The Human Rights House of Bergen (also known as the Rafto Human Rights House) is based in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

, Norway. It is located near the student centre (''Studentsenteret'') of the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

and is owned and operated by the Egil Rafto House Foundation. The Human Rights House is a unit of the international network established by the Human Rights House Foundation. It was established in memory of journalist Egil Rafto (1951–1997) who was the son of Professor

Thorolf Rafto Thorolf Rafto (July 6, 1922 – November 4, 1986) was a human rights activist and professor in Economic History at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen, Norway. The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights was established in gratitude for his eff ...

(1922–1986), lecturer in economics at the

Norwegian School of Economics The Norwegian School of Economics ( no, Norges Handelshøyskole) or NHH is a business school situated in Bergen, Norway. It was founded in 1936 as Norway's first business school and is a leading teaching and research institution in the fields of ...

. Egil Rafto were a co-founders of the

Rafto Foundation for Human Rights The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights was established in 1986 in memory of Thorolf Rafto, a professor of economic history at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) and a human rights activist. The main objective of the Rafto Foundation is the promo ...

which was founded during 1986 in honor of his father. Thorolf Rafto had been strongly active in the international fight for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. The Human Rights House of Bergen was opened in 1999 by Kim Aris who is the youngest son of Burmese diplomat

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

and British historian

Michael Aris Michael Vaillancourt Aris (27 March 1946 – 27 March 1999) was an English historian who wrote and lectured on Bhutanese, Tibetan and Himalayan culture and history. He was the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi, who would later become State Counsellor ...

(1946–1999). Rafto Foundation for Human Rights and several other organizations have permanent offices in the house, such as Amnesty International, AFS Intercultural Learning,

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. ...

, and Norwegian Church Aid's Youth. Other groups can the house for seminars, meetings, or social events.

References

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