, such as William Wilberforce in Britain, worked towards the abolition of slavery. This was achieved in the British Empire by the Slave Trade Act 1807 and the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. In the United States, all the northern states had abolished the institution of slavery between 1777 and 1804, although southern states clung tightly to the "peculiar institution". Conflict and debates over the expansion of slavery to new territories constituted one of the reasons for the southern states' secession and the American Civil War. During the reconstruction period immediately following the war, several amendments to the United States Constitution were made. These included the 13th amendment, banning slavery, the 14th amendment, assuring full citizenship and civil rights to all people born in the United States, and the 15th amendment, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote.

Many groups and movements have achieved profound social changes over the course of the 20th century in the name of human rights. In Western Europe and North America, labour unions brought about laws granting workers the right to strike, establishing minimum work conditions and forbidding or regulating child labor. The women's rights movement succeeded in gaining for many women the right to vote. National liberation movements in many countries succeeded in driving out colonial powers. One of the most influential was Mahatma Gandhi's movement to free his native India from British rule. Movements by long-oppressed racial and religious minorities succeeded in many parts of the world, among them the African American Civil Rights Movement, and more recent diverse identity politics movements, on behalf of women and minorities in the United States.

The establishment of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the 1864 Lieber Code and the first of the Geneva Conventions in 1864 laid the foundations of International humanitarian law, to be further developed following the two World Wars.

The World Wars, and the huge losses of life and gross abuses of human rights that took place during them, were a driving force behind the development of modern human rights instruments. The League of Nations was established in 1919 at the negotiations over the Treaty of Versailles following the end of World War I. The League's goals included disarmament, preventing war through collective security, settling disputes between countries through negotiation and diplomacy, and improving global welfare. Enshrined in its charter was a mandate to promote many of the rights later included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

At the 1945 Yalta Conference, the Allied Powers agreed to create a new body to supplant the League's role; this was to be the United Nations. The United Nations has played an important role in international human-rights law since its creation. Following the World Wars, the United Nations and its members developed much of the discourse and the bodies of law that now make up international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Philosophy

The philosophy of human rights attempts to examine the underlying basis of the concept of human rights and critically looks at its content and justification. Several theoretical approaches have been advanced to explain how and why human rights have become a part of social expectations.

One of the oldest Western philosophies on human rights is that they are a product of a natural law, stemming from different philosophical or religious grounds. Other theories hold that human rights codify moral behavior which is a human social product developed by a process of biological and social evolution (associated with Hume). Human rights are also described as a sociological pattern of rule setting (as in the sociological theory of law and the work of Weber). These approaches include the notion that individuals in a society accept rules from legitimate authority in exchange for security and economic advantage (as in Rawls) – a social contract. The two theories that dominate contemporary human rights discussion are the interest theory and the will theory. Interest theory argues that the principal function of human rights is to protect and promote certain essential human interests, while will theory attempts to establish the validity of human rights based on the unique human capacity for freedom. The strong claims made by human rights to universality have led to persistent criticism. Philosophers who have criticized the concept of human rights include Jeremy Bentham, Edmund Burke, Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Marx. Political philosophy professor Charles Blattberg argues that discussion of human rights, being abstract, demotivates people from upholding the values that rights are meant to affirm.

Classification of human rights

Human rights can be classified and organized in a number of different ways, at an international level the most common categorisation of human rights has been to split them into civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights.

Civil and political rights are enshrined in articles 3 to 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Economic, social and cultural rights are enshrined in articles 22 to 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

Indivisibility

The UDHR included both economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights because it was based on the principle that the different rights could only successfully exist in combination:

This is held to be true because without civil and political rights the public cannot assert their economic, social and cultural rights. Similarly, without livelihoods and a working society, the public cannot assert or make use of civil or political rights (known as the ''full belly thesis'').

The indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights has been confirmed by the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action:

This statement was again endorsed at the 2005 World Summit in New York (paragraph 121).

Although accepted by the signatories to the UDHR, most do not in practice give equal weight to the different types of rights. Some Western cultures have often given priority to civil and political rights, sometimes at the expense of economic and social rights such as the right to work, to education, health and housing. Similarly the ex Soviet bloc countries and Asian countries have tended to give priority to economic, social and cultural rights, but have often failed to provide civil and political rights.

Categorization

Opponents of the indivisibility of human rights argue that economic, social and cultural rights are fundamentally different from civil and political rights and require completely different approaches. Economic, social and cultural rights are argued to be:

''positive'', meaning that they require active provision of entitlements by the state (as opposed to the state being required only to prevent the breach of rights)

''resource-intensive'', meaning that they are expensive and difficult to provide

''progressive'', meaning that they will take significant time to implement

''vague'', meaning they cannot be quantitatively measured, and whether they are adequately provided or not is difficult to judge

''ideologically divisive/political'', meaning that there is no consensus on what should and shouldn't be provided as a right

''socialist'', as opposed to capitalist

''non-justiciable'', meaning that their provision, or the breach of them, cannot be judged in a court of law

''aspirations or goals'', as opposed to real 'legal' rights

Similarly civil and political rights are categorized as:

''negative'', meaning the state can protect them simply by taking no action

''cost-free''

''immediate'', meaning they can be immediately provided if the state decides to

''precise'', meaning their provision is easy to judge and measure

''non-ideological/non-political''

''capitalist''

''justiciable''

''real 'legal' rights''

Olivia Ball and Paul Gready argue that for both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights, it is easy to find examples which do not fit into the above categorisation. Among several others, they highlight the fact that maintaining a judicial system, a fundamental requirement of the civil right to due process before the law and other rights relating to judicial process, is positive, resource-intensive, progressive and vague, while the social right to housing is precise, justiciable and can be a real 'legal' right.

Three generations

Another categorization, offered by Karel Vasak, is that there are ''three generations of human rights'': first-generation civil and political rights (right to life and political participation), second-generation economic, social and cultural rights (right to subsistence) and third-generation solidarity rights (right to peace, right to clean environment). Out of these generations, the third generation is the most debated and lacks both legal and political recognition. This categorisation is at odds with the indivisibility of rights, as it implicitly states that some rights can exist without others. Prioritisation of rights for pragmatic reasons is however a widely accepted necessity. Human rights expert Philip Alston argues:

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He, and others, urge caution with prioritisation of rights:

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Some human rights are said to be "inalienable rights". The term inalienable rights (or unalienable rights) refers to "a set of human rights that are fundamental, are not awarded by human power, and cannot be surrendered."

International protection

In the aftermath of the atrocities of World War II there was increased concern in the social and legal protection of human rights as fundamental freedoms. The foundation of the United Nations and the provisions of the United Nations Charter would provide a basis for a comprehensive system of international law and practise for the protection of human rights. The term "international human rights law" is often used as a category of reference to describe these systems, but this can be a source of confusion as there is no separate entity as "international human rights law" but an interlocking system of non-binding conventions, international treaties, domestic law, international organisations and political bodies ..

United Nations Charter

The provisions of the United Nations charter provided a basis for the development of international human rights protection. The preamble of the charter provides that the members "reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the equal rights of men and women" and Article 1(3) of the United Nations charter states that one of the purposes of the UN is: "to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion". Article 55 provides that: Of particular importance is Article 56 of the charter:"All Members pledge themselves to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55." This is a binding treaty provision applicable to both the Organisation and its members and has been taken to constitute a legal obligation for the members of the United Nations. Overall, the references to human rights in the Charter are general and vague. The Charter does not contain specific legal rights, nor does it mandate any enforcement procedures to protect these rights. Despite this, the significance of the espousal of human rights within the UN charter must not be understated. The importance of human rights on the global stage can be traced to the importance of human rights within the United Nations framework and the UN Charter can be seen as the starting point for the development of a broad array of declarations, treaties, implementation and enforcement mechanisms, UN organs, committees and reports on the protection of human rights. The rights espoused in the UN charter would be codified and defined in the International Bill of Human Rights, composing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, partly in response to the atrocities of World War II. Although the UDHR was a non-binding resolution, it is now considered by some to have acquired the force of international customary law which may be invoked in appropriate circumstances by national and other judiciaries. The UDHR urges member nations to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social rights, asserting these rights as part of the "foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." The declaration was the first international legal effort to limit the behaviour of states and press upon them duties to their citizens following the model of the rights-duty duality.

The UDHR was framed by members of the Human Rights Commission, with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt as Chair, who began to discuss an ''International Bill of Rights'' in 1947. The members of the Commission did not immediately agree on the form of such a bill of rights, and whether, or how, it should be enforced. The Commission proceeded to frame the UDHR and accompanying treaties, but the UDHR quickly became the priority. Canadian law professor John Humphrey and French lawyer René Cassin were responsible for much of the cross-national research and the structure of the document respectively, where the articles of the declaration were interpretative of the general principle of the preamble. The document was structured by Cassin to include the basic principles of dignity, liberty, equality and brotherhood in the first two articles, followed successively by rights pertaining to individuals; rights of individuals in relation to each other and to groups; spiritual, public and political rights; and economic, social and cultural rights. The final three articles place, according to Cassin, rights in the context of limits, duties and the social and political order in which they are to be realized. Humphrey and Cassin intended the rights in the UDHR to be legally enforceable through some means, as is reflected in the third clause of the preamble:

Some of the UDHR was researched and written by a committee of international experts on human rights, including representatives from all continents and all major religions, and drawing on consultation with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi. The inclusion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights was predicated on the assumption that all human rights are indivisible and that the different types of rights listed are inextricably linked. This principle was not then opposed by any member states (the declaration was adopted unanimously, Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian SSR, Union of South Africa, USSR, Yugoslavia.); however, this principle was later subject to significant challenges.

The Universal Declaration was bifurcated into treaties, a Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and another on social, economic, and cultural rights, due to questions about the relevance and propriety of economic and social provisions in covenants on human rights. Both covenants begin with the right of people to self-determination and to sovereignty over their natural resources. This debate over whether human rights are more fundamental than economic rights has continued to the present day.

The drafters of the Covenants initially intended only one instrument. The original drafts included only political and civil rights, but economic and social rights were also proposed. The disagreement over which rights were basic human rights resulted in there being two covenants. The debate was whether economic and social rights are aspirational, as contrasted with basic human rights which all people possess purely by being human, because economic and social rights depend on wealth and the availability of resources. In addition, which social and economic rights should be recognised depends on ideology or economic theories, in contrast to basic human rights, which are defined purely by the nature (mental and physical abilities) of human beings. It was debated whether economic rights were appropriate subjects for binding obligations and whether the lack of consensus over such rights would dilute the strength of political-civil rights. There was wide agreement and clear recognition that the means required to enforce or induce compliance with socio-economic undertakings were different from the means required for civil-political rights.

This debate and the desire for the greatest number of signatories to human-rights law led to the two covenants. The Soviet bloc and a number of developing countries had argued for the inclusion of all rights in a so-called ''Unity Resolution''. Both covenants allowed states to derogate some rights. Those in favor of a single treaty could not gain sufficient consensus.

Treaties

In 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) were adopted by the United Nations, between them making the rights contained in the UDHR binding on all states that have signed this treaty, creating human-rights law.

Since then numerous other treaties (pieces of legislation) have been offered at the international level. They are generally known as ''human rights instruments''. Some of the most significant, referred to (with ICCPR and ICESCR) as "the seven core treaties", are:

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (adopted 1966, entry into force: 1969)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (adopted 1979, entry into force: 1981)

United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) (adopted 1984, entry into force: 1984)

Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (adopted 1989, entry into force: 1989)

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (adopted 2006, entry into force: 2008)

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW or more often MWC) (adopted 1990, entry into force: 2003)

Customary international law

In addition to protection by international treaties, some human rights may be protected by customary international law through the practise of states. The prohibition of torture, genocide and slavery and the principle of non-discrimination may be regarded as prohibited by customary international law.

International Humanitarian Law

The Geneva Conventions came into being between 1864 and 1949 as a result of efforts by Henry Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The conventions safeguard the human rights of individuals involved in armed conflict, and build on the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, the international community's first attempt to formalize the laws of war and war crimes in the nascent body of secular international law. The conventions were revised as a result of World War II and readopted by the international community in 1949.

