Español | Français

John Knox, Independent Expert on human rights and the environment

Mr. John Knox
Independent Expert on human rights and the environment
© Photo OHCHR

Mr. John Knox is the first Independent Expert on human rights and the environment.  He began working on the mandate on 1 August 2012.

John Knox is the Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law at Wake Forest University, in North Carolina, where he teaches and writes on human rights law, environmental law, and their relationship with one another.

He received his law degree from Stanford University in 1987.  After graduation, he worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of State, where he participated in the negotiation of the Human Rights Defenders Declaration, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.  Since becoming a professor in 1998, he has advised a number of international and national bodies, including by serving as the chair of a national advisory committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as special counsel to the Center for International Environmental Law, and as a pro bono advisor on human rights and climate change to the Government of the Maldives.