John Knox is an internationally recognized expert on human rights law and international environmental law. In July 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed him to a three-year mandate as its first Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and in March 2015, his mandate was extended for three years and his title changed to Special Rapporteur.
In addition to his work on human rights and environmental protection, his recent scholarship addresses the human rights obligations of corporations, citizen suits in international environmental law, and the extraterritorial application of U.S. law, among other topics. In 2003, he was awarded the Francis Deák Prize, established by the American Society of International Law to honor a younger author who has made a “meritorious contribution to international legal scholarship.”
For four years, until 2005, he chaired a national advisory committee to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the first regional environmental organization in North America. From 2008 to 2012, he provided pro bono assistance to the Government of the Maldives and the Center for International Environmental Law in their efforts to bring human rights law to bear on climate change and other environmental problems.
After graduating with honors from Stanford Law School in 1987, Professor Knox served as an attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State from 1988 to 1994, where he helped to negotiate the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the first protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. He spent four years in private practice in Austin, Texas, and taught at Penn State for eight years before joining Wake Forest in 2006. He is married to Julie Winterich, a professor at Guilford College, and they have three daughters, who are 13, 17, and 19 years old.
Selected Presentations by Professor Knox:
Human Rights Council Session - Geneva, 8 March 2017
Human Rights Council Session - Geneva, 3 March 2016
Presentation of Good Practices Report to the Human Rights Council
Human Rights Council Session - Geneva, 9 March 2015
Human Rights Obligations to Protect the Environment
UNITAR-Yale Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy - 5 September 2014
Human Rights and the Environment: The Relationship Becomes Clearer
Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law School - 10 July 2014
Human Rights Obligations to Protect the Environment
SIDA Workshop on Human Rights and the Environment- Bangkok, 20 May 2014
Environmental Human Rights Defenders: The Front Line of Environmental Protection
Chico Vive Conference- American University, Washington, D.C., 5 April 2014
Transnational Corporations and Environmental Harm
Side-Event on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations - Geneva, 11 March 2014 Presentation of Mapping Report to the Human Rights Council
Human Rights Council Session - Geneva, 11 March 2014
Click here for a video of the Independent Expert's report to the Council.
The Human Rights Basis for the Environmental Pillar
Side-Event at the 6th Session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development- December 12, 2013
Meeting of Negotiators of Regional Agreement on Access Rights - Lima, 31 October 2013
Human Rights and the Environment: Carrying the Conversation Forward
Asia-Europe Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment - Copenhagen, 21 October 2013
Presentation of Scoping Report to Human Rights Council
Human Rights Council Session - Geneva, 6 March 2013
Click here for a video of the interactive dialogue at the Session.
The Role of Human Rights in the Follow-up to Rio+20
UNEP Ministerial Plenary - Nairobi, 18 February 2013