Michael Windfuhr

Michael Windfuhr is a political scientist, educated at the University of Heidelberg. Since 2011, he has been the Deputy Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, the national human rights institution of Germany. For the five years prior to this, he served as Human Rights Director of Bread for the World, the development organisation of the Protestant church of Germany. Between 1988 and 2006 he worked with FIAN-International (FoodFirst Information and Action Network), an international human rights organisation that focuses on the realisation of the right to adequate food. Initially he coordinated FIAN's Latin American work concentrating on land conflicts and agrarian reform. He represented FIAN at the United Nations Human Rights system from 1992 onward. In the last 10 years, he has contributed to the effort to set standards for the right to food. He was actively involved in the elaboration of the “Voluntary Guidelines on the progressive implementation of the right to adequate food” adopted by the FAO Council in November 2004. He became Secretary General of FIAN in 2005.

He brought his experience in international relations to the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. From 1996 to 2000 he was also a part-time assistant to Prof. Klaus von Beyme. In addition Michael Windfuhr lectured at the Institute for more than ten years. His main fields of publication and teaching are: human rights policies, international relations theory, international economic and development policies. He has published extensively, particularly on economic, social and cultural rights as well as on trade and agricultural policies.

 

Latest book publications: Windfuhr, Michael (ed.): Beyond the Nation State. Human Rights in Times of Globalisation, Stockholm, 2005. Bals, Christoph / Harmeling, Sven, Windfuhr, Michael: Climate change, Food Security and the Right to adequate Food, Study written for Brot für die Welt, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe und Germanwatch, November 2008.