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OHCHR > English > Your Human Rights > Expression > Biography of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression
Mr. David Kay, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
David Kaye was the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression from August 2014 to July 2020.
Mr Kaye is a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law. He teaches international human rights law and international humanitarian law and directs a clinic in international justice. His research and writing focus on accountability for serious human rights abuses and the law governing use of force. He has collaborated with local and national governments, major international NGOs as well as those at the grassroots, international organizations, and academic institutions around the world.
He has also published numerous research essays and opinion pieces on international human rights law related issues in a wide range of specialised reviews and mainstream publications. His most recent publications include: Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet (2019), Archiving Justice: Conceptualizing the Archives of the ICTY, Journal of Archival Science (2014); Stealth Multilateralism: U.S. Foreign Policy Without Treaties – or the Senate, Foreign Affairs (2013); Human Rights Prosecutors? The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, International Justice, and the Example of Syria (book chapter) (2013); State Execution of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 3 U.C. Irvine Law Reviews 95 (2013).
In addition to his teaching and research, he has lectured around the world, including at the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. He has taught courses in public international law, international humanitarian law and human rights at Georgetown University, Whittier Law School, and summer courses at the Universities of Toulouse and Amsterdam. He co-founded the International Human Rights Program of the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, and founded its International Justice Clinic, working on projects dealing with accountability for international crimes around the world. Mr Kaye began his legal career as a lawyer with the U.S. Department of State.
Mr Kaye has served on numerous local, national, and international boards over the course of career. He has been an active member of the American Society of International Law, for which he served on its Executive Council and Executive Committee, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
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​Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and opinion
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​Recent thematic reports
Academic freedom (2020)
Disease pandemics (2020)
Online hate speech (2019)
Surveillance and human rights (2019)
Artificial Intelligence technologies and implications for the information environment (2018)
Online content regulation (2018)
Access to information in international organizations (2017)
The role of digital access providers (2017)
Contemporary challenges to freedom of expression (2016)
Freedom of expression, states and the private sector in the digital age (2016)
The protection of sources and whistleblowers (2015)
The use of encryption and anonymity to exercise the rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the digital age (2015)
​Contact information
Ms. Irene Khan
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneve 10, Switzerland
Email: freedex@ohchr.org
UNESCO and freedom of expression
OSCE The Representative on the Freedom of the media
Organization of American States (OAS). The Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression
Council of Europe, Protecting media freedoms
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights
OHCHR on Social Media
OHCHR Memorial
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