United Nations System

Under the mandate of the UN charter, the and the multilateral UN human rights treaties, the United Nations (UN) as an intergovernmental body seeks to apply international jurisdiction for universal human-rights legislation. Within the UN machinery, human-rights issues are primarily the concern of the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Human Rights Council, and there are numerous committees within the UN with responsibilities for safeguarding different human-rights treaties. The most senior body of the UN in the sphere of human rights is the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The United Nations has an international mandate to:

Political Bodies

General Assembly

The general Assembly of the United Nations, Under Article 13 of the UN Charter, the general assembly has the power to initiate studies and make recommendations on human rights issues. Under this provision, the general assembly passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and since then a wide variety of other human rights instruments. The assembly has several subsidiary organs that deal with specific human rights issues, such as the Special Committee on Decolonisation and the Special Commission against Apartheid (no longer operational). In addition the general assembly has set up a number of subsidiary organs that consider human rights issues in a number of high-profile contexts: such as the UN Council on Namibia, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practises in the Occupied territories and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable rights of the Palestine People.

Human Rights Council

The United Nations Human Rights Council, created at the 2005 World Summit to replace the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, has a mandate to investigate violations of human rights. The Human Rights Council is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly and reports directly to it. It ranks below the Security Council, which is the final authority for the interpretation of the United Nations Charter. Forty-seven of the one hundred ninety-one member states sit on the council, elected by simple majority in a secret ballot of the United Nations General Assembly. Members serve a maximum of six years and may have their membership suspended for gross human rights abuses. The Council is based in Geneva, and meets three times a year; with additional meetings to respond to urgent situations.

Independent experts (''rapporteurs'') are retained by the Council to investigate alleged human rights abuses and to provide the Council with reports.

The Human Rights Council may request that the Security Council take action when human rights violations occur. This action may be direct actions, may involve sanctions, and the Security Council may also refer cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC) even if the issue being referred is outside the normal jurisdiction of the ICC.

The United Nations Security Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and is the only body of the UN that can authorize the use of force. It has been criticised for failing to take action to prevent human rights abuses, including the Darfur crisis, the Srebrenica massacre and the Rwandan Genocide. For example, critics blamed the presence of non-democracies on the Security Council for its failure regarding.

On April 28, 2006 the Security Council adopted resolution 1674 that reaffirmed the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity" and committed the Security Council to action to protect civilians in armed conflict.

Treaty Bodies

In addition to the political bodies whose mandate flows from the UN charter, the UN has set up a number of ''treaty-based'' bodies, comprising committees of independent experts who monitor compliance with human rights standards and norms flowing from the core international human rights treaties. They are supported by and are created by the treaty that they monitor, With the exception of the the CESCR, which was established under a resolution of the Economic and Social Council to carry out the monitoring functions originally assigned to that body under the Covenant, they are technically autonomous bodies, established by the treaties that they monitor and accountable to the state parties of those treaties - rather than subsidiary to the United Nations. Though in practise they are closely intertwined with the United Nations system and are supported by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) and the UN Center for Human Rights.

The ''Human Rights Committee'' promotes participation with the standards of the ICCPR. The eighteen members of the committee express opinions on member countries and make judgments on individual complaints against countries which have ratified an Optional Protocol to the treaty. The judgments, termed "views", are not legally binding.

The ''Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights'' monitors the ICESCR and makes general comments on ratifying countries performance. It will have the power to receive complaints against the countries that opted into the Optional Protocol once it has come into force. It is important to note that unlike the other treaty bodies, the economic committee is not an autonomous body responsible to the treaty parties, but directly responsible to the Economic and Social Council and ultimately to the General Assembly. This means that the Economic Committee faces particular difficulties at its disposal only relatively "weak" means of implementation in comparison to other treaty bodies. Particular difficulties noted by commentators include: perceived vagueness of the principles of the treaty, relative lack of legal texts and decisions, ambivalence of many states in addressing economic, social and cultural rights, comparatively few non-governmental organisations focused on the area and problems with obtaining relevant and precise information.

The ''Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination'' monitors the CERD and conducts regular reviews of countries' performance. It can make judgments on complaints against member states allowing it, but these are not legally binding. It issues warnings to attempt to prevent serious contraventions of the convention.

The ''Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women'' monitors the CEDAW. It receives states' reports on their performance and comments on them, and can make judgments on complaints against countries which have opted into the 1999 Optional Protocol.

The ''Committee Against Torture'' monitors the CAT and receives states' reports on their performance every four years and comments on them. Its subcommittee may visit and inspect countries which have opted into the Optional Protocol.

The ''Committee on the Rights of the Child'' monitors the CRC and makes comments on reports submitted by states every five years. It does not have the power to receive complaints.

The ''Committee on Migrant Workers'' was established in 2004 and monitors the ICRMW and makes comments on reports submitted by states every five years. It will have the power to receive complaints of specific violations only once ten member states allow it.

The ''Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities'' was established in 2008 to monitor the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It has the power to receive complaints against the countries which have opted into the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Each treaty body receives secretariat support from the Human Rights Council and Treaties Division of Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva except CEDAW, which is supported by the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW). CEDAW formerly held all its sessions at United Nations headquarters in New York but now frequently meets at the United Nations Office in Geneva; the other treaty bodies meet in Geneva. The Human Rights Committee usually holds its March session in New York City.

Regional human rights regimes

International human rights regime's are in several cases "nested" within more comprehensive and overlapping regional agreements. These regional regimes can be seen as relatively independently coherent human rights sub-regimes. Three principle regional human rights instruments can be identified, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights (the Americas) and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights has since 1950 defined and guaranteed human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. All 47 member states of the Council of Europe have signed the Convention and are therefore under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Non-Governmental Actors

Non-governmental Organizations

International non-governmental human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Service for Human Rights and FIDH monitor what they see as human rights issues around the world and promote their views on the subject. Human rights organizations have been said to ""translate complex international issues into activities to be undertaken by concerned citizens in their own community". Human rights organizations frequently engage in lobbying and advocacy in an effort to convince the United Nations, supranational bodies and national governments to adopt their policies on human rights. Many human-rights organizations have observer status at the various UN bodies tasked with protecting human rights. A new (in 2009) nongovernmental human-rights conference is the Oslo Freedom Forum, a gathering described by The Economist as "on its way to becoming a human-rights equivalent of the Davos economic forum." The same article noted that human-rights advocates are more and more divided amongst themselves over how violations of human rights are to be defined, notably as regards the Middle East.

There is criticism of human-rights organisations who use their status but allegedly move away from their stated goals. For example, Gerald M. Steinberg, an Israel-based academic, maintains that NGOs take advantage of a "halo effect" and are "given the status of impartial moral watchdogs" by governments and the media. Such critics claim that this may be seen at various governmental levels, including when human-rights groups testify before investigation committees.

Human Rights Defenders

Human rights defender is a term used to describe people who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights. Human rights defenders (HRDs) are those men and women who act peacefully for the promotion and protection of those rights.

Corporations

Multinational companies play an increasingly large role in the world, and have been responsible for numerous human rights abuses. Although the legal and moral environment surrounding the actions of governments is reasonably well developed, that surrounding multinational companies is both controversial and ill-defined. Multinational companies' primary responsibility is to their shareholders, not to those affected by their actions. Such companies may be larger than the economies of some of the states within which they operate, and can wield significant economic and political power. No international treaties exist to specifically cover the behavior of companies with regard to human rights, and national legislation is very variable. Jean Ziegler, Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights on the right to food stated in a report in 2003:

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In August 2003 the Human Rights Commission's Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights produced draft ''Norms on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises with regard to human rights''. These were considered by the Human Rights Commission in 2004, but have no binding status on corporations and are not monitored.

Human rights violations

Human rights violations occur when actions by state (or non-state) actors abuse, ignore, or deny basic human rights (including civil, political, cultural, social, and economic rights). Furthermore, violations of human rights can occur when any state or non-state actor breaches any part of the UDHR treaty or other international human rights or humanitarian law. In regard to human rights violations of United Nations laws, Article 39 of the United Nations Charter designates the UN Security Council (or an appointed authority) as the only tribunal that may determine UN human rights violations.

Human rights abuses are monitored by United Nations committees, national institutions and governments and by many independent non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International, International Federation of Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, World Organisation Against Torture, Freedom House, International Freedom of Expression Exchange and Anti-Slavery International. These organisations collect evidence and documentation of alleged human rights abuses and apply pressure to enforce human rights laws.

Wars of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide, are breaches of International humanitarian law and represent the most serious of human rights violations.

In efforts to eliminate violations of human rights, building awareness and protesting inhumane treatment has often led to calls for action and sometimes improved conditions. The UN Security Council has interceded with peace keeping forces, and other states and treaties (NATO) have intervened in situations to protect human rights.

Substantive Rights

Right to life

The right to life describes the essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being. The concept of a right to life is central to debates on the issues of abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, self defense and war. According to many human rights activists, the death penalty violates this right. The United Nations has called on retentionist states to establish a moratorium on capital punishment with a view to its abolition. States which do not do so face considerable moral and political pressure.

Freedom from torture

Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion. In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadistic gratification of the torturer, as in the Moors murders.

Torture is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries in the 21st century. It is considered to be a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Signatories of the Third Geneva Convention and Fourth Geneva Convention officially agree not to torture prisoners in armed conflicts. Torture is also prohibited by the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which has been ratified by 147 states.

National and international legal prohibitions on torture derive from a consensus that torture and similar ill-treatment are immoral, as well as impractical. Despite these international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights (e.g. Amnesty International, the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims) report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, some of them openly.

Freedom from slavery

Freedom from slavery is an internationally recognized human right. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: }}

Despite this, the number of slaves today is higher than at any point in history, remaining as high as 12 million to 27 million, Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations. Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries.

Groups such as the American Anti-Slavery Group, Anti-Slavery International, Free the Slaves, the Anti-Slavery Society, and the Norwegian Anti-Slavery Society continue to campaign to rid the world of slavery.

Right to a fair trial

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The right to a fair trial has been defined in numerous regional and international human rights instruments. It is one of the most extensive human rights and all international human rights instruments enshrine it in more than one article. The right to a fair trial is one of the most litigated human rights and substantial case law has been established on the interpretation of this human right. Despite variations in wording and placement of the various fair trial rights, international human rights instrument define the right to a fair trial in broadly the same terms. The aim of the right is to ensure the proper administration of justice. As a minimum the right to fair trial includes the following fair trial rights in civil and criminal proceedings:

the right to be heard by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal

the right to a public hearing

the right to be heard within a reasonable time

the right to counsel

the right to interpretation

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc. The right to freedom of expression is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 of the ICCPR states that "[e]veryone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice".

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion are closely related rights that protect the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to think and freely hold conscientious beliefs and to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion. The freedom to ''leave'' or discontinue membership in a religion or religious group —in religious terms called "apostasy" —is also a fundamental part of religious freedom, covered by Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International organises campaigns to protect those arrested and or incarcerated as a prisoner of conscience because of their conscientious beliefs, particularly concerning intellectual, political and artistic freedom of expression and association. In legislation, a conscience clause is a provision in a statute that excuses a health professional from complying with the law (for example legalising surgical or pharmaceutical abortion) if it is incompatible with religious or conscientious beliefs.

Rights debates

Events and new possibilities can affect existing rights or require new ones. Advances of technology, medicine, and philosophy constantly challenge the status quo of human rights thinking.

Future generations

In 1997 UNESCO adopted the Declaration on the Responsibilities of the Present Generation Towards the Future Generation. The Declaration opens with the words:

Article 1 of the declaration states "the present generations have the responsibility of ensuring that the needs and interests of present and future generations are fully safeguarded." The preamble to the declaration states that "at this point in history, the very existence of humankind and its environment are threatened" and the declaration covers a variety of issues including protection of the environment, the human genome, biodiversity, cultural heritage, peace, development, and education. The preamble recalls that the responsibilities of the present generations towards future generations has been referred to in various international instruments, including the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO 1972), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (UN Conference on Environment and Development, 1992), the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (World Conference on Human Rights, 1993) and a number of UN General Assembly resolutions relating to the protection of the global climate for present and future generations adopted since 1990.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) rights

LGBT rights are rights that relate to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression based on the right to respect for private life and the right not to be discriminated against on the ground of “other status” as defined in various human rights conventions, such as article 17 and 26 in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 8 and article 14 in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Through the way many because of their religious beliefs claim that they support human rights in general while denying that LGBT rights are human rights, LGBT rights stand prominent in the very defense of the universal principle of the human rights. If human rights are understood in a way that makes it possible to exclude the basic rights of certain groups only because of certain religious and cultural prejudices, we find that the principle of universality is taken right out of the human rights, and human rights are transformed to a set of rules only reflecting certain historically values.

