Paul Hunt is the Chief Commissioner at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.
A national of Aotearoa and UK, Paul Hunt studied law at Cambridge University and Waikato University. He has lived, and undertaken human rights work, in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Aotearoa. For more than a decade, Paul served as an independent human rights expert for the United Nations, reporting to the UN General Assembly and UN Human Rights Council. He wrote and presented some 30 UN reports, including on the World Trade Organisation, World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, Guantanamo Bay, the Israel-Lebanon conflict in 2006, and on numerous countries.
Paul’s focus was the human rights to healthcare and health protection. Between 2011 and 2013, he was senior human rights adviser to World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Dr. Flavia Bustreo.
He has published extensively on human rights and has been awarded two Honorary Doctorates in recognition of his scholarship.
Paul was appointed New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner in 2019.
Last year, he was awarded the Ann Dysart Distinguished Service Award by the civil society organisation, Multicultural New Zealand.
