Dr. Agnes Callamard, former Special Rapporteur (2016-2021)

Dr. Agnes Callamard (France) was the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial summary or arbitrary Executions from August 2016 to March 2021.

Dr. Callamard has a distinguished career in human rights and humanitarian work globally, in civil society organizations, the United Nations and in academia. She is the Director of Columbia University Global Freedom of Expression, an initiative seeking to advance understanding of the international and national norms and institutions that define and protect freedom of expression and information in an inter-connected global community with major common challenges to address. She also works as special Adviser to the President of Columbia University, President Lee Bollinger.

Previously, Dr Callamard spent nine years as the Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, the international human rights organization promoting freedom of expression globally. She also founded and led Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (now CHS Alliance), the first international self-regulatory body for humanitarian agencies. She was Chef de Cabinet for the Secretary General of Amnesty International (AI) and AI's Research-Policy Coordinator, leading AI's policy work and research on women's human rights. Prior to this, she taught and conducted research on international refugee movements for the Center for Refugee Studies at York University in Toronto.

She has advised multilateral organizations and governments around the world on human rights, including most recently the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide.

She has led human rights investigations in more than 30 countries and published extensively, in both English and French, on human rights, women's rights, freedom of expression, refugee movements and the methodology of human rights investigation. In particular, she has authored or directed volumes, on monitoring political killings, excessive use of force, and torture as well as on sexual violence in armed conflicts.

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