In 77 countries, homosexuality remains a criminal offense, punishable by execution in seven countries. The decriminalization of private, consensual, adult sexual relations, especially in countries where corporal or capital punishment is involved, remains one of the primary concerns of LGBT human rights advocates.

Other issues include but are not limited to: government recognition of same-sex relationships, LGBT adoption, sexual orientation and military service, immigration equality, anti-discrimination laws, hate crime laws regarding violence against LGBT people, sodomy laws, anti-lesbianism laws, and equal age of consent for same-sex activity.

A global charter for LGBT rights has been proposed in the form of the 'Yogyakarta Principles', a set of 29 principles whose authors say they apply International Human Rights Law statutes and precedent to situations relevant to LGBT people's experience. The principles were presented at a United Nations event in New York on November 7, 2007, co-sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

The principles have been acknowledged with influencing the French proposed UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity, which focuses on ending violence, criminalization and capital punishment and does not include dialogue about same-sex marriage or right to start a family. The proposal was supported by 67 of the then 192 member countries of the United Nations, including all EU nations and the United States. An alternative statement opposing the proposal was initiated by Syria and signed by 57 member nations, including all 27 nations of the Arab League as well as Iran and North Korea.

Trade

Although both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights emphasize the importance of a right to work, neither of these documents explicitly mention trade as a mechanism for ensuring this fundamental right. And yet trade plays a key role in providing jobs.

Some experts argue that trade is inherent to human nature and that when governments inhibit international trade they directly inhibit the right to work and the other indirect benefits, like the right to education, that increased work and investment help accrue. Others have argued that the ability to trade does not affect everyone equally—often groups like the rural poor, indigenous groups and women are less likely to access the benefits of increased trade.

On the other hand, others think that it is no longer primarily individuals but companies that trade, and therefore it cannot be guaranteed as a human right. Additionally, trying to fit too many concepts under the umbrella of what qualifies as a human right has the potential to dilute their importance. Finally, it is difficult to define a right to trade as either "fair" or "just" in that the current trade regime produces winners and losers but its reform is likely to produce (different) winners and losers. See also: The Recognition of Labour Standards within the World Trade Organisation and Investor state dispute settlement

Water

In November 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights issued a non-binding comment affirming that access to water was a human right:

This principle was reaffirmed at the 3rd and 4th World Water Councils in 2003 and 2006. This marks a departure from the conclusions of the 2nd World Water Forum in The Hague in 2000, which stated that water was a commodity to be bought and sold, not a right. There are calls from many NGOs and politicians to enshrine access to water as a binding human right, and not as a commodity. According to the United Nations, nearly 900 million people lack access to clean water and more than 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. On July 28, 2010, the UN declared water and sanitation as human rights. By declaring safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right, the U.N. General Assembly made a step towards the Millennium Development Goal to ensure environmental sustainability, which in part aims to "halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation".

Reproductive rights

Reproductive rights are rights relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organisation defines reproductive rights as follows:

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Reproductive rights were first established as a subset of human rights at the United Nation's 1968 International Conference on Human Rights. The sixteenth article of the resulting Proclamation of Teheran states, "Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children."

Reproductive rights may include some or all of the following rights: the right to legal or safe abortion, the right to control one's reproductive functions, the right to quality reproductive healthcare, and the right to education and access in order to make reproductive choices free from coercion, discrimination, and violence.

Reproductive rights may also be understood to include education about contraception and sexually transmitted infections, and freedom from coerced sterilization and contraception, protection from gender-based practices such as female genital cutting (FGC) and male genital mutilation (MGM).

Information and communication technologies

In 2009, Finland was the first country to make 1-megabit broadband Web access a legal right.

In a survey conducted by the BBC in 2010, nearly four out of five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right.

Relationship with other topics

Human rights and the environment

There are two basic conceptions of environmental human rights in the current human rights system. The first is that the right to a healthy or adequate environment is itself a human right (as seen in both Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, and Article 11 of the San Salvador Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights). The second conception is the idea that environmental human rights can be derived from other human rights, usually – the right to life, the right to health, the right to private family life and the right to property (among many others). This second theory enjoys much more widespread use in human rights courts around the world, as those rights are contained in many human rights documents.

The onset of various environmental issues, especially climate change, has created potential conflicts between different human rights. Human rights ultimately require a working ecosystem and healthy environment, but the granting of certain rights to individuals may damage these. Such as the conflict between right to decide number of offspring and the common need for a healthy environment, as noted in the tragedy of the commons. In the area of environmental rights, the responsibilities of multinational corporations, so far relatively unaddressed by human rights legislation, is of paramount consideration.

Environmental Rights revolve largely around the idea of a right to a livable environment both for the present and the future generations.

National security

With the exception of non-derogable human rights (international conventions class the right to life, the right to be free from slavery, the right to be free from torture and the right to be free from retroactive application of penal laws as non-derogable), the UN recognises that human rights can be limited or even pushed aside during times of national emergency – although

Rights that cannot be derogated for reasons of national security in any circumstances are known as peremptory norms or ''jus cogens''. Such United Nations Charter obligations are binding on all states and cannot be modified by treaty.

Examples of national security being used to justify human rights violations include the Japanese American internment during World War II, Stalin's Great Purge, and the modern-day abuses of terror suspects rights by some countries, often in the name of the War on Terror.

Relativism and universalism

The UDHR enshrines universal rights that apply to all humans equally, whichever geographical location, state, race or culture they belong to. However, in academia there is a dispute between scholars that advocate moral relativism and scholars that advocate moral universalism. Relativists do not argue against human rights, but concede that human rights are social constructed and are shaped by cultural and environmental contexts. Universalists argue that human rights have always existed, and apply to all people regardless of culture, race, sex, or religion.

More specifically, proponents of cultural relativism argue for acceptance of different cultures, which may have practices conflicting with human rights. Relativists caution that universalism could be used as a form of cultural, economic or political imperialism. The White Man's Burden is used as an example of imperialism and the destruction of local cultures justified by the desire to spread Eurocentric values. In particular, the concept of human rights is often claimed to be fundamentally rooted in a politically liberal outlook which, although generally accepted in Europe, Japan or North America, is not necessarily taken as standard elsewhere.

Opponents of relativism argue that some practices exist that violate the norms of all human cultures. A common example is female genital mutilation, which occurs in different cultures in Africa, Asia and South America. It is not mandated by any religion, but has become a tradition in many cultures. It is considered a violation of women's and girl's rights by much of the international community, and is outlawed in some countries.

The former Prime Ministers of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, and of Malaysia, Mahathir bin Mohamad both claimed in the 1990s that ''Asian values'' were significantly different from western values and included a sense of loyalty and foregoing personal freedoms for the sake of social stability and prosperity, and therefore authoritarian government is more appropriate in Asia than democracy. Lee Kuan Yew argued that:

In response, critics have pointed out that cultural relativism could be used as a justification for authoritarianism. An example is in 1981, when the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law. The Asian Values argument was criticized by Mahathir's former deputy:

and by Singapore's opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, who states that it is racist to assert that Asians do not want human rights.

Defenders of moral universalism argue that relativistic arguments neglect the fact that modern human rights are new to all cultures, dating back no further than the UDHR in 1948. They argue that the UDHR was drafted by people from many different cultures and traditions, including a US Roman Catholic, a Chinese Confucian philosopher, a French zionist and a representative from the Arab League, amongst others, and drew upon advice from thinkers such as Mahatma Gandhi. Michael Ignatieff has argued that cultural relativism is almost exclusively an argument used by those who wield power in cultures which commit human rights abuses, and that those whose human rights are compromised are the powerless. This reflects the fact that the difficulty in judging universalism versus relativism lies in who is claiming to represent a particular culture.

Although the argument between universalism and relativism is far from complete, it is an academic discussion in that all international human rights instruments adhere to the principle that human rights are universally applicable. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed the international community's adherence to this principle:

See also

Public international law

International human rights instruments

List of human rights organisations

Rule of law

References

Bibliography

Books

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Articles

Online

Miscellaneous

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Further reading

Abouharb, R. and D. Cingranelli (2007). "Human Rights and Structural Adjustment". New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ankerl, Guy (2011) Relativity of human rights (Sacha Journal of Human Rights, Sept. 2011, 14-36.)

Anstis, Sebastian and Zacher, Mark (June 2010). "The Normative Bases of the Global Territorial Order." Diplomacy and Statecraft 21: 306-323.

Barsh, R. (1993). “Measuring Human Rights: Problems of Methodology and Purpose.” Human Rights Quarterly 15: 87-121.

Chauhan, O.P. (2004). ''Human Rights: Promotion and Protection''. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. ISBN 812612119X

Forsythe, David P. (2000). ''Human Rights in International Relations.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. International Progress Organization. ISBN 3-900704-08-2

Forsythe, Frederick P.(2009, ''Encyclopedia of Human Rights'' (New York: Oxford University Press)

Landman, Todd (2006). ''Studying Human Rights''. Oxford and London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-32605-2

Robertson, Arthur Henry; Merrills, John Graham (1996). ''Human Rights in the World: An Introduction to the Study of the International Protection of Human Rights''. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719049237.

Steiner, J. & Alston, Philip. (1996). ''International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 019825427X

Shute, Stephen & Hurley, Susan (eds.). (1993). ''On Human Rights: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures.'' New York: BasicBooks. ISBN 046505224X

External links

United Nations: Human Rights

UN Practitioner's Portal on HRBA Programming UN centralised webportal on the Human Rights-Based Approach to Development Programming

Simple Guide to the UN Treaty Bodies (International Service for Human Rights)

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)

IHRLaw.org International Human Rights Law – comprehensive online resources and news

Category:Abuse Category:Concepts in ethics Category:Culture Category:Economics Category:Law

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name	Julian Assange
birth date	July 03, 1971
birth place	Townsville, Queensland, Australia
occupation	Editor-in-chief and spokesperson for WikiLeaks, talk show host
awards	Economist Freedom of Expression Award (2008)Amnesty International UK Media Award (2009)Sam Adams Award (2010)Le Monde Person of the Year (2010)Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal (2011)Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism (2011)Voltaire Award of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (2011)Walkleys Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (2011)
death date
death place	}}

Julian Paul Assange ( ; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian computer programmer, political/internet activist, publisher, and journalist. He is best known as the editor in chief and founder of WikiLeaks, a media website which publishes information from whistleblowers. The site acts as a conduit for worldwide news leaks, with a stated purpose of creating open governance.

WikiLeaks has published material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Côte d'Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer. In 2010, WikiLeaks published Iraq War documents and Afghan War documents about American involvement in the wars, some of which was classified material. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five international print media partners (''Der Spiegel'', ''The New York Times'', ''Le Monde'', ''The Guardian'' and ''El País'') began publishing U.S. diplomatic cables.

Assange was a hacker-activist in his youth, before becoming a computer programmer and then becoming internationally renowned for his work with WikiLeaks. He has lived in several countries and has made public appearances in many parts of the world to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award, Readers' Choice for ''TIME'' magazine's 2010 Person of the Year, the 2011 Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal and the 2011 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Snorre Valen, a Norwegian parliamentarian, nominated him for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

Early life

Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland. When Julian was one year old, his mother Christine married theatre director Brett Assange, "who gave him his surname". In 1976, the family moved to Magnetic Island where Christine had previously resided. They lived in Horseshoe Bay, in an old abandoned pineapple farm". Later Assange and his mother lived in a cottage at Picnic Bay. Assange gave information about his background in an interview for Making Trouble: Essays Against the New Australian Complacency: "according to Assange, his mother", Christine Ann Assange (née Hawkins) "was the daughter of Scottish-born principal of Northern Rivers College (Southern Cross University), Warren Hawkins", and Norma Hawkins (née Carelton), who "was a specialist in medieval literature". Norma Hawkins, Assange's maternal grandmother, is mentioned in the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997). Assange has reportedly claimed himself that he is of Scottish, Irish, Taiwanese, Torres Strait Islander and French ancestry: he has said that "his maternal ancestors came to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century from Scotland and Ireland"; he has also said: "my mother is French", referring to her ancestry. Referring to his paternal grandfather: "my grandfather was a Taiwanese pirate".."who settled on Thursday Island where he met and married a Thursday Islander woman". He has also said that Brett Assange "was the descendant of a Chinese immigrant who had settled on Thursday Island", "his great-great-great-grandfather was a Taiwanese pirate". The name Assange is an anglicization of "Ah Sang" – Cantonese for "Mr Sang".

