Alexandra Xanthaki
Legal scholar and UN expert
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexandra Xanthaki is known for her work on the rights of indigenous peoples and international law. She is a professor of law at Brunel University of London (BUL). She was appointed the United Nations special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights in 2021.
Alexandra Xanthaki | |
|---|---|
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Keele |
| Thesis | Indigenous rights in the United Nations system : self-determination, culture, land (2001) |
Education
Xanthaki completed her LLB at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece in 1994.[1] She undertook an LLM in human rights and emergency law at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland the following year.[1] She moved to Keele University in Staffordshire in the United Kingdom to pursue a Ph.D., where she wrote her thesis on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United Nations.[2]
Career
Xanthaki took up her first academic post at the University of Keele, where she became a lecturer in law in 2000.[1] She joined the University of Liverpool in 2001. In 2004, she moved to Brunel University London.[1] As of 2024 she is the director of research at the Brunel Law School.[3]
In 2021, Xanthaki was appointed the United Nations special rapporteur in the field of cultural rights.[2][4] In this role, she advised the International Olympic Committee about whether Russian soldiers should be allowed to compete in the Olympic games in Paris in 2024,[5] and discussed the impact of war on cultural identity in Ukraine.[6] She has also considered the implications of teaching children in Tibet Mandarin Chinese,[7] cultural isolation by young aboriginal Australians,[8] and funding for cultural works in Chile.[9]
Selected publications
- Ghanea, N. and Xanthaki, A. (eds) (2004) 'Minorities, peoples and self-determination: essays in honour of Patrick Thornberry'. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-14301-2
- Xanthaki, A. (2007) 'Indigenous rights and United Nations standards: self-determination, culture, land'. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83574-9[10]
- Xanthaki, A., Valkonen, S., Heinamaki, L. and Nuogram, PK. (eds) (2017) 'Indigenous peoples' Cultural Heritage: Rights, Debates, Challenges'. Leiden: Brill/Nijhoff. ISBN 978-90-04-34218-7[11]