Miloon Kothari

Miloon Kothari

Independent Expert on Human Rights and Social Policy

Miloon Kothari is a renowned human rights and social policy expert with extensive teaching and training experience on the United Nations (UN) human rights system and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

He is the founding member of the Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (WGHR), one of the world’s leading national coalitions on the UPR. He is also the President of UPR Info and has conducted training in numerous countries on the UPR with civil society organizations, UN agencies, NHRIs, governmental bodies and diplomats.

He is also a member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

Miloon Kothari was the first UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. He has published widely on issues such as the UPR, housing and land rights, gender, forced evictions, globalization and its impact on human rights and the environment, civil society and trade. He regularly advises governments, UN agencies, research organizations and international and national civil society organizations on the UN human rights system, the UPR, as well as other human rights issues.

An architect by training, Miloon Kothari graduated from the Pratt Institute, Columbia University and the Maharaja Sayajirao University. He has been a Guest Professor and Visiting Scholar to numerous Universities and Institutions, including at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

Taught Courses

A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

The Universal Periodic Review and the UN Human Rights System: Raising the Bar on Accountability

This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.

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The training course provided me with a detailed knowledge of the Geneva-based human rights mechanisms, with a focus on the UN Human Rights Council, and allowed me to share my experiences with leading scholars and practitioners on a broad range of core subjects addressed by UN Human Rights Mechanisms. Overall, the course, helped me to advance my professional knowledge and skills in analyzing multiple domestic and international human rights issues, which I address as a diplomat in charge of human rights.

Andualem Yalelet Tessema

Diplomat in charge of human rights, Permanent Mission of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the UN in Geneva