In the interview for Making Trouble, he tells about who he believes is his "biological father": "he did not meet his biological father, John Shipton, until he was 25", Manne writes; "strangely and perhaps revealingly, it [WikiLeaks] was registered under the names of two fathers, his biological one, John Shipton, and his cypherpunk political one, John Young, a New York architect who ran the intelligence leak website Cryptome, which could be seen as WikiLeaks' predecessor". John Shipton is also referred to as an "architect", and an "Australian citizen living in Kenya", who resided in Nairobi, Kenya in 2008 at the same time as Julian. He "met Assange's mother, Christine, then aged 17, at an antiques shop on his way to a Vietnam war demonstration".."little is known about the relationship, except that it had ended by the time of their son's first birthday – if not earlier"; Shipton "never took up residence or if he did only took up residence for a very short time" and "had no contact with [Assange]".

Youth

During Assange's upbringing Brett and Christine Assange ran a touring theatre company. His stepfather, Julian's first "real dad", described Julian as "a very sharp kid" with "a keen sense of right and wrong". "He always stood up for the underdog ... he was always very angry about people ganging up on other people."

In 1979, his mother remarried "Leif Meynall — or Leif Hamilton"; her new husband was a musician whom Assange believed belonged to a New Age group called The Family, led by Yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne. The couple had a son, but broke up in 1982 and engaged in a custody struggle for Assange's half-brother. His divorced mother fled her boyfriend and travelled across Australia, taking both children into hiding for the next five years. Assange moved thirty times before he turned 14, attending many schools, including Goolmangar Primary School, sometimes being home-schooled. In an interview conducted by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Assange stated that he had lived in 50 different towns and attended 37 different schools. The family "by the time he was 16 or 17" lived in "a tiny cement bungalow in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne", Victoria, first in the town of "Emerald and then Tecoma", now in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Hacking and conviction

In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax" (derived from a phrase of Horace: "splendide mendax", or "nobly untruthful"). He and two other hackers joined to form a group they named the International Subversives. Assange wrote down the early rules of the subculture: "Don't damage computer systems you break into (including crashing them); don't change the information in those systems (except for altering logs to cover your tracks); and share information". The ''Personal Democracy Forum'' said he was "Australia's most famous ethical computer hacker." The Australian Federal Police became aware of this group and set up "Operation Weather" to investigate their hacking. In September 1991, Mendax was discovered in the act of hacking into the Melbourne master terminal of Nortel, the Canadian telecommunications company. In response the Australian Federal Police tapped Assanges' phoneline and subsequently raided his Melbourne home in 1991. He was also reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university, the USAF 7th Command Group in the Pentagon and other organisations, via modem. It took three years to bring the case to court, where he was charged with 31 counts of hacking and related crimes. Nortel said his incursions cost them more than $100,000. Assange's lawyers represented his hacking as a victimless crime. He pleaded guilty to 25 charges of hacking, after six charges were dropped, and was released on bond for good conduct with a fine of A$2,100. The judge said "there is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers" and stated that Assange would have gone to jail for up to 10 years if he had not had such a disrupted childhood.

In 2011, court records revealed that in 1993, Assange helped the Victoria Police Child Exploitation Unit by providing technical advice and assisted in prosecuting persons.

Child custody issues

In 1988–1989, Assange married, then moved out and started living with his wife, Teresa, after they had a son, Daniel Assange. They split up before the period of Assange's arrest and conviction. They subsequently engaged in a lengthy custody struggle and did not agree on a custody arrangement until 1999.

The entire process prompted Assange and his mother to form Parent Inquiry Into Child Protection, an activist group centered on creating a "central databank" for otherwise inaccessible legal records related to child custody issues in Australia. In an interview with ABC Radio, his mother explained their "most important" issue was demanding "that there be direct access to the children's court by any member of the public for an application for protection for any child that they believe is at serious risk from abuse, where the child protection agency has rejected that notification."

Computer programming and other employment

In 1993, Assange was involved in starting one of the first public internet service providers in Australia, Suburbia Public Access Network. Starting in 1994, he lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software. In 1995, he wrote ''Strobe'', the first free and open source port scanner. He contributed several patches to the PostgreSQL project in 1996. He helped to write the book ''Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier'' (1997), which credits him as a researcher and reports his history with International Subversives. Starting around 1997, he co-invented the Rubberhose deniable encryption system, a cryptographic concept made into a software package for Linux designed to provide plausible deniability against rubber-hose cryptanalysis; he originally intended the system to be used "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field." Other free software that he has authored or co-authored includes the Usenet caching software NNTPCache and Surfraw, a command-line interface for web-based search engines. In 1998, "Assange co-founded his first and only Australian company, Earthmen Technology". Assange was characterised as a "cryptographer" in a Suelette Dreyfus article published in The Independent, 15 November 1999 – "This is just between us (and the spies)", and was said to have been the moderator of "the online Australian discussion forum AUCRYPTO", and during this time Assange claimed to have found a new patent relating to the US National Security Agency's technology for monitoring calls, "while investigating NSA capabilities". Assange said that "this patent should worry people. Everyone's overseas phone calls are or may soon be tapped, transcribed and archived in the bowels of an unaccountable foreign spy agency". In 1999, he registered the domain leaks.org, but he says he "didn't do anything with it."

University studies

From 2002 to 2005, Assange attended the University of Melbourne and University of Canberra as an undergraduate student, he started a Bachelors of Science degree, studying physics and mathematics (pure mathematics) and briefly philosophy and neuroscience. In most of his maths courses, he received the minimum "pass" grade. He did not graduate; the fact that his fellow students were doing research for Pentagon's DARPA was reportedly a factor in motivating him to drop out and start WikiLeaks.

Career as head of WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks was founded in 2006. That year, Assange wrote two essays setting out the philosophy behind WikiLeaks: "To radically shift regime behaviour we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not." In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie.... Since unjust systems, by their nature, induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance."

Assange is the most prominent media spokesman on WikiLeaks' behalf. In June 2010, he was listed alongside several others as a member of the WikiLeaks advisory board. While newspapers have described him as a "director" or "founder" of WikiLeaks, Assange has said, "I don't call myself a founder"; he does describe himself as the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, and has stated that he has the final decision in the process of vetting documents submitted to the site. Assange says that WikiLeaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined: "That's not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are – rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It's disgraceful." He advocates a "transparent" and "scientific" approach to journalism, saying that "you can't publish a paper on physics without the full experimental data and results; that should be the standard in journalism." In 2006, ''CounterPunch'' called him "Australia's most infamous former computer hacker." ''The Age'' has called him "one of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter." Assange has called himself "extremely cynical". He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics, and as thriving on intellectual battle.

WikiLeaks has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike video, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents. In 2008, Assange published an article entitled "The Hidden Curse of Thomas Paine", in which he wrote "What does it mean when only those facts about the world with economic powers behind them can be heard, when the truth lays naked before the world and no one will be the first to speak without payment or subsidy?"

Public appearances

In addition to exercising great authority and editorial control within WikiLeaks, Assange acts as its public face. He has appeared at media conferences such as New Media Days '09 in Copenhagen, the 2010 Logan Symposium in Investigative Reporting at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and at hacker conferences, notably the 25th and 26th Chaos Communication Congress. In the first half of 2010, he appeared on ''Al Jazeera English'', ''MSNBC'', ''Democracy Now!'', ''RT'', and ''The Colbert Report'' to discuss the release of the Baghdad airstrike video by WikiLeaks. On 3 June he appeared via videoconferencing at the Personal Democracy Forum conference with Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg told MSNBC "the explanation he [Assange] used" for not appearing in person in the U.S. was that "it was not safe for him to come to this country." On 11 June he was to appear on a Showcase Panel at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas, but there are reports that he cancelled several days prior.

On 10 June 2010, it was reported that Pentagon officials were trying to determine his whereabouts. Based on this, there were reports that U.S. officials wanted to apprehend Assange. Ellsberg said that the arrest of Bradley Manning and subsequent speculation by U.S. officials about what Assange may be about to publish "puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now." In ''The Atlantic'', Marc Ambinder called Ellsberg's concerns "ridiculous", and said that "Assange's tendency to believe that he is one step away from being thrown into a black hole hinders, and to some extent discredits, his work." In Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald questioned "screeching media reports" that there was a "manhunt" on Assange underway, arguing that they were only based on comments by "anonymous government officials" and might even serve a campaign by the U.S. government, by intimidating possible whistleblowers.

On 21 June 2010, he took part at a hearing in Brussels, Belgium, appearing in public for the first time in nearly a month. He was a member on a panel that discussed Internet censorship and expressed his worries over the recent filtering in countries such as Australia. He also talked about secret gag orders preventing newspapers from publishing information about specific subjects and even divulging the fact that they are being gagged. Using an example involving ''The Guardian'', he also explained how newspapers are altering their online archives sometimes by removing entire articles. He told ''The Guardian'' that he does not fear for his safety but is on permanent alert and will avoid travel to America, saying "[U.S.] public statements have all been reasonable. But some statements made in private are a bit more questionable." He said "politically it would be a great error for them to act. I feel perfectly safe but I have been advised by my lawyers not to travel to the U.S. during this period."

On 17 July, Jacob Appelbaum spoke on behalf of WikiLeaks at the 2010 Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in New York City, replacing Assange due to the presence of federal agents at the conference. He announced that the WikiLeaks submission system was again up and running, after it had been temporarily suspended. Assange was a surprise speaker at a TED conference on 19 July 2010, in Oxford, and confirmed that WikiLeaks was now accepting submissions again. On 26 July, after the release of the Afghan War Diary, he appeared at the Frontline Club for a press conference.

On 14 February 2011, Assange filed for the trademark "JULIAN ASSANGE" in Europe. The trademark is to be used for "public speaking services; news reporter services; journalism; publication of texts other than publicity texts; education services; entertainment services". On 15 March 2011, Assange gave a speech at the Cambridge Union Society. After initially discouraging recording, a video of this has been made available by the Society.

On 19 February 2012 the 500th episode of ''The Simpsons'' "At Long Last Leave" was aired, which features Assange guest-starring as himself in a scene written by Australian author Kathy Lette, the wife of Assange's adviser Geoffrey Robertson QC.

Release of U.S. diplomatic cables

On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing some of the 251,000 American diplomatic cables in their possession, of which over 53 percent are listed as unclassified, 40 percent are "Confidential" and just over six percent are classified "Secret". The following day, the Attorney-General of Australia, Robert McClelland, told the press that Australia would inquire into Assange's activities and WikiLeaks. He said that "from Australia's point of view, we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by the release of this information. The Australian Federal Police are looking at that". McClelland would not rule out the possibility that Australian authorities will cancel Assange's passport, and warned him that he might face charges should he return to Australia. The Federal Police inquiry found that Assange had not committed any crime.

The United States Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation related to the leak. U.S. prosecutors are reportedly considering charges against Assange under several laws, but any prosecution would be difficult. In relation to its ongoing investigations of WikiLeaks, on 14 December 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena ordering Twitter to release information relating to Assange's account, amongst others.

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said that Assange "is serving our democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country." On the issue of national security considerations for the U.S., Ellsberg added, "He's obviously a very competent guy in many ways. I think his instincts are that most of this material deserves to be out. We are arguing over a very small fragment that doesn't. He has not yet put out anything that hurt anybody's national security." Assange told London reporters that the leaked cables showed U.S. ambassadors around the world were ordered "to engage in espionage behaviour", which he said seemed to be "representative of a gradual shift to a lack of rule of law in U.S. institutions that needs to be exposed and that we have been exposing."

The WikiLeaks diplomatic cable revelations have been credited by some commentators with being a factor in sparking the Tunisian Revolution, as such leaked cables revealed the degree of corruption in the then ruling government. Writing for ''Foreign Policy'' magazine, journalist Elizabeth Dickinson suggested that "Tunisians didn't need any more reasons to protest when they took to the streets these past weeks – food prices were rising, corruption was rampant, and unemployment was staggering. But we might also count Tunisia as the first time that WikiLeaks pushed people over the brink..."

Recognition as a journalist

Assange received the 2009 Media award from Amnesty International for ''Kenya: The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances'', and he has been recognized as a journalist by the Centre for Investigative Journalism. Assange has been a member of the Australian journalist union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, for several years, and in 2011, was made an honorary member. Alex Massie wrote an article in ''The Spectator'' called "Yes, Julian Assange is a journalist", but acknowledged that "newsman" might be a better description of Assange. Alan Dershowitz said "Without a doubt. He is a journalist, a new kind of journalist". Assange has said that he has been publishing factual material since age 25, and that it is not necessary to debate whether or not he is a journalist. He has stated that his role is "primarily that of a publisher and editor-in-chief who organises and directs other journalists".

