Thomas Hammarberg (born 2 January 1942) is a Swedish

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and

human rights defender A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

. He held the post of

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Commissioner for Human Rights The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the council's 46 ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2012. He succeeded the first Commissioner, Álvaro Gil-Robles.

Career

Hammarberg was born in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

. Prior to his appointment, he spent several decades working on the advancement of

human rights in Europe Human rights in Europe are generally upheld. However, several human rights infringements exist, ranging from the treatment of asylum seekers to police brutality. The 2012 Amnesty International Annual Report points to problems in several European co ...

and worldwide. He had been Secretary General of the Stockholm-based Olof Palme International Center (2002–05), Ambassador of the Swedish Government on Humanitarian Affairs (1994–2002), the Secretary General of the NGO "

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

Sweden" (1986–92), and Secretary General of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

(1980–86). He received on behalf of Amnesty International the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1977. Between 2001–03, Hammarberg acted as Regional Adviser for

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

for the

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univer ...

. For several years, he was the Swedish Prime Minister's Personal Representative for the UN Special Session on Children, as well as the Convener of the Aspen Institute Roundtables on "Human Rights in Peace Missions". Between 1996 and 2000, he was the appointed representative of the UN Secretary General,

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

, for

human rights in Cambodia The human rights situation in Cambodia is facing growing criticisms both within the country and from an increasingly alarmed international community. After a series of flagrant violations against basic human rights a feeling of incertitude rega ...

. He also participated in the work of the Refugee Working Group of the multilateral Middle East Peace Process. As Commissioner, Hammarberg regularly conducted visits to promote the respect of human rights in all Council of Europe member states, in accordance with his mandate. Upon stepping down as Commissioner, he joined the NGO

Mental Disability Advocacy Center The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is an international human rights organisation founded in Hungary in 2002. It is headquartered in Budapest. Description The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (MDAC) is an international human rights or ...

as its Honorary President.

Member of the Swedish Parliament, 2018–present

Since the

2018 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Gr ...

, Hammerberg has been a member of the Swedish

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

. In addition to his role in parliament, he has been serving as member of the Swedish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up of ...

since 2019. As member of the Social Democratic Party, he is part of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. He is currently a member of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(Monitoring Committee) and the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World. Alongside

Nigel Evans Nigel Martin Evans (born 10 November 1957) is a former British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ribble Valley in Lancashire from 1992 until 2024. He was Joint Executive Secretary of the 1922 Commit ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, he serves as the Assembly's co-rapporteur on

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Roma rights

Thomas Hammarberg is dedicated to strengthening Sinto and Roma rights in Europe, which he believes are “shamefully flawed”. In a number of speeches and statements, Hammarberg actively seeks to improve living conditions for the largest minority in Europe and criticises the alarming levels of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

directed at these people. Hammarberg paints a clear picture of the situation; for example, in his latest report on Italy he heavily criticises the Italian authorities over their treatment of Sinti and Roma people. In 2010, Hammarberg published a comprehensive position paper on the human rights situation of

Sinti The Sinti (masc. sing. ''Sinto''; fem. sing. ''Sintetsa, Sinta'') are a subgroup of the Romani people. They are found mostly in Germany, France, Italy and Central Europe, numbering some 200,000 people. They were traditionally Itinerant groups i ...

and Roma, in which he stressed the need for a unified and comprehensive programme aimed at improving the situation, warning that “today's rhetoric against the Roma is alarmingly similar to that used by the Nazis before the mass killings started”. On 27 February 2012, he published a comprehensive report on the situation of Roma and travellers in Europe, stressing that in many European countries they are still denied basic human rights and suffer blatant racism. In a published letter to the German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

dating back to 2009, Hammarberg calls for a halt on deportations to

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in particular, saying that those deported there are exposed to political persecution and are forced to live in camps. He repeated this “urgent recommendation” one year later in a letter to the then German Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Mazière. A special committee organised by Hammarberg described a Roma camp in Kosovo as “a humanitarian catastrophe”. The Human Rights Commissioner also heavily criticised France’s mass deportation of Roma in 2010. For his resilience and passion in the question of Roma rights, Thomas Hammarberg has been honoured by the Documentation and Cultural Centre and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma and the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Foundation with the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma in Berlin on 3 April 2012.

Publications

Hammarberg has published widely on various human rights issues, and particularly on the

rights of the child Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

, refugee policy, minority issues,

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

, Roma rights,

LGBT rights in Europe Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are widely diverse in Europe per country. 22 of the 38 countries that have legalised same-sex marriage worldwide are situated in Europe. A further ten European countries have legalise ...

as well as

international affairs International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

. He is also well known for his presentations and lectures on human rights at various intergovernmental and academic institutions. As Commissioner he has published a series of "Viewpoint" articles on human rights issues in Europe on the institution's website. He regularly publishes comments focusing on main human rights issues. During his mandate as Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Hammarberg has visited and published reports about almost all of the Council of Europe 47 member states.

Recognition

On March 9 2012, Hammarberg received the

Chair as a reward for his impressive track record in human rights. The Amnesty Chair is organised by Amnesty International Flanders and the

University of Ghent Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

, Belgium.

References

External links

Commissioner for Human Rights
Council of Europe
PalmeCenterEuropean Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammarberg, Thomas 1942 births Living people People from Örnsköldsvik Swedish diplomats Amnesty International people Council of Europe people