Helen Keller (born 1 June 1964 in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

) is a Swiss lawyer and international judge. She is a Professor of law at the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

Biography

After studying law at the

, Helen Keller was an assistant at the chairs of Alfred Kölz and Heribert Rausch. At the latter, she completed her doctorate in 1993 with a dissertation on environmental constitutional law, for which she was awarded the Professor Walther Hug Prize. After an LL.M. degree at the

College of Europe The College of Europe (french: Collège d'Europe) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with its main campus in Bruges, Belgium and a second campus in Warsaw, Poland. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 by leading ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

, two research stays at the European Law Research Center at Harvard Law School and at the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute and an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established by the member states to contribu ...

in Florence followed, financed by the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: ''Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung'', SNF; French: ''Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique'', FNS; Italian: ''Fondo nazionale svizzero ...

. During her time as senior assistant at the

(1996–2002) she wrote her habilitation thesis (“Reception of International Law”) and was the project manager of a multi-volume commentary on the Environmental Protection Act. After a research stay at the

Max Planck Institute Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

for Comparative Public Law and International Law, she was appointed to the

University of Lucerne The University of Lucerne (UNILU; German: ''Universität Luzern'') is a public university with a campus in Lucerne, Switzerland. 1,460 undergraduates and 1,258 postgraduate students attend the university, which makes it Switzerland's smallest un ...

in 2002, where she is permanent visiting professor. Two years later, she was offered the full chair for public law, European and international law in Zurich. In 2005 Helen Keller was elected by the

UN General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Cur ...

to succeed Walter Kälin on the

United Nations Human Rights Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per ...

(re-elected in 2010). In 2011 Keller was appointed for a 9-year term as judge of the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

in respect of Switzerland. In 2020 Helen Keller took a position as international judge at the

Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ustavni sud Bosne i Hercegovine, Уставни суд Босне и Херцеговине) is the interpreter and guardian of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, It ...

.Sarajevo Times
/ref> She is a board member of the Swiss section of the International Commission of Jurists. Helen Keller is married and has two sons. She speaks English, French, German, Italian, and Polish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Helen Judges of the European Court of Human Rights Swiss women judges 21st-century Swiss judges 1964 births Living people People from Zürich Swiss judges of international courts and tribunals 21st-century women judges