Financial developments

On 6 December 2010, the Swiss bank, PostFinance, announced that it had frozen assets of Assange's totalling 31,000 euros, because he had "provided false information regarding his place of residence" when opening the account. MasterCard, Visa Inc., and Bank of America also halted dealings with WikiLeaks. Assange described these actions as "business McCarthyism". The English-language Swedish newspaper web-site "Local" quoted Assange on 27 December 2010, as saying that legal costs for the whistleblowing website and his own defence had reached £500,000. The decisions to halt donations to WikiLeaks by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal had cost £425,000, the same amount it costs the website to publish for six months. Assange said WikiLeaks had been receiving as much as £85,000 a day at its peak, before the financial blockade

"Autobiography"

In December 2010, Assange sold the publishing rights to his proposed autobiography for over £1 million. He told ''The Sunday Times'' that he was forced to enter the deals for an autobiography due to the financial difficulties he and the site encountered, stating "I don't want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

A draft of this work was published, without Assange's consent, in September 2011. The book was ghostwritten by Andrew O'Hagan and was given the title ''Julian Assange – The Unauthorised Autobiography'' (2011). Assange and the publisher, Canongate, gave differing accounts of the circumstances around the publication.

The World Tomorrow

In January 2012, WikiLeaks announced that Assange would launch "a series of in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world", titled ''The World Tomorrow''. The first of twelve completed interview programs was broadcast by the RT network on 17 April with other networks expected to follow. The series will be broadcast on a weekly basis, and the 26-minute episodes will also be made available online. The show's first guest was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Criticism

A number of political and media commentators, as well as current and former U.S. government officials, have accused Assange of terrorism. When asked if he saw Assange more as a high-tech terrorist or as a whistleblower, like those who released the Pentagon papers in the 1970s, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said: "I would argue it is closer to being a high-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers." In May 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had used the phrase, calling Assange "a high-tech terrorist", and saying "he has done enormous damage to our country. I think he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law". Also in May 2010, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said: "Information terrorism, which leads to people getting killed, is terrorism, and Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism. He should be treated as an enemy combatant."

In July 2010, after WikiLeaks released classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, said at a Pentagon news conference, "Disagree with the war all you want, take issue with the policy, challenge me or our ground commanders on the decisions we make to accomplish the mission we've been given, but don't put those who willingly go into harm's way even further in harm's way just to satisfy your need to make a point. Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family." Assange responded later in an interview by saying, "There is, as far as we can tell, no incident of that. So it is a speculative charge. Of course, we are treating any possible revelation of the names of innocents seriously. That is why we held back 15,000 of these documents, to review that". Assange also pointed out the irony of U.S. officials and military leaders accusing him of having blood on his hands.

Support

The Australian government had considered charging Assange with treason, but later retracted its previous statements that Assange's actions were criminal. They also found no grounds to withdraw his Australian passport after an investigation by the Australian Federal Police. Since then, government representatives and the major opposition, including Craig Emerson the Minister for Trade and Helen Coonan the former minister for Communications, have made statements supportive of WikiLeaks and deprecated some threats. Emerson stated on ABC's Q&A; program; "We condemn absolutely the threats that have been made by some people in the United States against Julian Assange and he deserves all of the rights of being an Australian citizen."

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, then president of Brazil, expressed his "solidarity" with Assange following his 2010 arrest in the United Kingdom. He further criticised the arrest of Assange as "an attack on freedom of expression".

Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, condemned Assange's detention as "undemocratic". A source within the office of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Assange be nominated for a Nobel Prize, and said that "Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him."

In December 2010, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank LaRue, said Assange or other WikiLeaks staff should not face criminal charges for any information they disseminated, noting that "if there is a responsibility by leaking information it is of, exclusively of the person that made the leak and not of the media that publish it. And this is the way that transparency works and that corruption has been confronted in many cases."

Daniel Ellsberg, who was working in the U.S. Department of Defense when he leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, was a signatory to a statement by an international group of former intelligence officers and ex-government officials in support of Assange's work, which was released in late December 2010. Other signatories included David MacMichael, Ray McGovern, and five recipients of annual Sam Adams Award: Frank Grevil, Katharine Gun, Craig Murray, Coleen Rowley and Larry Wilkerson. Ellsberg has said, "If I released the Pentagon Papers today, the same rhetoric and the same calls would be made about me ... I would be called not only a traitor – which I was [called] then, which was false and slanderous – but I would be called a terrorist... Assange and Bradley Manning are no more terrorists than I am."

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under widespread condemnation and a backlash within her own party for failing to support Assange after calling the leaks "an illegal act" and suggesting that his Australian passport should be cancelled. Hundreds of lawyers, academics and journalists came forward in his support with Attorney-General Robert McClelland, unable to explain how Assange had broken Australian law. Opposition Legal Affairs spokesman, Senator George Brandis, a Queen's Counsel, accused Gillard of being "clumsy" with her language, stating, "As far as I can see, he (Assange) hasn't broken any Australian law, nor does it appear he has broken any American laws." Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who supports Assange, stated that any decision to cancel the passport would be his, not Gillard's. Queen's Counsel Peter Faris, who acted for Assange in a hacking case 15 years ago, said that the motives of Swedish authorities in seeking Assange's extradition for alleged sex offences are suspect: "You have to say: why are they [Sweden] pursuing it? It's pretty obvious that if it was Bill Bloggs, they wouldn't be going to the trouble." Following the Swedish Embassy issuing of a "prepared and unconvincing reply" in response to letters of protest, Gillard was called on to send a message to Sweden "querying the way charges were laid, investigated and dropped, only to be picked up again by a different prosecutor."

On 10 December 2010, over five hundred people rallied outside Sydney Town Hall and about three hundred and fifty people gathered in Brisbane where Assange's lawyer, Rob Stary, criticised Julia Gillard's position, telling the rally that the Australian government was a "sycophant" of the U.S. A petition circulated by GetUp!, who have placed full page ads in support of Assange in ''The New York Times'' and ''The Washington Times'', received more than signatures.

Awards

He won the 2009 Amnesty International UK Media Award (New Media), for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya by distributing and publicizing the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)'s investigation ''The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances''. Accepting the award, Assange said, "It is a reflection of the courage and strength of Kenyan civil society that this injustice was documented."

In 2010, Assange was awarded the Sam Adams Award, Readers' Choice in ''TIME'' magazine's Person of the Year poll, and runner-up for Person of the Year. In April 2011 he was listed on the Time 100 list of most influential people. An informal poll of editors at Postmedia Network named him the top newsmaker for the year after six out of 10 felt Assange had "affected profoundly how information is seen and delivered".

''Le Monde'', one of the five publications to cooperate with WikiLeaks' publication of the recent document leaks, named him person of the year with fifty six percent of the votes in their online poll.

In February 2011, it was announced that Assange had been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal by the Sydney Peace Foundation of the University of Sydney for his "exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights." There have been four recipients of the award in the foundation's fourteen year history: Nelson Mandela; the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso; Daisaku Ikeda; and Assange.

In June 2011, Assange was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. The prize is awarded on an annual basis to journalists "whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or 'official drivel'". The judges said, "WikiLeaks has been portrayed as a phenomenon of the hi-tech age, which it is. But it's much more. Its goal of justice through transparency is in the oldest and finest tradition of journalism."

Allegations of sexual misconduct

In 2010, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for Assange in response to a Swedish police request for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. Assange voluntarily attended a police station in England on 7 December 2010, and was arrested and taken into custody. After ten days in Wandsworth prison, Assange was freed on bail with a residence requirement at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, England, fitted with an electronic tag and ordered to report to police daily. Assange appealed a February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden, saying the allegations were "without basis". On 2 November 2011 the High Court upheld the extradition decision and rejected all four grounds of appeal presented by Assange's legal representatives. Costs of £19000 were also awarded against Assange. On 5 December, the High Court certified that his case raised a point of law of general "public importance" that ought to be considered by the Supreme Court. The question certified is whether a prosecutor can be a judicial authority. The Supreme Court heard the appeal on 1 and 2 February 2012. The court reserved its judgment, and its decision is expected within weeks.

On 20 August 2010, Swedish police began an investigation into allegations concerning Assange's behaviour in separate sexual encounters involving two different women. Assange has said the allegations are "without basis", describing all the sexual encounters as consensual. In December 2010, Assange, then in Britain, learned that the Swedish authorities had issued a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to extradite him to Sweden for questioning.

According to published reports, the charges Sweden has lodged against Assange involve two different women, neither of whom contacted the police until after they discovered they were both involved with him. Their initial intention was reportedly to force Assange to take an HIV test. There are four charges: that on 14 August 2010 he committed "unlawful coercion" when he held complainant 1 down with his body weight in a sexual manner; that he "sexually molested" complainant 1 when he had condom-less sex with her after she insisted that he use one; that he had condom-less sex with complainant 2 on the morning of 17 August while she was asleep; and that he "deliberately molested" complainant 1 on 18 August 2010 by pressing his erect penis against her body.

An extradition hearing took place on 7–8 and 11 February 2011 before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court when the extradition warrant was upheld.

On 2 March 2011, his lawyers lodged papers at the High Court challenging the ruling to extradite Assange to Sweden. After a hearing on 12 and 13 July 2011, the High Court reserved its judgment, and on 2 November 2011, dismissed his appeal. On 5 December 2011 Assange's lawyers were granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, after the High Court certified that a point of law of general public importance, that ought to be considered by the Supreme Court, was involved in its decision. The certified question is whether a prosecutor can be a judicial authority. Supreme Court has heard the appeal on 1 and 2 February 2012. The court reserved its judgment, and its decision is expected within weeks. Assange remains on conditional bail.

Residency

Though an Australian citizen, Assange has not lived in Australia since he left after he started work on WikiLeaks. In 2007 Assange moved to Kenya. Since 2007, he also spent time in Tanzania, stayed in Cairo, Egypt for a week, Paris, France, Wiesbaden, Germany for two months, and also Iceland. He began renting a house in Iceland on 30 March 2010, from which he and other activists, including Birgitta Jónsdóttir, worked on the ''Collateral Murder'' video.

Over the course of 2009–2010 he travelled around Europe, including the United Kingdom, Iceland, Sweden, Austria, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Spain. On 4 November 2010, Assange told Swiss public television TSR that he was seriously considering seeking political asylum in neutral Switzerland and moving the operation of the WikiLeaks foundation there. In December 2010, it was reported that U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Donald S. Beyer had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to Assange, citing the arrest warrant issued by Interpol.

In late November 2010, Kintto Lucas, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ecuador, spoke about giving Assange residency with "no conditions... so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums". Lucas believed that Ecuador may benefit from initiating a dialogue with Assange. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño stated on 30 November that the residency application would "have to be studied from the legal and diplomatic perspective". A few hours later, President Rafael Correa stated that WikiLeaks "committed an error by breaking the laws of the United States and leaking this type of information... no official offer was [ever] made." Correa noted that Lucas was speaking "on his own behalf"; additionally, he will launch an investigation into possible ramifications Ecuador would suffer from the release of the cables.

In a hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 7 December 2010, Assange identified a post office box as his address. When told by the judge that this information was not acceptable, he submitted "Parkville, Victoria, Australia" on a sheet of paper. His lack of permanent address and nomadic lifestyle were cited by the judge as factors in denying bail. He was ultimately released, in part because journalist Vaughan Smith offered to provide Assange with an address for bail during the extradition proceedings, Smith's Norfolk mansion, Ellingham Hall. He lived there for a year, then moved out "to an undisclosed location in December", 2011.

Political and economic views

According to Assange, "It’s not correct to put me in any one philosophical or economic camp, because I’ve learned from many. But one is American libertarianism, market libertarianism. So as far as markets are concerned I’m a libertarian, but I have enough expertise in politics and history to understand that a free market ends up as monopoly unless you force them to be free."

Running for Australian Senate

On 17 March 2012 WikiLeaks announced on its Twitter account that Assange plans to run for the Australian Senate in the next Australian federal election.

Works

Books

''Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier'' (1997) (Assange is credited as "researcher" for the credited principal author, Suelette Dreyfus)

Essays

''State and Terrorist Conspiracies'' (2006)

''Conspiracy as Governance'' (2006)

''The Hidden Curse of Thomas Paine'' (2008)

References

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External links

Homepage of Julian Assange's web site iq.org (at the Internet Archive)

Profile: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at BBC News

Interview with Julian Assange on release of Afghan war files – 1 August 2010 Russia Today via YouTube

Frost Over the World – Julian Assange – December 2010. Al Jazeera English via YouTube

Julian Assange interviewed by John Pilger on New Statesman January 2011

Julian Assange: The "60 Minutes" Interview interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes January 2011.

