Speaker details

Biography

Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Voices in Exile project at the University of Ottawa, Member of Canada's Foreign Minister's Standing Table on Human Rights, and Member of the International Expert Group on Peace in Ukraine. At uOttawa, he was Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre (2014-2025) and held the inaugural Neuberger-Jesin Professorship of International Conflict Resolution in the Faculty of Law (2018-2025). He previously taught at the Fletcher School (Tufts University, USA) and the University of Essex (UK), held Fellowships at Cambridge and Harvard Universities, and has lectured at academic and professional institutions around the world. Over his 35-year career, he held positions in inter-governmental organisations for 20 years (UNHCR, ILO, OHCHR, OSCE, UNDPA) and has advised numerous governments, communities and other actors in over fifty countries. From 1994 to 2004, he was Senior Legal Adviser then the first Director of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. In 2012-2014, he was the Constitutions and Process Design Expert on the UN’s Standby Team of Mediation Experts. The focus of his research and practice is at the inter-section of human rights (including minority rights) and security, notably conflict prevention and quiet diplomacy, international mediation, transitional arrangements, and institutional developments at domestic and multilateral level. He has been widely published and contributes to the editing of a number of scholarly journals. He also serves on the Boards of a number of NGOs and is a Member of the Expert Advisory Panel for the Shared Societies Project of the Club de Madrid comprising over 130 former Heads of State and Government of democracies.