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Biographical Note
THOMAS HAMMARBERG
- Ambassador and Special Adviser to the Swedish Government on Humanitarian Issues; - Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia; - Swedish representative in the Refugee Working Group within the multilateral Middle East Peace Process; Special Co-ordinator for children and youth programmes; - Personal Representative of the Swedish Prime Minister for the preparation of the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Children 2001.
Served as member and vice-chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (1992-97, 1994-97). Chair, Technical Advisory Committee, UN Study on the Impact on Children of Armed Conflict (1994-96). Represented Sweden at meetings within UNICEF, UNESCO and ILO.
Worked previously as teacher and journalist in Sweden (1969-79). Served as chairman of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International (1976-79) and Secretary General (1980-86). Secretary General of Swedish Save the Children (1986-92). Special adviser to Swedish Development Agency, SIDA (1993-94). Born 1942, in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Swedish citizen. Graduated at Stockholm School of Economics. Married with Alfhild Petrén, 1 child (Filip).
Employments and functions: Present: Special Adviser to the Swedish Foreign Minister on Humanitarian
Issues (since 1994). Co-ordinator of the multilateral initiative for Palestinian children and youth within the Middle East Multilateral Peace Process (since 1993).
1992-94 : Special Adviser, Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA 1986-92: Secretary General, Rädda Barnen, Swedish Save the Children 1980-86: Secretary General, Amnesty International 1979-80: Columnist, weekly "Vi". Teacher 1976-79: Foreign Correspondent, Swedish Broadcasting 1973-76: Foreign Editor, daily "Expressen"
Committees: - SIDA Board for Humanitarian Aid; 1977-80, 1986-92 - Swedish UNESCO National Committee; 1977-80 - Swedish UNICEF Committee; 1986-90 - Swedish Commission on International Humanitarian Law; 1988-92 - Index on Censorship, Advisory Council; 1992- - UNICEF Innocenti Centre, Children's Rights Advisory Council; 1992-95 - UN Study on the Impact on Children of Armed Conflict, Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee; 1994-96 - UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, member; 1991-96 - UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, vice-chair; 1993-96 - International Council on Human Rights Policy, chair, 1996-
Conferences and missions: - UNESCO General Conference 1978-79, Swedish delegate - UNESCO General Conference, 1980-86, Amnesty International representative - UN Working Group on the Draft Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1987-89, Rädda Barnen representative - UNICEF Executive Board, 1991, Swedish representative - UN Conference on Juvenile Delinquency, Beijing, 1988, Expert delegate - UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region Consultation on the Rights of the Child, Beijing, 1992, Expert delegate - World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993, representative of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Missions to various countries - including Vietnam, Iraq, Soviet Union, Ethiopia, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Chile, Argentina and Brazil - for fact finding and discussions with governmental authorities on human rights and/or the rights of the child; 1977-94.
Books and articles: Publications in Swedish on refugee policy, minority issues and xenophobia, human rights, the rights of the child and foreign reporting; 1970 - Newspaper and magazine articles in Swedish on international affairs, minority issues, human rights, the rights of the child and refugee policy; 1962 - Conference papers and publications in English on the rights of the child; 1989- Newspaper and magazine articles in English speaking press, including The International Herald Tribune; 1979-
Lectures: Los Angeles Foreign Affairs Council; 1983 Arab Lawyers Union Congress, Sousse; 1984 Human Rights Lecture, New Delhi; 1986 Benigno Aquino Human Rights Lecture, Yale University; 1989 Comenius lecture, Prague; 1992 Conference on the Rights of the Child in Armed Conflict, Dialogues Foundation, Amsterdam; 1994 Government conference on the Rights of the Child, Hanoi, Vietnam; 1994
International Human Rights Colloquium, Gaza Centre for Rights and Law, Gaza City; 1994 UNICEF Middle East Regional Conference on Global Education, Beirut; 1995 Innocenti Lecture on the Right to Education, UNICEF Florence; 1997 Dorab Patel Lecture on Principles and Politics of Human Rights, London School of Economics; 1999.
E-mail: thomas.hammarberg@foreign.ministry.se |