Interview Julian Assange. Frontline. 4 April 2011.

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Activists from Melbourne Category:Alternative journalists Category:Australian activists Category:Australian computer programmers Category:Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Australian Internet personalities Category:Australian journalists Category:Australian libertarians Category:Australian memoirists Category:Australian political journalists Category:Australian political writers Category:Australian publishers (people) Category:Australian whistleblowers Category:Cypherpunks Category:Internet activists Category:Media critics Category:Media theorists Category:People connected with Nortel Category:People from Townsville Category:University of Canberra alumni Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:WikiLeaks Category:Australian television talk show hosts

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birth name	Nabeel Ahmed Rajab
birth date	January 01, 1964
birth place	Bahrain
occupation	Human rights defender
years active	1996–present
children	Adam and Malak
residence	Bani Jamra, Kingdom of Bahrain
education	Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History from the University of Pune
religion	Islam
website	http://www.bahrainrights.org/ }}

Nabeel Ahmed Rajab (Arabic: نبيل أحمد رجب) is a Bahraini human rights defender and President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), a nonprofit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East Division, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Chairman of CARAM Asia. As a result of his human rights activities he has been threatened and harassed by the Bahraini authorities.

Biography

Nabeel Rajab was born on 1 January 1964. He is married and has 2 children. He finished his secondary school education in 1983 in Bahrain, specialising in science. He received his Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History in 1987 from the University of Pune (formerly University of Poona) in India.

Human rights activism

Early years

In an interview with Bahrain Mirror, Nabeel Rajab spoke about his earliest human rights activities while still a student at Al Hoora secondary school and described two particularly significant formative experiences:

Rajab traveled to India to study Political Science and History. He received his Bachelor's degree but financial problems after his father became ill prevented him obtaining a Master's degree. He returned to Bahrain to find employment. During his college years, he was not affiliated to any political groups. He was active within the general Bahraini students union, without any clear understanding of a culture of human rights or knowledge of human rights standards, but standing up against all forms of injustice, on a somewhat haphazard way. He became involved in international campaigning on specific issues.

Organized work

It was during the 1990s uprising in Bahrain that Nabeel Rajab became involved in organized human rights activities. He tried to make contact with human rights organizations in other countries. Because of the risks associated with human rights activism at that time, these activities had to remain clandestine. In 1996 Rajab discussed the idea of setting up a human rights organization with Ali Rabea'a and Ibrahim Kamal Al Den. They introduced him to Salman Kamal Al Den, Sabeeka Al Najjar, Mohammed Al Motawa and other colleagues with whom they held secret meetings. Together they founded the Bahrain Human Rights Society in 1999.

Foundation of Human Rights committees

With the ending of the oppressive State Security Law period in 1999, Nabeel Rajab was able to begin working openly in the field of Human rights as one of the founders of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, one of the first human rights organization in Bahrain.

He subsequently fell out with some of the other founders and in 2002, following wide ranging political reforms by the Bahraini government which allowed independent Human rights groups to operate, with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and others Nabeel Rajab was one of the founders of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Rajab was Training Program Officer and Senior Researcher at BCHR between September 2002 and September 2003, when he became Vice President and Head of International Relations until 2005. In 2007 he took over from Abdulhadi Alkhawaja as President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a position he still holds (May 2011).

Nabeel was one of the founders of a number of human rights committees in Bahrain with a specific focus, including the National Committee of Victims of Torture-Bahrain (2003), the Committee of the Unemployed and Underpaid (2005), the Committee on Decent Housing (2005), the Committee of the Bedoun (Stateless) (2005) and the Committee to Defend Detained Human Rights Activists (2007).

Migrant workers rights

Nabeel Rajab was one of the founders of the first migrant workers protection committee in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the Migrant Workers Protection Group (in 2003).

On 28 April 2007, the Bahraini Parliament passed a law banning unmarried migrant workers from living in residential areas. BCHR issued a press release condemning this decision as discriminatory and promoting negative racist attitudes towards migrant workers. Nabeel Rajab, then BCHR vice president, said:

In October 2009 Nabeel was elected Chairperson of CARAM Asia for 2 years. CARAM is a regional non-governmental organization, based in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, that works to defend the rights of migrant workers, reduce the risks to which their communities are vulnerable, including HIV, and promote their health rights.

On 24 February 2010, Nabeel Rajab addressed the "World Congress against the Death Penalty" conference in Geneva on the subject of "Migrant Workers and the Death Penalty in Bahrain & Saudi Arabia". He drew attention to the exceptional vulnerability of migrant workers in countries with systemic abuses and rights violations.

Work with other international Human Rights organizations

Since December 2009, Nabeel has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Middle East and North African division of Human Rights Watch.

In July 2010 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) appointed Rajab to the position of Deputy Secretary General and FIDH permanent representative in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In March 2011 Nabeel Rajab was elected Deputy Chairperson of the Arab media monitoring group for a 2 year period.

Human rights activities

As a human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has worked to promote a culture of human rights and defend civil and political rights and liberties both inside and outside Bahrain. While promoting the rights of all, his work has focused in particular on fighting discrimination and protecting migrant workers.

In Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab supports the victims of Human rights violations for example by accompanying them at peaceful sit-ins and helping them obtain legal support.

As President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, he is involved in monitoring and reporting human rights violations in Bahrain and the wider region. Bahrain Center for Human Rights, whose website is blocked in Bahrain, is the principal human rights body documenting human rights violation in Bahrain and reporting them to international human rights organizations and UN mechanisms for human rights.

At forums and seminars on human rights he has drawn attention to the situation concerning Human rights in Bahrain and the region and called on the international community to take action. He has also participated in multiple fact-finding missions organized by international non-governmental organizations, including FIDH missions investigating Torture, Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Arrests, Detentions and Fair Trial Guarantees in Yemen (August 2009) and Terrorism and Human Rights in the Philippines Fighting Terror or Terrorizing?.

2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award

On 28 July, it was announced that Nabeel Rajab will receive the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, presented annually by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Because he "has worked tirelessly and at considerable personal peril to advance the cause of democratic freedoms and the civil rights of Bahraini citizens".

The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy.

The award strives to enrich the intellectual environment in which ideas about democracy and democratic change circulate, both within and beyond Washington. Sponsored in cooperation With the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation (London, UK) and the Ratiu Center for Democracy (Turda, Romania), the award expresses the deep commitment to democracy ofthe late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician and.intellectual as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide.

Threats and harassment

Since 2005, Nabeel Rajab has been the subject of ongoing harassment including physical attacks and smear campaigns in the media (official TV, radio channels, Bahrain news agency and newspapers close to government). In a postal campaign targeting Rajab and his wife thousands of letters were distributed accusing him and his wife of being traitors and including his photo. Thousands of telephone text messages were sent to people in Bahrain via a company in South Africa that was paid through the private account of Sheikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al-Khalifa, former Minister of state. The complaints filed by Rajab and his wife filed with the Office of the Public Prosecutor were ignored and never investigated.

On 15 July 2005, Nabeel was beaten by Special Forces whilst attending a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Committee for the Unemployed. He suffered a spinal injury, a broken finger, a fractured arm and a head injury and was hospitalised for two weeks as a result (see pictures). He continues to suffer the consequences of the spinal injury.

In March 2007, Nabeel was interrogated by the Office of the Public Prosecutor in relation to an article published by BCHR about the 'Bandargate Scandal', a government plan to marginalize the majority Shia community in Bahrain.

In 2007 the organisation Front Line (International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) which campaigns to protect human rights defenders at risk who work, non-violently, for the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, expressed deep concern that ongoing intimidation and harassment was intended to discourage Nabeel Rajab from carrying out legitimate peaceful activities in defence of human rights in Bahrain, citing in particular the rights of freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

In August 2009, Nabeel Rajab was arrested for a few hours after attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in solidarity with Al-Murbati family one of whose family members has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for 7 years without trial.

In September 2010 Nabeel Rajab's photograph was published a number of times by the government-owned Alwatan Newspaper which accused him of supporting an alleged terrorism network and being "active in publishing false reports and information". On September 4, 2010, the Bahrain National News Agency (BNA) published a statement coming from the national security services which referred to Rajab as having been officially accused of involvement in the alleged terrorist network and posted his picture at the agency website. The following day the agency removed Mr. Rajab’s name and photo from the statement.

During this time, the authorities imposed a ban preventing Nabeel Rajab from engaging in any new business in Bahrain that made it difficult for him to earn a living. The ban was subsequently lifted without any justification having been given for it.

When the security crackdown in mid August 2010 started many human rights defenders were arrested. An order for Nabeel Rajab's arrest was issued on 8 September 2010 but was cancelled on 18 October 2010. Nabeel was the subject of a travel ban between September 2010 to October 2010.

On 2 December 2010, Nabeel Rajab was detained by national security police for an hour at Manama airport as he was about to fly to Greece. He was subjected to selective security measures, threatened and his personal laptop and mobile phone were confiscated (along with the other electronic devices in his possession). All the files and other information on these devices were copied, including family pictures and files related to Rajab's human rights work.

Rajab's phone and electronic communication are closely monitored, as the questioning of current detainees about their relationship and work with Rajab has revealed.

In December 2010 Human Rights Watch commented that although Bahrain's leaders repeatedly insisted that the Bahraini government respected human rights, its harassment of Nabeel Rajab told another story.

An anonymous defamatory campaign against Nabeel Rajab and Maryam Alkhawaja was launched in early May 2011, with the active and passive support of the Bahraini authorities.

Involvement in the 2011 Bahraini uprising

On 20 March 2011, after Nabeel Rajab condemned the Bahrain government's use of force against peaceful protesters in the 2011 Bahraini uprising and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights accused Bahraini forces and their Saudi and Emirati allies of "massacres" after four protesters were killed, Rajab was briefly detained by 20 to 25 masked men, some armed with rifles along with dozens of uniformed Bahraini security forces at 1:30am who broke in and searched his house, confiscated his files and a computer. They allegedly blindfolded and handcuffed him then put him into the back of a vehicle before verbally abusing, beating and threatening to rape him. He was reported saying: Rajab was subsequently released after questioning -about a man being sought whom Rajab did not know- in a detention facility run by the Ministry of Interior in Adliya, a suburb of the capital, Manama.

On April 10, officials publicly accused Rajab of fabricating photos posted on his twitter account of the body of Ali Isa Ibrahim Saqer, who died in detention on April 9. The photos showed slash marks all over his back and other signs of physical abuse. A Human Rights Watch researcher saw Saqer's body just prior to his burial and said the photos were accurate. According to PBS news hour on 17 May 2011, "Five prison guards are being charged with Saqer's death. That's according to Bahrain's Minister of Justice Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla al Khalifa, one of the royal family".

In the early hours of April 18, 2011 unknown assailants lobbed teargas grenades into the home of Nabeel Rajab in the village of Bani Jamra. Tear gas penetrated into the adjacent home of Rajab's 78-year-old mother who suffers from respiratory disease, causing her great distress. To Human Rights Watch's knowledge, only Bahrain's security forces have access to the types of grenades thrown into the Rajab family's compound.

For the second time since the start of 2011 Bahraini uprising Nabeel Rajab's house was attacked by unknown assailants in the early hours of 21 May. Four gas grenades were fired at the house at 3:30 am Saturday in the village of Bani Jamra, Bahrain, and two broke through the windows in quarters occupied by his brother, Nader, and his family. A third went off in the compound. After an attack in mid-April, Human Rights Watch noted that the grenades were manufactured in the United States and were of a type to which only the Bahrain Defense Authorities had access. Now it appears the Bahraini government has found a new supplier. Rajab said:

On 23 May, Nabeel Rajab claimed that his uncle, Moh'd Hassan Moh'd Jawad (65 years), an arrested activist is currently being tortured due to his relation to Nabeel Rajab.

On 29 May, Nabeel Rajab was prevented from traveling to Beirut to attend an IFEX meeting by airport security forces. In reaction, Nabeel Rajab protested briefly outside airport.

On 31 May, just shortly after Hamad Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain asked for dialogue without preconditions to begin early July of this year, the military court (of Bahrain Defence Force) issued an order for Nabeel Rajab along with Ali Salman head of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's biggest political party and 3 of Al Wefaq's resigned MPs: head of the block Abdul-Jalil Khalil, former vice president of lower parliament room Khalil Al-Marzooq and former vice president of legalization committee Mohammed Al-Mizaal. The order accused Nabeel Rajab for spreading false news and statements about the situation in Bahrain and promoting to hate and disrespect a specific sect. (see picture). He was also accused to humiliating king of Bahrain. All of them were released in the same day.

