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| Olivier de Schutter | |
|---|---|
| Name | Olivier de Schutter |
| Birth date | 1964 |
| Birth place | Brussels, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation | Professor, human rights expert |
| Known for | Human rights-based approach to food systems, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food |
Olivier de Schutter is a Belgian legal scholar, human rights advocate, and policy advisor known for integrating human rights with sustainable food systems and international development. He has held academic posts at leading universities, served in multiple United Nations mandates, and advised governments, intergovernmental organizations, and civil society on human rights, food security, and corporate accountability. His work spans comparative constitutional law, international economic law, and development studies.
Born in Brussels, he pursued legal studies that connected European institutions and international frameworks. He completed degrees in law that engaged with Université catholique de Louvain, Harvard University, and research linked to European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence. His formative training included exposure to institutions such as Council of Europe, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and Belgian academic networks.
He has held professorial roles at institutions including University of Louvain (UCLouvain), University of Michigan, and European University Institute. His research intersects comparative analysis of Constitution of Belgium, Treaty of Lisbon, and Universal Declaration of Human Rights implementation. He contributed to scholarship on International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, World Trade Organization law, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development policy instruments. Collaborations include work with scholars affiliated to Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, Oxford University, and Columbia University centers.
He served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, reporting to United Nations Human Rights Council and engaging with Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Programme, and United Nations Development Programme. He advised the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and national governments, and participated in processes related to Sustainable Development Goals negotiations and the Paris Agreement discourse. He has collaborated with international NGOs and networks active around Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and academic consortia linked to International Development Research Centre.
His advocacy reframes access to nutrition through instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and connects to policy platforms like Committee on World Food Security. He promoted agroecology in dialogues involving Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, and regional bodies including African Union and Mercosur. He engaged with movements represented at COP21, COP26, and civil society coalitions allied with La Via Campesina and Slow Food. His interventions analyzed the roles of multinational firms regulated under frameworks such as United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and trade regimes shaped by North American Free Trade Agreement and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
He authored and edited books, reports, and articles published by presses and institutions including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and international organizations such as Food and Agriculture Organization and United Nations University. His scholarship addresses the intersection of rights and markets with references to cases from European Court of Justice, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and national constitutional courts including the Constitutional Court of Colombia and German Federal Constitutional Court. He has contributed to policy briefs for World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and think tanks such as Chatham House and Brookings Institution.
His work has been recognized by academic prizes, fellowships, and appointments from institutions like Belgian Royal Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and European research funding bodies including European Research Council. He received distinctions linked to contributions to human rights and development from foundations and universities across Belgium, France, United Kingdom, and United States.
Category:Belgian legal scholars Category:United Nations Special Rapporteurs