Nils Muižnieks Explained

Nils Muižnieks
Office:Commissioner for Human Rights
Term Start:1 April 2012
Term End:1 April 2018
Predecessor:Thomas Hammarberg
Successor:Dunja Mijatović
Birth Date:31 January 1964
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouse:Andra Fedder
Education:Princeton University (BA, MA)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)

Nils Muižnieks (born 31 January 1964 in the United States) is a Latvian-American human rights activist and political scientist. He had served as the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights between 2012 and 2018, succeeding Thomas Hammarberg (2006–2012) and Álvaro Gil-Robles (1999–2006).

Early life

Muižnieks' parents, Ansis and Ingrid, were both refugees who left Latvia in 1944. They spent 6 years in displaced persons camps in the American zone in Germany before moving to the United States in 1950. His father is a retired medical doctor and his mother was trained as an architectural historian.[1]

Born and educated in the United States of America, Nils Muižnieks obtained a PhD in political science at the University of California at Berkeley (1993). Prior to that, he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in politics at Princeton University summa cum laude and obtained a Master of Arts degree in political science from the same University (1988).

He married Andra Fedder, a piano teacher and singer, in 1992. They have two daughters, Laila and Milena. Nils Muižnieks's mother tongues are Latvian and English, he is also fluent in French and Russian.

Professional life

Prior to his appointment as Commissioner for Human Rights, he held prominent posts such as Programme Director at the Soros Foundation-Latvia,[2] Director of the Advanced Social and Political Research Institute at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia in Riga (2005–2012); Chairman of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (2010–2012); Latvian minister responsible for social integration, anti-discrimination, minority rights, and civil society development (2002–2004); and Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (now Latvian Centre for Human Rights) (1994–2002).[3] Member of the Latvia's First Party (2003-2005), its co-chairman and one of its ministers in the Government.[2] [4]

As member (2005–2010) and Chair (2010–2012) of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), Muižnieks represented ECRI before international political bodies, human rights mechanisms and international organizations such as the EU, OSCE, UN. He was Rapporteur for country reports on Poland, the Netherlands, Slovakia; member of working groups for Ireland, Iceland, Norway; and chair of the working group on combating racism in policing.

During his governmental appointment (2002–2004), he was responsible for social integration policy; the rights of persons belonging to national minorities; combating racial and ethnic discrimination; and civil society development. He was also responsible for legislation in anti-discrimination, social integration, the legal framework for NGOs and coordinated inter-ministerial working groups for the Latvian National Programme on Tolerance and policy framework for strengthening civil society. He advised local governments on integration policy and represented Latvia before the EU, OSCE, UN.

As Director of the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (now Latvian Human Rights Centre), he strengthened the organisational focus on human rights education and promotion; monitoring of closed institutions; and the promotion of gender equality and rights of persons belonging to national minorities.

Muižnieks was also engaged in evaluation and training activities in the field of human rights. Among his main activities, he was the evaluator of a project on democracy building in Belarus; evaluator for the European Commission for the 7th Framework Research Programme on Citizenship and Democratic Ownership; and expert on conflict resolution and social cohesion for the Joint EU assessment mission to Georgia.

Commissioner for Human Rights

On 24 January 2012 Muižnieks was elected Commissioner for Human Rights by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe obtaining 120 of the votes cast in the first round, an absolute majority. He took office on 1 April 2012[5] and stated that he intends to develop the contribution of the Commissioner's Office to the effective observance and full enjoyment of human rights in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. His work as Commissioner for Human Rights pivots on country and thematic work, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable groups, such as children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and Roma. Muižnieks has received a lot of media coverage for his support of the Roma population.[6] [7]

Further work concerned the human rights of migrants, including, asylum-seekers and refugees; women's rights and gender equality; minority rights; and the importance of respecting human rights standards within the information society, in particular as regards media freedom, data protection, social networking and access to digital literacy. He also enhanced the co-operation with national human rights structures with the aim of fostering human rights oriented policies at national level and addressing systemic shortcomings in member states.

Candidacy for European Ombudsman

In 2019, Muižnieks was one of five candidates for the post of European Ombudsman;[8] however, he dropped out after the first round of voting in the European Parliament.[9]

Amnesty International

In June 2020, Muižnieks began work as Amnesty International's Regional Director for Europe.

Publications

Muižnieks has published extensively on human rights issues, in particular on racism, discrimination, minority rights, children's rights, and women's rights. Among his long list of publications (below) the following ones are noteworthy.

The most recent one is "Max van der Stoel and Latvia" which appeared in a special edition of the journal Security and Human Rights, Vol. 22, No. 3 (November 2011), and was devoted to the memory of former OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Max van der Stoel, with whom Muižnieks worked closely in the 1990s.

He also edited and co-wrote The Geopolitics of History in Latvian-Russian Relations (2011 at the University of Latvia Press), in which he wrote a conceptual introductory chapter and contributed a chapter entitled "Latvian-Russian Memory Battles in the European Court of Human Rights". In these articles he examines in depth the intertwining of human rights and history issues in the Latvian jurisprudence and the impact of these controversies on Latvian-Russian relations.

Editor and co-writer of How Integrated is Latvian Society? An Audit of Achievements, Failures and Challenges (University of Latvia Press, 2010), he wrote the book's introduction and conclusion about the situation in Latvia, and contributed a chapter entitled "Social Integration: A Brief History of an Idea", in which he traces the intellectual history of the concept of social integration in the social science literature and in the work of international human rights bodies and the European Union.

To commemorate 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he contributed an article entitled Creating the "Open Society Man" (and Woman!), published in Open Society News (Fall 2009 issue).

With Ilze Brands Kehris (former chair of the management board of the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency and head of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities office in the Hague) he wrote "The European Union, democratization, and minorities in Latvia", a detailed analysis of the role of EU conditionality issues related to citizenship and language in Latvia, which was published in The European Union and Democratization (ed. Paul J. Kubicek. London: Routledge, 2003).

Full list of publications

Monographs

Academic Articles and Book Chapters

Policy Papers and Political Analysis

Reviews

Edited volumes

External links

Official

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography of Nils Muižnieks. www.coe.int. 2018-11-20.
  2. Web site: Muižnieks kļūst par LPP biedru (Muižnieks becomes a member of LFP; in Latvian). Apollo. 2003-08-21. https://archive.today/20130219041955/http://www.apollo.lv/zinas/muiznieks-klust-par-lpp-biedru/265041. dead. 19 February 2013. 2012-11-18.
  3. Web site: Muižnieks, American-born Latvian, elected to top human rights post. Latvians Online. 2012-01-24. 2012-01-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20120127061557/http://latviansonline.com/news/article/7940. 27 January 2012. dead.
  4. Web site: Nils Muižnieks izstājas no Latvijas Pirmās partijas (Nils Muižnieks leaves the LFP; in Latvian). Delfi. 2005-07-20. 2012-11-18.
  5. Web site: Nils Muižnieks from Latvia elected new Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. assembly.coe.int. 2018-11-20.
  6. Web site: Human rights watchdog criticises negative media portrayal of Roma. EU Observer. 2013-10-25. 2013-11-24.
  7. Web site: Czech Republic criticised over Roma situation. New Europe. 2013-02-21. 2013-11-24.
  8. Cristina Gonzalez (12 December 2019), The political proxy war driving the race for EU citizens’ champion Politico Europe.
  9. Cristina Gonzalez (18 December 2019), Emily O’Reilly reelected as European ombudsman Politico Europe.

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