21 Facts About Irene Khan

Irene Zubaida Khan was born on 24 December 1956 and is a Bangladeshi British lawyer and human rights activist.

Irene Khan is serving as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion.

Irene Khan previously served as the seventh Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Irene Khan was a consulting editor of The Daily Star in Bangladesh from 2010 to 2011.

Irene Khan is the daughter of Sikander Ali Khan, a Bengali Muslim medical doctor; granddaughter of Ahmed Ali Khan, a Cambridge University mathematics graduate and barrister; and great-granddaughter of Assadar Ali Khan, the personal physician of Syed Hasan Imam.

Irene Khan went to England, where she studied law at the University of Manchester and then, in the United States, at Harvard Law School.

Irene Khan specialized in public international law and human rights.

Irene Khan helped to create the organisation Concern Universal in 1977, an international development and emergency relief organisation.

Irene Khan began her career as a human rights activist with the International Commission of Jurists in 1979.

Irene Khan spent 20 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Irene Khan was appointed as Deputy Director of International Protection of UNHCR later that year.

In January 2012 Irene Khan was elected by member states to serve as Director-General of the International Development Law Organization, the world's only inter-governmental organization devoted to the rule of law and development.

Irene Khan is currently the Chair of the Supervisory Board of BRAC International.

On January 23,2024, Irene Khan visited the Philippines and met with civil society and various organizations including the National Human Rights Commission and theNational Privacy Commission to examine the state of rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the Philippines.

Irene Khan joined Amnesty International in 2001 as its Secretary General.

In May 2009 Irene Khan launched Amnesty's "Demand Dignity" campaign to fight human rights abuses that impoverish people and keep them poor.

Irene Khan is featured in a 2003 TV documentary titled Human Rights, by the French filmmaker Denis Delestrac.

In 2009 Irene Khan was featured in Soldiers of Peace, an anti-war film.

In 2005, Irene Khan penned the introduction to that year's Amnesty International report in which she, inter alia, referred to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as "the gulag of our time," accusing the United States of "thumb[ing] its nose at the rule of law and human rights [as] it grants a licence to others to commit abuse with impunity".

Outgoing IEC Chairman Peter Pack, stated that paying off Irene Khan was "the least worst option" available to IEC.

The organization was hurt by this scandal and by choosing to pay Irene Khan to leave, with Chairman Pack promising to make amends and move the organization forward following Irene Khan's departure.