Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Member of The Elders
More from Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
As Nelson Mandela knew deeply, there is no fair future without human rights for all
The time is now for action on climate and pandemics
Women must be seen as vital agents for peace
Global unity, justice and peace: The Elders’ priorities at the Munich Security Conference
In an age when poor leadership, injustice and suffering is rife, the Elders’ vision of a world where people live in peace and are conscious of their common humanity is essential.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
“When the fundamental principles of human rights are not protected, the center of our institution no longer holds. It is they that promote development that is sustainable; peace that is secure; and lives of dignity.”
ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN
Champion of international justice
“Ultimately, it is the law that will safeguard our societies – human rights law, binding law which is the distillation of human experience, of generations of human suffering, the screams of the victims of past crimes and hate. We must guard this law passionately, and be guided by it.”
ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN
Veteran diplomat and peacekeeping expert
"The UN’s raison d’être is the protection of peace, rights, justice and social progress. Its operating principle is therefore equally clear: only by pursuing the opposite to nationalism – only when States all work for each other, for everyone, for all people, for the human rights of all people – can peace be attainable."
ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
2000-2007 & 2010-2014
2002
2004
2007-2010
2014-2018
2019
2021
Wars do not start because people are poor; neither do they start because people are illiterate. They start because of structural discrimination—a deliberate attempt to marginalise people.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein
Work with The Elders
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein joined The Elders in January 2019 after stepping down from his role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights the previous year.
Since joining The Elders, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has continued to be an outspoken advocate for human rights in all its shapes and forms. In April 2019, he travelled with The Elders to Ethiopia, participating in meetings with senior officials, including the Prime Minister and President of Ethiopia, and visited a refugee camp in Gambela.
Furthermore, Mr Al Hussein is a globally recognised voice of justice, international law and peace-making and frequently speaks about these issues on high-level events, particularly on the need for a multilateral response to shared challenges, including the treatment of refugees, climate justice and in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein became United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2014. He stepped down after completing one full four-year term, citing his unwillingness to “bend the knee in supplication” as reason for not seeking a second term.
During his term he was outspoken on several prominent human rights abuses and criticised the regimes who perpetrated them, including the war in Syria, the treatment of Rohingya refugees and the travel ban in the United States. He showed strength in his willingness to call out the powerful by name.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein frequently speaks out against populism, xenophobia and extremism – wherever it occurred. He has criticised the treatment of refugees in Europe and abuse of use of force by police in the US – and emphasised that the human rights agenda applies to all countries.
Establishing the International Criminal Court
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein played a central role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), chairing the complex negotiations surrounding the elements of individual offences amounting to genocide; crimes against humanity; and war crimes.
In September 2002, Mr Al Hussein was elected the first President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC. Over the next three years he oversaw the election of the first 18 judges, mediated selection of the Court’s first president, and led efforts to name the Court’s first prosecutor.
Subsequently, in 2009, he successfully led the closing stages of the negotiations over the crime of aggression specifically with respect to its legal definition and the conditions for the court’s exercise of jurisdiction over it.
Veteran diplomat and peacekeeping expert
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has previously held several diplomatic posts including as Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and Ambassador to the United States of America. In 2014, he was President of the UN Security Council and chaired the Security Council’s committees on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia. He also served as a UN political affairs officer in the former Yugoslavia, from 1994 to 1996.
In 2004, following allegations of widespread abuse being committed by UN peacekeepers, Mr Al Hussein was named Advisor to the Secretary-General on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. His report provided a comprehensive strategy for the elimination of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping operations, and has been called “revolutionary” by experts. In 2012, he was chosen by then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as one of five experts to serve on his “Senior Advisory Group” regarding reimbursements to countries contributing peacekeeping troops.