Mr Jan Erik HELGESEN
Born: July 1, 1947, Sandefjord, Norway
Citizenship: Norwegian
Academic position:
Law degree, 1975, from the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo
- Since 1971: Employed at the same Law Faculty
- 1971-1976: Research assistant
- 1976-1979: Research scholar
- 1979-1985: Lecturer
- Since 1985: Associated professor
Main areas for research and teaching: Jurisprudence, constitutional law and international human rights law
Other positions
- Legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Advisor on humanitarian and international law to the Chief of Defence (according to the Geneva conventions and protocols).
International positions
- Since 2007: President of the "European Commission for Democracy through Law (The Venice Commission)".
- Since 1996: Member of the Editorial Board of "Nordic Journal of International Law".
- Since 1990: Norwegian representative to the "European Commission for Democracy through Law (The Venice Commission)".
- 1993-1998: Chairman-Rapporteur of this Working Group. During the last two years, mandated by the Working Group to conduct inter-sessional negotiations to establish a consensus text. The Declaration was later adopted by the Human Rights Commission (April 1998) and the General Assembly (9 December 1998) (The Declaration on "Human Rights Defenders".
- Since 1989: Alternate member of the UN Subcommission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
- Since 1986: Norwegian representative to the UN Working Group established to draft a "Declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms".
- Since 1978: Member of Norwegian delegations to numerous human rights meetings and conferences within UN, Council of Europe, OSCE/CSCE.