Former mandate holder on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism

Ben Emmerson (United Kingdom) is the former Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. He took up his functions on 1 August 2011, and finished on 31 July 2017.

As a practicing barrister in London, he has more than 25 years of experience in domestic and international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Mr. Emmerson has litigated extensively in domestic courts, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, including on domestic and international terrorism cases. He was Special Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and Special Adviser to the Appeals Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (the Khmer Rouge tribunal).

Ben Emmerson has published and lectured widely on international law, particularly international human rights and humanitarian law, and is the editor and co-author of a number of practitioners’ manuals on criminal and human rights law.