Paul Hunt
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Paul Hunt, a native of New Zealand, has held several positions at the United Nations as a human rights expert.
| 1999-2002 | independent expert on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights |
| 2001-2002 | co-author of Guidelines on Human Rights Approaches to Poverty Reduction. |
| 2002-2006 | UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health |
On February 15, 2006 Hunt was one of the authors of a UN report on human rights abuses of suspects in extrajudicial detention at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report condemned the American treatment of detainees. It said that the detainees should all either be charged in a court of law, or released. It said that Guantanamo should be shut down, and that US authorities should start strictly adhering to the accepted world-wide standards of treatment of prisoners.
US spokesmen responded to this report by criticizing them for declining a recent invitation to visit Guantanamo Bay.
Hunt replied to this criticism by pointing out that he and his four fellow authors had struggled for several years to get permission for a fact-finding visit to Guantanamo Bay. The recent invitation from US authorities was a limited one. It was only open to three of the five members of his committee. And the visitors would have to agree to refrain from any efforts to speak with any of the detainees. Hunt and his colleagues felt that it was essential to talk to the Detainees, if they were to travel to Guantanamo.
Hunt is an adjunct professor at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, and a professor at the University of Essex, England.
