Philip Alston
Encyclopedia
Human rights
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 and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
practitioner. He is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, and co-Chair of the law school's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. In human rights law, Alston has held a range of senior UN appointments for over two decades, including United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, a position he held from August 2004 to July 2010.
Background
Alston graduated from the University of MelbourneUniversity of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
and from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
His brother is the former Australian federal Cabinet minister and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Richard Alston
Richard Alston (politician)
Richard Kenneth Robert Alston was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1986 to 2004, representing the state of Victoria....
.
Career
Alston's first academic appointments were at Tufts UniversityTufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
(1985–89) and Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
(1984–89). Alston was then Professor at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
(1990–95), and also director of its Center for International and Public Law. He was then Professor at the European University Institute
European University Institute
The European University Institute ' in Florence is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective...
(1996–2001), before moving to New York University School of Law, where is the John Norton Pomeroy
John Norton Pomeroy
John Norton Pomeroy was an American lawyer and legal writer, born in Rochester, N. Y., where he practiced law for many years following his graduation from Hamilton College and his admittance to the state bar in 1851...
Professor of Law.
United Nations
In human rights law, Alston has held a range of senior UN appointments for over two decades. From 1987 to 1991 he was the first Rapporteur for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural RightsCommittee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights...
; he then chaired the Committee from 1991 to 1998.
At the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights
World Conference on Human Rights
The World Conference on Human Rights was held by the United Nations in Vienna, Austria, on 14 to 25 June 1993. It was the first human rights conference held since the end of the Cold War...
he was elected to chair the first meeting of the Presidents and Chairs of all of the international human rights courts and committees (including the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
, the Inter-American Human Rights Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN Human Rights Committee).
He was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
in 1988 to suggest reforms to make the United Nations human rights treaty monitoring system more effective. His major reports in 1989, 1993, and 1997 provided the impetus for continuing efforts by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council to streamline and improve the rather unwieldy monitoring system.
His other United Nations appointments include Special Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
. He was appointed to that post by Sergio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello
Sérgio Vieira de Mello was a Brazilian United Nations employee who worked for the UN for more than 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN...
, and has continued to advise successor High Commissioners, including Mary Robinson, Louise Arbour, and Navanethem Pillay.
UNICEF
He has been actively involved in the field of children’s rights and the legal adviser to UNICEF throughout the period of the drafting of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the ChildConvention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
. He participated in the UNICEF delegation to the drafting sessions of the Convention and continued to advise UNICEF for several years after the Convention’s adoption in 1989, especially in relation to promoting the ratification of the Convention by countries around the world. He published two studies for UNICEF on children’s rights. The first was The Best Interests of the Child: Reconciling Culture and Human Rights (1994), and the second, with John Tobin, was Laying the Foundations for Children’s Rights, published in 2005 by UNICEF.
Special Rapporteur
Since 2004 he has been the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In that capacity he reports regularly to the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. Since 2005, Alston has visited NigeriaNigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, The Philippines, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, The Central African Republic, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, the USA, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
in his capacity as Special Rapporteur. He issued a report in each case to the relevant government and to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Alston's reports to the UN relating to extrajudicial executions also deal with broad thematic issues that arise in many countries, such as witchcraft and vigilante killings, national-level commissions of inquiry dealing with unlawful killings, the problem of prisoners running prisons, the importance of witness protection programs, the problem of governmental reprisals against individuals or groups who have cooperated with a UN human rights inquiry, the need to regulate the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers, shoot-to-kill policies, the relationship between human rights law and international humanitarian law, mercy killings in times of armed conflict, and the need to make military justice systems human rights compatible. With respect to the death penalty, Alston's reports have discussed the need for transparency, the unacceptability of the mandatory death penalty under international law, the definition of the ‘most serious crimes’ for which the death penalty may be imposed, the right to seek pardon or commutation of a death sentence, the juvenile death penalty.
Other
Alston also directed a project funded by the European CommissionEuropean Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
, which resulted in the publication of a Human Rights Agenda for the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
for the Year 2000 and a 1999 volume of essays (The European Union and Human Rights). Many of its recommendations were subsequently implemented by the European Commission and the European Council
European Council
The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...
.
Publications
Alston has written on issues such as economic, social and cultural rights, United Nations institutions and procedures, labor rights, the role of non-state actors in relation to human rights, comparative bills of rights, the use of force, and human rights and development policies. He is also one of the authors of a textbook in the field entitled International Human Rights in Context, Law, Politics, Morals, published by Oxford University PressOxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
. A third edition was published in 2007.
External links
- Philip Alston: Record AfPak Drone Attacks Under Obama May Violate International Law – video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Project on Extrajudicial Executions, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University School of Law