Michael O'Flaherty elected Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights [editar]

Michael O'Flaherty has been elected as the Council of Europe's new Commissioner for Human Rights by the organisation's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) at its plenary session in Strasbourg. He will serve a six-year term of office from 1 April 2024.

Michael O'Flaherty has been elected as the Council of Europe's new Commissioner for Human Rights by the organisation's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) at its plenary session in Strasbourg. He will serve a six-year term of office from 1 April 2024.

He has a long professional career linked to the promotion and defence of HRDs, having served as Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the past 8 years (2015-2023) and previously as Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.

The Human Rights Commissioner is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Council of Europe to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe; to identify possible shortcomings in human rights law and practice; and to facilitate the activities of national ombudsman institutions and other human rights structures.