History

The International Council was conceived in 1994, by Philip Alston, Thomas Hammarberg and Margo Picken. They suggested that a space should be created to discuss human rights policy dilemmas and difficult implementation problems that arise. This proposal was subsequently discussed with a large number of human rights thinkers and organisations around the world, on the basis of two meetings, in Arden House (New York) in October 1993 and at the Research Centre for International Law (Cambridge) in July 1994. The Cambridge meeting was supported by a detailed advisory paper which Helena Cook and Christopher Bemrose prepared in June 1994.

The consultation identified the main principles that have guided the Council’s research methodology. These principles are that the Council should be strictly independent; that it should do open-ended research (rather than country-focused, case-focused or mandate-driven research); that its approach should be geographically inclusive and multidisciplinary; and that its methods should be highly consultative.

In 1996, a founding Board was created. Its members were Thomas Hammarberg (Chair), Philip Alston, Abdullahi An-Na’im, Ligia Bolivar, Hina Jilani and Virginia Leary. At this stage, the Council was titled the International Human Rights Policy Research Institute.

On behalf of the Board, Theo van Boven agreed to co-ordinate the search for Council members, a process that was undertaken by a different working party in each region. The first Council was appointed in 1997, and the first meeting of the Council took place in Cairo in September 1997, hosted by Bahey el din Hassan. Subsequent meetings have been held in Lima, hosted by Carlos Basombrio, in Jakarta, hosted by Goenawan Mohamad, in Guadalajara, hosted by David Fernández Dávalos sj, in Lahore, hosted by Asma Jahangir, in Budapest, hosted by Dimitrina Petrova, in Bangkok, hosted by Chaiwat Satha-Anand, in Kampala, hosted by Sylvia Tamale, and in Geneva.

The members of the inaugural Council were: Philip Alston, Abdullahi An-Na’im, Carlos Basombrio, Ligia Bolivar, Theo van Boven, Antonio A. Cancado Trindade, Stanley Cohen, Radhika Coomeraswamy, Yash Ghai, Thomas Hammarberg, Bahey El Din Hassan, Ayesha Imam, Hina Jilani, Virginia Leary, Goenawan Mohamed, Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Margo Picken, Barney Pityana, Daniel Ravindran, Dorothy Thomas and Renate Weber.

An interim Secretariat was established in London in 1996 under Lynn Welchmann, in the office of Interights, which provided the nascent organisation with a legal identity. After Robert Archer joined the organisation as its first Executive Director in September 1997, the Secretariat moved briefly to offices in Brixton owned by Anti-Slavery International, before opening its permanent office in Versoix, Geneva, in April 1998. Staff members were appointed in the first half of 1998, and the Council’s research programme began in earnest towards the end of that year, on the basis of several initial mapping papers that were prepared by the staff and by Andrew Clapham.

The Council was registered as a not-for-profit foundation under Swiss law in 1998. It has Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC since 2003.