Philippe Boillat- Council of Europe
Phillipe Boillat is the Director General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs, Council of Europe. He holds a Master in Law (Swiss law and legal sciences), from the University of Lausanne.
He started his legal career in 1978 at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Berne. In 1989 he was co-agent of the Swiss Ministry of Justice to the European Court of Human Rights and Head of the European Law and International Affairs Section. Between 1997 and October 2005, he was Deputy Director of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Head of International Affairs Department and the Swiss Government Agent to the European Court of Human Rights and UN Committee against torture (CAT).
In parallel to his professional career at national level, he has been Chairperson of several major Committees:
He has been the Chair of the Human Rights Committee for the Protection of National Minorities (DH-MIN), the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of National Minorities (CAHMIN), and the European Committee responsible for drawing-up "Guidelines on Human Rights and the fight against terrorism" and "Guidelines on the protection of terrorist acts. In He was also Chair of the Group which drew up Protocol No.14 amending the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and later the Chair of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH).
He began his career in the Council of Europe in October 2005, as Director in the Directorate General of Human Rights. In May 2006 he became Director General of Human Rights, and since May 2007, Director General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs.
Philippe Boillat has published several feature articles in the legal and human rights sectors.