Morten Kjærum (born 30 March 1957) is a Danish lawyer, who is the new head of the

Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) is an experienced research and academic institution with offices, programmes, and convening power covering 40 countries. RWI's mission is to combine evidence-based human righ ...

in Sweden. From 2008 to 2015 he directed the

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/20 ...

(FRA),based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. He is also a former director of the

Danish Institute for Human Rights The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) is a national human rights institution (NHRI) operating in accordance with the UN Paris Principles. The DIHR was originally established as the Danish Centre for Human Rights by a parliamentary decision ...

and of the

EU Agency for Fundamental Rights The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2 ...

Life

Kjærum obtained his degree in law from

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

in 1984. He began his legal work at NGO

Danish Refugee Council Danish Refugee Council (DRC) ( da, Dansk Flygtningehjælp) is a private Danish humanitarian nonprofit organization, founded in 1956. It serves as an umbrella organization for 33 member organizations. Formed after the Second World War in response ...

. He was the Head of the Danish Refugee Asylum Department from 1984 to 1991, and in 1991 he became director of the Danish "Centre for Human Rights". When the Centre closed in 2002, Kjærum became director of the newly established Institute for Human Rights at the Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Rights, where he worked until May 2008. In March 2008 he was appointed director of the Vienna-based EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), taking up the post in June that year. In May 2013, the FRA Management Board extended his contract as Director of the Agency for another 3 years, with effect from 1 June 2013. At the end of March 2015, Kjærum left the FRA to become head of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund, Sweden. In 2002 he became a member of the UN

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third -generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...

(CERD) and in 2004 Chairman of the

International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), formerly known (prior to 2016) as the 'International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions' (sometimes shortened to the International Coordinating Committee ...

(ICC). In August 2008, Kjærum received a prize from the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians for promoting the rights of gays and lesbians. He then in 2013 received an honorary professorship at the

University of Aalborg Aalborg University (AAU) is a Danish public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen founded in 1974. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subjects within humanities ...

in his home country Denmark.Morten KjaerumBIO:
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kjaerum, Morten 20th-century Danish lawyers Human rights lawyers Living people Members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 1957 births Danish officials of the European Union Danish officials of the United Nations 21st-century Danish lawyers