On 11 June, Nabeel Rajab attended 'Homeland for all' gathering in Saar which was organized by Al-Wefaq party.

On 18 June, Bahraini authorities prevented Nabeel Rajab from traveling to a conference in Cairo which he was invited to by Amnesty International.

On 19 August Nabeel was called by an anonymous claiming that he had to go to police station in Hamad Town for investigation about his Twitter activity. Nabeel refused to go unless an official order was given. Later in the same day an official order was provided. (Picture). The reason for the investigation was an article published by BCHR website which was titled "Some members of the Bahraini royal family beating & torturing political prisoners", but the investigation included his Twitter activity.

Although expecting arrest at any minute, during the recent crackdown Rajab has continued his work of documenting and reporting human right violations, securing international support and helping provide the families of detainees with moral support. He has been adept in using the new social media technology to raise awareness and distribute the latest information about the situation in Bahrain.

The Bahraini "National Dialogue"

On 31 May, the king of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, called for a national dialogue to resolve ongoing tensions. However the seriousness and effectiveness of the dialogue has been disputed by many opposition figures - it has even been referred to disparagingly as a "chitchat room".

Nabeel Rajab's view

Nabeel Rajab has welcomed the principle of dialogue as offering the only way out of the current political crisis, but has criticized the current dialogue and considers it wrong to participate in a fake dialogue that provokes sectarian tensions instead of resolving the current conflict. He said:

Right of Self-Determination

Nabeel Rajab supported the protesters demands when they called for Right of Self-Determination. He supported and participated in both gatherings of 'Right of Self Determination' in late June and early July.

Visits to Martyrs families

Nabeel Rajab started a campaign with some human rights and political activist to visit martyrs families to support them. On 25 June Nabeel Rajab along with human rights activist Mohammed Al-Maskati, head of BYSHR, Al-Wefaq former MP Sayed Hadi Al-Mosawi and others visited the families of martyrs Ali Mansoor Khudhair and Ahmed Farhan. On 28 June Nabeel Rajab and Al-Wefaq former MP Sayed Hadi Al-Mosawi Visited the family of martyr Ali Al-Mo'men. After the visit Nabeel Rajab said: On 3 July Nabeel Rajab visited the families of martyrs Fadhel Al-Matrook, Jaafar Mayouf and Abdulrasool Al-Hijiari.

On 6 July Nabeel Rajab along with Al-Wefaq former MP Sayed Hadi Al-Mosawi and some human rights defenders visited the families of martyrs Ali Mushaima and Bahia Al-Aradi.

Irish fact finding delegation

Since March, 47 Bahraini doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been charged and detained for supporting protesters during this year's pro-reform demonstrations that have swept across Bahrain. Another, a doctor, left the country without having been detained.

In April, international doctors' organizations Médecins Sans Frontières and Physicians for Human Rights reported medical staff and patients were systematically detained from Bahraini hospitals by assailants allegedly acting on government orders. UK medics have stated that Bahrain is violating the Geneva Convention.

A group of Irish doctors, politicians and human rights representatives traveled to Bahrain to highlight the plight of medics facing trial after they were arrested during pro-democracy protests in the Gulf monarchy earlier this year.

The Bahraini authorities have indicated they are not keen on the visit by the group, which is being led by orthopaedic surgeon Damian McCormack. Officials at the Bahraini embassy in London yesterday reiterated that they would prefer if the visit took place in October, when reconciliation talks, which began earlier this month, will have concluded.

The group, which includes Independent MEP Marian Harkin, Fianna Fáil senator Averil Power and former minister for foreign affairs David Andrews, last week received a letter of support from Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore.

The delegation have visited Nabeel Rajab in his house on 15 July.

Criticism to United States

On 26 July Al Jazeera English published an interview with Nabeel Rajab in which he criticized the US role in Bahrain. "The silence of United States has disappointed people very much" He said "It is very clear now that the United States democracy and human rights are only applied in countries which they have problems with, not with dictatorships that they have good relations with" He added.

Online Activity

Nabeel has been active in promoting the culture of human rights through the online media, especially Facebook and Twitter, where he posts educational messages on human rights in addition to updates about human rights violations. He uses Facebook and Twitter to empower people around the Gulf region by demonstrating how social media can be used to enhance the region's human rights culture.

In the 2011 Forbes list of the top 100 Arabs on Twitter, Nabeel Rajab was ranked number 43 with 36040 followers (currently 41301 - July 2011). He was ranked number 2 in Bahrain behind foreign minister Khalid Al-Khalifa who congratulated him after the results were posted.

First Arab Twitter prosecution

In April 2011 the Bahraini Interior Ministry announced that Rajab would be prosecuted by a military court for the offence of publishing an image on his personal Twitter account of the Bahraini Ali Issa Saqr, who had died in Bahrain prison. The Ministry accused Rajab of fabricating the pictures showing signs of torture on Sakr's body. Rajab denied fabricating the photograph and held the Bahraini security services responsible for Sakr's death. Bahraini activists maintained that the photographs show that Saqr he was tortured and killed while in police custody.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information noted that Rajab's would be the first trial for tweeting (publishing information on Twitter) anywhere in the Arab world and an illustration of the Bahraini government's "implacable hostility ... against the freedom of expression and Internet freedom". ANHRI accused the Bahraini government of not being prepared to overlook any means of expression of opinion as it restricted citizens's ability to engage in the peaceful expression of their views.

Additional Images

See also

Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

2011 Bahraini uprising

1990s Uprising in Bahrain

Human Rights Watch

International Federation for Human Rights

Bahrain Human Rights Society

Civil and political rights

External links

Bahrain Center for Human Rights website

FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights website

CARAM - Coordination of Action Research on Aids and Mobility website

Nabeel Rajab Facebook page

Nabeel Rajab Twitter page

List of videos for Nabeel Rajab

References

Category:Living people Category:Bahraini activists Category:Human rights in Bahrain Category:Politics of Bahrain Category:Human rights activists Category:1964 births Category:Bahrani people Category:People of the 2011 Bahraini protests

ar:نبيل رجب

Thomas Hammarberg (born 2 January 1942 in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden) is a Swedish diplomat and human rights defender.

He is currently the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He took up his position on 1 April 2006, succeeding the first Commissioner, Álvaro Gil-Robles.

Human Rights

Prior to his appointment, Hammarberg had spent several decades working on the advancement of human rights in Europe and worldwide. He had been Secretary General of the Stockholm-based Olof Palme International Center (2002–05), Ambassador of the Swedish Government on Humanitarian Affairs (1994–2002), the Secretary General of the NGO "Save the Children Sweden" (1986–92), and Secretary General of Amnesty International (1980–86). He received on behalf of Amnesty International the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Between 2001-03, Hammarberg acted as Regional Adviser for Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. For several years, he was the Swedish Prime Minister's Personal Representative for the UN Special Session on Children, as well as the Convener of the Aspen Institute Roundtables on "Human Rights in Peace Missions". Between 1996 and 2000, he was the appointed representative of the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, for human rights in Cambodia. He also participated in the work of the Refugee Working Group of the multilateral Middle East Peace Process.

The Commissioner regularly conducts visits to promote the respect of human rights in all Council of Europe member states, in accordance with his mandate.

Publications

Hammarberg has published widely on various human rights issues, and particularly on the rights of the child, refugee policy, minority issues, xenophobia, islamophobia, Roma rights as well as international affairs and security. He is also well known for his presentations and lectures on human rights at various intergovernmental and academic institutions. As Commissioner he has published a series of "Viewpoint" articles on human rights issues in Europe on the institution's website. He regularly publishes comments focusing on main human rights issues.

Since he was appointed Commissioner in April 2006, Thomas Hammarberg has visited and published reports about almost all of the Council of Europe 47 member states.

References

External links

Commissioner for Human Rights Council of Europe

PalmeCenter

Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:People from Örnsköldsvik Municipality Category:Swedish diplomats Category:Amnesty International Category:Council of Europe

et:Thomas Hammarberg es:Thomas Hammarberg fr:Thomas Hammarberg it:Thomas Hammarberg la:Thomas Hammarberg ja:トマス・ハマーベリ pl:Thomas Hammarberg ru:Хаммарберг, Томас sv:Thomas Hammarberg tr:Thomas Hammarberg

name	Jeremy Irons
birth name	Jeremy John Irons
birth date	September 19, 1948
birth place	Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
occupation	Actor
years active	1971–present
spouse	Julie Hallam (1969)Sinéad Cusack (1978–present)
children	Samuel, Max }}

Jeremy John Irons (born 19 September 1948) is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including ''The Winter's Tale'', ''Macbeth'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'', and ''Richard II''. In 1984, he made his Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's ''The Real Thing'' and received a Tony Award for Best Actor.

Irons's first major film role came in the 1981 romantic drama ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'', for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. After starring in such films as ''Moonlighting'' (1982), ''Betrayal'' (1983), and ''The Mission'' (1986), he gained critical acclaim for portraying twin gynaecologists in David Cronenberg's psychological thriller ''Dead Ringers'' (1988). In 1990, Irons played accused murderer Claus von Bulow in ''Reversal of Fortune'', and took home multiple awards including an Academy Award for Best Actor. Other notable films have included ''The House of the Spirits'' (1993), ''The Lion King'' (1994), ''Die Hard with a Vengeance'' (1995), ''Lolita'' (1997), ''The Merchant of Venice'' (2004), ''Being Julia'' (2004), and ''Appaloosa'' (2008).

Irons has also made several notable appearances on television. He earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for his breakout role in the ITV series ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1981). In 2006, Irons starred opposite Helen Mirren in the historical miniseries ''Elizabeth I'', for which he received a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Since 2011, he has been starring in the Showtime historical drama ''The Borgias''.

Early life

Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, the son of Barbara Anne Brereton Brymer (née Sharpe; 1914–1999), a housewife, and Paul Dugan Irons (1913–1983), an accountant. Part of his maternal ancestry is Irish, and his great-grandfather was one of the first Metropolitan Policemen, and later a chartist. Irons has a brother, Christopher (born 1943), and a sister, Felicity Anne (born 1944). He was educated at the independent Sherborne School in Dorset, (c. 1962–66). He achieved some fame as the drummer and harmonica player (most memorably for his rendition of "Stairway to Heaven" on harmonica) in a four-man school band called the Four Pillars of Wisdom. They performed, in a classroom normally used as a physics lab, for the entertainment of boys compulsorily exiled from their houses for two hours on Sunday afternoons. He was also known within Abbey House as half of a comic duo performing skits on Halloween and at end-of-term House Suppers. Irons has stated that his family is Catholic, but of himself he states, "I don’t go to church much because I don’t like belonging to a club, and I don’t go to confession or anything like that, I don’t believe in it. But I try to be aware of where I fail and I occasionally go to services. I would hate to be a person who didn’t have a spiritual side because there’s nothing to nourish you in life apart from retail therapy."

Acting career

Irons trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is now president of its fundraising appeal. He performed a number of plays, and busked on the streets of Bristol, before appearing on the London stage as John the Baptist and Judas opposite David Essex in ''Godspell'', which opened at the Roundhouse on 17 November 1971 before transferring to Wyndham's Theatre playing a total of 1,128 performances.

Irons was bestowed an Honorary-Life Membership by the Law Society (University College Dublin) in September 2008, in honour of his contribution to television, film, audio, music and theatre.

Television

He made several appearances on British television, including the children's television series ''Play Away'' and as Franz Liszt in the BBC 1974 series ''Notorious Woman''. More significantly he starred in the 13-part adaptation of H.E. Bates' novel ''Love for Lydia'' for London Weekend Television (1977), and attracted attention for his key role as the pipe-smoking German student, a romantic pairing with Judi Dench in Harold Pinter's screenplay adaptation of Aidan Higgins' novel ''Langrishe, Go Down'' for BBC television (1978).

The role which brought him fame was that of Charles Ryder in the television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's ''Brideshead Revisited'' (1981). ''Brideshead'' reunited him with Anthony Andrews, with whom he had appeared in ''The Pallisers'' seven years earlier. In the same year he starred in the film ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' opposite Meryl Streep.

Almost as a 'lap of honour' after these major successes, in 1982 he played the leading role of an exiled Polish building contractor, working in the Twickenham area of South West London, in Jerzy Skolimowski's independent film ''Moonlighting'', widely seen on television, a performance which extended his acting range.

