Theo van Boven is honorary professor of international law at the International & European Law Department at Maastricht University, Netherlands. From December 2001 to December 2004, he was UN Special Rapporteur against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Earlier he served as director of human rights of the United Nations, and was a member of the United Nations Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, and the Committee on the Elimination of Racism and Discrimination. He was also the first registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He was head of the Dutch delegation to the United Nations Diplomatic Conference for the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (Rome, 1998). He has served as president of the Netherlands Association of International Law, and a member of the International Commission of Jurists, and the Board of the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism. His has received the Louise Weiss Prize (Strasbourg, 1982), the Right Livelihood Honorary Award (Stockholm, 1985) and the Carnegie Wateler Peace Prize (The Hague, 2004). He has written extensively on international human rights and humanitarian law.
