Miklós Haraszti

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Miklós Haraszti
Dunja Mijatovic
Personal details
Born (1945-01-02) 2 January 1945 (age 80)
SZDSZ
SpouseAntónia Szenthe
Children2
Occupationwriter, journalist, human rights advocate, university professor

Miklós Haraszti (born 2 January 1945, Jerusalem) is a Hungarian politician, writer, journalist, human rights advocate and university professor. He served the maximum of two terms as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media from 2004 to 2010.[1] Currently he is adjunct professor at the School of International & Public Affairs of Columbia Law School, New York[2] and visiting professor at the Central European University (CEU), Department of Public Policy.[3]

Biography

Haraszti studied philosophy and literature at Budapest University. During the late 1960s he belonged to an underground left-wing student organization that opposed the ruling Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and was in contact with the Chinese embassy in Budapest.[4] In 1976 he co-founded the Hungarian Democratic Opposition Movement and in 1980 he became editor of the samizdat periodical Beszélő.

In 1989, Haraszti participated in the "roundtable" negotiations on transition to free elections. A member of the Hungarian Parliament from 1990 to 1994, he then moved on to lecture on democratization and

media politics
at numerous universities.

Haraszti's books include A Worker in a Worker's State and The Velvet Prison, both of which have been translated into several languages.

In 2012, Haraszti was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus.[5] He served until October 2018 when he was succeeded by Anaïs Marin.[6]

Personal life

He is married. His wife is Antónia Szenthe. They have two daughters.[7]

Selected publications

Essays

Books

  • A Worker in a Worker's State; Piece-Rates in Hungary. Penguin Books, 1977.
  • The Velvet Prison; Artists Under State Socialism. Basic Books, 1987.

References