Independent experts

The experts are selected by the Human Rights Council in accordance with the procedure established in paragraphs 39 to 53 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 for a three-year period, and may be re-elected for one additional period.

Learn more about the nomination, selection and appointment of experts.

Members 2023 – 2026

Isabelle DURANT (Belgium)

Isabelle Durant started her career with the United Nations in 2016 as a consultant for UNDP in Algeria and between 2017 and 2022 as DSG and Acting SG of UNCTAD in Geneva. Prior to that she was Vice-President of the European Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium and Senator. Her commitment and network on development issues has been built up and is also reflected in her participation in various organizations, think tanks, international organizations and universities active in this field.

Bonny IBHAWOH (Nigeria)

Bonny Ibhawoh is Professor and Senator William McMaster Chair in Global Human Rights at McMaster University, Canada. He is a legal historian who has taught in universities in Africa, Europe and North America. Previously, he was a Human Rights Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics and International Affairs, New York, and Research Fellow at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Copenhagen. His research expertise includes global human rights history, peace/conflict studies and transitional/restorative justice studies. Dr. Ibhawoh has held several university academic and administrative positions including: Director of the Centre for Peace Studies, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and Acting Associate Vice-President (Research) at McMaster University. He has authored several books on human rights, including Imperial Justice (Oxford University Press) and Human Rights in Africa (Cambridge University Press). Dr. Ibhawoh is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Mihir KANADE (India)

Mihir Kanade is the Academic Director of the University for Peace (Established by the UN General Assembly), the Head of its Department of International Law and Human Rights and the Director of the UPEACE Human Rights Centre. He holds a LL.B from Nagpur University (India) and a Master degree and Doctorate from UPEACE. He is also an adjunct faculty at Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (Spain), Cheikh Anta Diop University (Senegal), and Long Island University (United States). His principal area of academic research and study is International Law, Human Rights and Globalization, covering several themes within that interface including trade and investment, sustainable development, forced migration, indigenous peoples’ rights, public health, amongst others. He conducts several trainings for staff of inter-governmental, governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as professionals, in the field of international law and human rights. He serves on the International Advisory Board of the International Bar Association on the topic of Business and Human Rights. He also co-leads an e-learning project in partnership with the OHCHR and UNU-IIGH on operationalizing the Right to Development in Implementation of the SDGs. Prior to academia, Mihir practiced for several years as a lawyer at the Bombay High Court and at the Supreme Court of India.

Klentiana MAHMUTAJ (Albania)

Klentiana Mahmutaj is a barrister (Middle Temple, 2005) practising in white-collar crime, human rights and international arbitration from Red Lion Chambers, London, United Kingdom. Klentiana holds an LLB in English Law from De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and a LLM in Public International Law from the University of London, UK. Alongside her practise at the Bar, she has acted as a consultant to the Slynn Foundation on the work it carried out, under the aegis of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on reform of the legal profession in Albania, a project overseen by the late Sir Henry Brooke CMG. In 2018 she represented the Government of Albania at a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council's negotiations on the Zero Draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights in Geneva. Klentiana has spoken at legal conferences and has published widely in the UK and abroad in the areas of criminal law, international arbitration and human rights, with particular focus on the interplay between those fields. She has also written a book on the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and its application to NATO’s intervention in Kosovo: NATO's Intervention in Kosovo: Legal Right or Legal Wrong (Albania, 2007). Between 2016 and 2018 Klentiana was a lecturer at De Montfort University Leicester, where she taught the Law of Evidence both at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Outside the law, Klentiana worked as an interpreter and project worker for the British Red Cross, assisting in the resettlement of Kosovar refugees in the UK between 1999 and 2000 and she was a radio presenter at the BBC World Service (Albanian Section) between 2005 and 2006.

Liliana VALIÑA (Argentina) - Chair as of 01/05/2023

Ms. Valiña is a Laywer with a Law Degree from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina, and Masters at the University of Geneva, Switzerland in: Development Studies (Graduate Institute of Development Studies) and DES in International Law (Faculty of Law). She has more than 30 years of experience working on human rights, including with international organizations, both non-governmental and governmental, she led programmes and mandates related to Latin America, Europe and Africa. For more than 20 years, she worked for the UN in different leadership positions, particularly with OHCHR. She was able to contribute to implement relevant public policies and strategies aimed to improve human rights situations and to strengthen conditions to achieve sustainable development leaving no one behind. Ms. Valiña has extensive experience working on international human rights instruments, including in their drafting processes. Among a wide variety of issues, she has promoted respect for diversity, inclusion, participation and non-discrimination. She is committed to mainstream gender and multicultural approaches throughout her work.

Previous members of the Expert Mechanism

Koen DE FEYTER (Belgium) - Member from 1 May 2020 to 30 April 2023 (chair from 01/11/ 2021 to 30/04/2022)

Koen De Feyter is Professor of International Law, Spokesperson of the Research Group on Law and Development and Academic Coordinator of the Master of Laws program at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He chairs the Executive Committee of the global Law and Development Research Network (LDRn), is a Board Member of Picture People (UK), and a regular contributor to the European Master of Human Rights and Democratization (Venice). His main research areas are international law and sustainable development, and human rights in non-Western contexts. He has taught on these issues at universities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Armando Antonio DE NEGRI FILHO (Brazil) 2021-2022

Armando Antonio De Negri Filho is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, with a PhD in Health Policies and Systems. A Public Health adviser, Public Health manager and Social Protections activist with more than thirty-five years of experience. He has advised, managed and led a variety of organizations and political process in the area of public health, from a political and developmental perspective and a focus on the right to health and human rights-based approaches. He was an active member and leader of many different civil society organizations such as General Coordinator of the Latin American Association of Social Medicine - ALAMES, President of the International Society for Equity on Health – ISEqH. Member of the Framework Convention for Global Health, the Democratizing Global Health Group and the Peoples' Health Movement and Coordinator of the Executive Committee of the World Social Forum on Health and Social Security, Coordinator of the Brazilian Network of Cooperation on Emergencies. Board Member of the I World Conference on the Development of Universal Social Security Systems (Brasilia, 2010).