In 2005, Irons won both an Emmy award and a Golden Globe award for his supporting role in the TV mini-series, ''Elizabeth I''. A year later Irons was one of the participants in the third series of the BBC documentary series ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' In 2008 he played Lord Vetinari in ''Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic'', an adaptation for Sky One.

On 6 November 2008, ''TV Guide'' reported he would star as photographer Alfred Stieglitz with Joan Allen as painter Georgia O'Keeffe, in a Lifetime Television O'Keeffe biopic. Irons also appeared in the documentary for Irish television channel TG4, ''Faoi Lan Cheoil'' in which he learned to play the fiddle.

On 12 January 2011, Irons was a guest-star in an episode of ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' called "Mask". He played Dr. Cap Jackson, a sex therapist. He reprised the role on an episode that ran on 30 March 2011.

Irons stars in the 2011 U.S. premium cable network Showtime's series ''The Borgias'', a highly fictionalized account of the Renaissance dynasty of that name. Irons portrays patriarch Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI.

Film

Irons' made his film debut in ''Nijinsky'' in 1980. He appeared sporadically in films during the 1980s, including the Cannes Palme d'Or winner ''The Mission'' in 1986, and in the dual role of twin gynecologists in David Cronenberg's ''Dead Ringers'' in 1988. Other films include ''Danny the Champion of the World'' (1989), ''Reversal of Fortune'' (1990), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, ''Kafka'' (1991), ''Damage'' (1993), ''M. Butterfly'' (1993), ''The House of the Spirits'' (1993) appearing again with Glenn Close and Meryl Streep, ''Die Hard With a Vengeance'' (1995) co-starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, Bernardo Bertolucci's ''Stealing Beauty'' (1996), the 1997 remake of ''Lolita'' and as the musketeer Aramis opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1998 film version of ''The Man in the Iron Mask''.

Other roles include the evil wizard Profion in the film ''Dungeons and Dragons'' (2000) and Rupert Gould in ''Longitude'' (2000). He played the Über-Morlock from the movie ''The Time Machine'' (2002). In 2004, Irons played Severus Snape in Comic Relief's ''Harry Potter'' parody, "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan".

In 2005, he appeared in the films ''Casanova'' opposite Heath Ledger, and Ridley Scott's ''Kingdom of Heaven''. He has co-starred with John Malkovich in two movies; ''The Man in the Iron Mask'' (1998) and ''Eragon'' (2006), though they did not have any scenes together in ''Eragon''.

In 2008, Irons co-starred with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen in ''Appaloosa'', directed by Harris. In 2011, Irons appeared alongside Kevin Spacey in the thriller film ''Margin Call''.

Theatre

Irons has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company three times in 1976, 1986–87 and 2010. In 1984, Irons made his New York debut and won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance opposite Glenn Close in ''The Real Thing''.

After an absence from the London stage for 18 years, in 2006 he co-starred with Patrick Malahide in Christopher Hampton's stage adaptation of Sándor Márai's novel ''Embers'' at the Duke of York's Theatre.

He made his National Theatre debut playing Harold Macmillan in ''Never So Good'', a new play by Howard Brenton which opened at the Lyttelton on 19 March 2008.

In 2009 Irons appeared on Broadway opposite Joan Allen in the play ''Impressionism''. The play ran through 10 May 2009 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater.

Other ventures

Audio

Irons read the audio book recording of Evelyn Waugh's ''Brideshead Revisited'', Paulo Coelho's ''''The Alchemist'''', and the audio book recording of Vladimir Nabokov's ''Lolita'' (he had also appeared in the 1997 film version of the novel)).

One of his best known film roles has turned out to be lending his distinctive voice to the villain Scar in ''The Lion King'' (1994). Irons has since provided voiceovers for three Disney World attractions. He narrated the ''Spaceship Earth'' ride, housed in the large geodesic globe at Epcot, from November 1994 to July 2007. He was also the English narrator for the Studio Tram Tour: Behind the Magic at the Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. He also voiced H.G. Wells in the English version of the former Disney attraction The Timekeeper. He also played Scar in ''Fantasmic''.

He is also one of the readers in the 4x CD boxed set of ''The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde'', produced by Marc Sinden and sold in aid of the Royal Theatrical Fund.

He was originally to star as the Phantom in a 2006 French musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'', though the project was canceled. He will be the narrator for Val Kilmer and Bill Pullman's brand-new Lewis and Clark movie from Revolution Studios.

He serves as the English-language version of the audio guide for Westminster Abbey in London.

Irons has served as voice-over in two big cat documentary films by National Geographic: ''Eye of the Leopard'', which was released in 2006, and ''The Last Lions'', which is a 2011 motion-picture, released on 18 February.

Music

In 1985, Irons directed a music video for Carly Simon and her heavily promoted single, "Tired of Being Blonde". Although the song was not a hit, the video —featuring the fast cutting, parallel narratives and heavy use of stylized visual effects that were a staple of pop videos at the time— received ample attention on MTV and other outlets.

In 1994 Jeremy Irons had a cameo role in the video for Elastica's hit single "Connection". Irons was one of the many naked men sitting down around Elastica as they performed the song. Irons has since claimed that this three-minute slice of nudity was his most enjoyable work to date.

Irons has contributed to other musical performances, recording William Walton's ''Façade'' with Dame Peggy Ashcroft, and in 1987 the songs from Lerner and Loewe's ''My Fair Lady'' with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, released on the Decca label.

He sang a selection of Noël Coward at the 1999 Last Night of the Proms in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Coward's birth.

In 2003 he played Fredrik Egerman in a New York revival of Stephen Sondheim's ''A Little Night Music'', and two years later appeared as King Arthur in Lerner and Loewe's ''Camelot'' at the Hollywood Bowl.

Jeremy Irons also sang the song "Be Prepared" in the movie ''The Lion King''. However, he actually sang only a section of the song after having vocal problems; Jim Cummings finished the last few lines.

Irons performed the Bob Dylan song "Make You Feel My Love" on the 2006 charity album ''Unexpected Dreams – Songs From the Stars''.

In 2009 Irons appeared on the Touchstone album ''Wintercoast'', recording a narrative introduction to the album. Recording took place in New York City in February 2009 during rehearsals for his Broadway play ''Impressionism''.

Personal life

Irons married Irish actress Sinéad Cusack in March 1978. They have two sons, Samuel James Brefni Irons (16 September 1978), who works as a photographer, and Maximilian Paul Diarmuid Irons (17 October 1985), also an actor, who appeared in the 2006 Burberry fashion campaign & ''Red Riding Hood''. Both of Irons' sons have appeared in films with their father – Sam as the eponymous hero in ''Danny, Champion of the World'' and Max in ''Being Julia''. Irons lives in the small town of Watlington, Oxfordshire and the village of Ballydehob, in County Cork, Republic of Ireland.

He has been the patron since 2002 of the Thomley Activity Centre, an Oxfordshire non-profit activity centre for disabled children. Irons owns Kilcoe Castle (which he had painted a rusty pink) in County Cork, Ireland, and has become involved in local politics there. He also has another Irish residence in The Liberties, Dublin. Irons is a patron of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company. He is a fan of English football club Portsmouth.

Activism

Charity work

At the 1991 Tony Awards, Irons was one of the few celebrities to wear the recently created red ribbon to support the fight against AIDS, and he was the first celebrity to wear it onscreen. He supports a number of other charities, including The Prison Phoenix Trust, of which he is an active patron.

Politics

In 1998 Irons and his wife were named in the list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party. In 2004, he publicly declared his support for the Countryside Alliance, referring to the hunting ban as an "outrageous assault on civil liberties".

In 2010, Irons starred in a promotional video for “The 1billionhungry project” – a worldwide drive to attract at least one million signatures to a petition calling on international leaders to move hunger to the top of the political agenda.

Work

Theatre

Following training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre school Irons initially stayed with the company:

Florizel in ''The Winter's Tale'', Bristol Old Vic 1969

Simon in ''Hay Fever'' (Noël Coward) Bristol Old Vic 1969

Nick in ''What the Butler Saw'' (Joe Orton) Bristol Old Vic 1969

''Major Barbara'' (Shaw) Bristol Old Vic 1969

''A Servant of Two Masters'' (Carlo Goldoni) Bristol Old Vic 1969

''Macbeth'', Bristol Old Vic 1969

''The Boy Friend'' (Sandy Wilson) Bristol Old Vic 1969

''As You Like It'', Bristol Old Vic 1970

''Oh! What a Lovely War'', Little Theatre Bristol 1970

''The School for Scandal'' (Sheridan) Little Theatre Bristol 1970

John/Judas in ''Godspell'', Roundhouse and Wyndham's Theatre, November 1971–1973

The Madman in ''The Diary of a Madman'' (Gogol), Act Inn 1973

Don Pedro in ''Much Ado About Nothing'', Young Vic

Mick in ''The Caretaker'' (Pinter) Young Vic 1974

Petruchio in ''The Taming of the Shrew'', New Shakespeare Company, Roundhouse 1975

Harry Thunder in ''Wild Oats'' (John O'Keefe) RSC Aldwych Theatre, December 1976; RSC Stratford and Piccadilly Theatre 1977

Jameson in ''The Rear Column'' (Simon Gray), Globe Theatre, February 1978 – Clarence Derwent Award

Henry in ''The Real Thing'' (Tom Stoppard) New York 1984 —Tony Award for Best Actor

Leontes in ''The Winter's Tale'', Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford 1986)

Willmore in ''The Rover'' (Aphra Behn) RSC Swan Theatre and Mermaid Theatre 1986

Richard II in ''Richard II'', RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1986, Barbican Theatre 1987

Fredrik Egerman in ''A Little Night Music'' (Sondheim) New York, 2003

Russell in ''Celebration'', a Pinter staged reading, Gate Theatre, Dublin/Albery Theatre, 2005

Henrik in ''Embers'' (Christopher Hampton/Sándor Márai novel) Duke of York's Theatre March 2006

Harold Macmillan in ''Never So Good'' (Howard Brenton) National Theatre Lyttelton, March 2008

Thomas Buckle in ''Impressionism'' (Michael Jacobs) Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Broadway, March 2009

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1980		Mikhail Fokine
1981	''''	Charles Henry Smithson/Mike	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1981		Charles Ryder
1982		Nowak
1983		Jerry
1984	''''	Harold
1984	''Swann in Love''	Charles Swann
1986	''''	Father Gabriel	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1988	''''	Guy Jones
1987	''My Fair Lady''	Henry Higgins
1988		Beverly Mantle/Elliot Mantle
1989		Edouard Pierson
1989		William Smith
1990	''Reversal of Fortune''	Claus von Bülow
1991	''''	Prisoner
1991		Kafka
1992	''''	H.G. Wells
1992		Tom Crick
1992		Dr. Stephen Fleming
1993		René Gallimard
1993	''''	Esteban Trueba
1994		Narrator
1994	''''	Scar
1995	''Die Hard with a Vengeance''	Simon Gruber
1996	''Stealing Beauty''	Alex	Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
1997	''Chinese Box''	John
1997		Humbert Humbert
1998	''''	Aramis
1999	''Islands of Adventure: Poseidon's Fury: Escape from the Lost City''	Poseidon
2000		Profion
2000		Rupert Gould	Television series (4 episodes)
2001	''''	Jack Elgin
2001	''Beckett on Film'' – ''Ohio Impromptu''	Reader/Listener
2002	''Callas Forever''	Larry Kelly
2002		F. Scott Fitzgerald
2002	''''	Über-Morlock
2003	''And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen''	Valentin Valentin
2003	''Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There''	Himself
2004		Pukovnik Unprofora
2004	''''	Antonio
2004	''Being Julia''	Michael Gosselyn	Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
2005		Gallipoli
2005		Tiberias
2005		Pucci
2006		Kingsley Stewart
2006		Brom
2006		Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
2008	''''	Havelock Vetinari	Television miniseries
2008		Randall Bragg
2009	''''	Alonso Avellaneda
2009	''Georgia O'Keeffe''	Alfred Stieglitz
2011	''Margin Call''	John Tuld
2011	''''		Television series

References

External links

Jeremy Irons Profile by ''The Daily Telegraph'' (13 March 2008)

Category:Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:César Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Genie Award winners for Best Actor Category:Tony Award winners Category:English film actors Category:English voice actors Category:English people of Irish descent Category:Cusack family (Irish) Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:Audio book narrators Category:Old Shirburnians Category:People from Cowes Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:1948 births Category:Living people

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