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Former Human Rights Commissioner - Mr Edward Santow

Mr Edward SantowFormer Human Rights Commissioner: 2016-2021

Human rights

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Mr Edward Santow

Former Human Rights Commissioner: 2016-2021

Edward Santow

Edward Santow was Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission from August 2016 to 28 July 2

Mr Edward Santow

Former Human Rights Commissioner: 2016-2021

Edward Santow

Edward Santow was Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission from August 2016 to 28 July 2021.

Ed leads the Commission's work on technology and human rights; refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting LGBTI people; counter-terrorism and national security; freedom of expression; and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).

Ed's areas of expertise include human rights, public law and discrimination law. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Human Rights and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and serves on a number of boards and committees.

In 2009, Ed was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

From 2010-2016, Ed was chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a leading non-profit organisation that promotes human rights through strategic litigation, policy development and education.

Ed was previously a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Law School, a research director at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and a solicitor in private practice.

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