Background
I received my Dr. Polit. degree at Department of Political Science, University of Oslo (2004). I hold a Diploma of International and Comparative Law of Human Rights from International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, and a Cand. Polit Degree (Honours) in Comparative Politics from University of Bergen. I became full professor in 2011, and served as the Director of the Norwegian Center for Human Rights for two years prior to my retirement in 2024. I have been part of the Center's governance in various functions (Deputy Director, Board Member, Research Director) in various periods of the Center's existence. I have also been actively involved in establishing and governing (as Board Member) the Association of Human Rights Institutes (AHRI). I was Adjunct Professor of the National University of Vietnam from 2011-2020, and taught several courses at the university's MA Program in Human Rights. I was visiting scholar at the University of Nairobi in 2013-14 and have had numerous research stays in Kenya since 1992. I was editor in chief of The Nordic Journal of Human Rights (1990-1995 and 2010-2018). I have conducted political science and human rights research for the past since 1985, in particular in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. In the past ten years I have held lectures on human rights topics at Chinese universities (Fudan University (Shanghai), Renmin University of China (Beijing), University of Law and Politics (Beijing), Tianjin University (Tianjin) and Nankai University. I was co-editor of several volumes in the human rights documentation series, Human Rights in Developing Countries from 1985-2000. Thematically my work has focused on issues of human rights and development (rights-based approach to development; the right to development); business and human rights; democratisation in Sub-Saharan Africa; governance and ethnic diversity; transitional justice; and power and human rights. In a volume on the politics of international human rights law (Ed Elgar, 2023), I brought together human rights researchers to reflect on human rights in politics and the politics of human rights from various disciplinary perspectives. I have had numerous consultancies for the Norwegian Aid Authorities (NORAD), the World Bank, the European Union and development NGOs, and been an international election observer in Zambia, Ethiopia and Kenya. My teaching at PhD and MA levels has covered a large number of topics, including human rights and development; human rights and responsible business; human rights and methodology and the politics and history of human rights. I have supervised MA and PhD students during most of my career.
Teaching and Tutorial
- HUMR 5702: Human Rights and Sustainable Development: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
- HUMR 5131: Introduction to the History, Philosophy and Politics of Human Rights
- HUMR5133: Business and Human Rights
- HUMR5191: Human Rights Methodology: Research, Analysis and Thesis
- JUR 5134: Peace and Human Rights
- ISSFJ4711: Human Rights (International Summer School)
- ERN 4323: Nutrition and the right to food (collaboration with Oslo Metropolitan University)
- Introductory course on human rights (MA Course) National University of Vietnam
Areas of Competence
- The history and politics of human rights
- Development theory and human rights-based development
- Poverty, and legal empowerment of people living in poverty
- Political rights, democratisation
- Methodology and methods in human rights research
- Indicators and impact assessment
- Democratisation and ethnicity (Kenya)
- Economic, social and cultural rights
- Human rights in history, and the history of human rights
- Business and human rights
- The right to food and adequate nutrition
Projects
- The Politics of International Human Rights Law
- Methodological Challenges in Human Rights Research (funded by the Nordic Research Council)
- Human Rights, power and Civic Action in Developing Societies: Comparative Analyses (funded by the Norwegian Research Council)
- Poverty and human rights – economic perspectives (collaboration with UNESCO)
- Poverty and Human Rights in East Africa
- A regulatory turn? Testing the UN Guiding Principles on human rights and business in analyses of CSR practices of Norwegian companies in Vietnam
Recent Books
Methods in Human Rights Research – a Research Handbook. Second revised edition Cheltenham: Ed Elgar, 2024. Edited with Hans-Otto Sano and Claire Metthew O’Brien.
“Comparative analyses and institutional pluralism in human rights research” in Andreassen et al. 2024.
Research Handbook on the Politics of International Human Rights, (ed). Ed Elgar. 2023.
“Introductory essay: the politics of international human rights law” in Andreassen (ed). 2023.
Research Methods in Human Rights Research – a Handbook. Cheltenham: Ed Elgar, 2017. Edited with Hans-Otto Sano and Siobhan MacInerney-Lankford.
"Comparative analyses of human rights performance" in Andreassen et . al 2017.
Poverty and Human Rights: East African Perspectives. Nairobi: Focus publ. (2017) Edited with Tiberius Barasa and JB Nduhvo.
Duties Across Borders: Advancing Human Rights in Transnational Business. Intersentia (2016). Edited with Vo Khan Vinh
Human Rights, Power and Non-Governmental Action: Comparative analyses of rights-based approaches and civic struggles in development contexts. Routledge (2013). Edited with Gordon Crawford.