Malcolm Smart

Malcolm Smart is a human rights professional active in the principal human rights organizations in the UK.

1974-1986: Researcher on Southern Africa at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. It was the height of the struggle against apartheid and the wars for independence in Namibia and Zimbabwe. Malcolm visited the region frequently, interviewing many victims and survivors, and producing reports on prisoners of conscience, torture and other abuses.

1977-1986: Head of Amnesty's Africa Region, co-authoring reports on countries such as Guinea and Morocco and editing others to ensure that they met Amnesty's critical standards on accuracy, objectivity and impartiality.

1986-1989: Deputy Head of Research, International Secretariat, Amnesty International.

1989- 1994: Head of Research, International Secretariat, Amnesty International, a pivotal position in an organisation whose credibility rests on the quality of its investigative research and reporting.

1994-1999: Deputy director of Article 19, a London-based organisation committed to the worldwide promotion and protection of freedom of expression, academic freedom and the rights of the media.

2000-2002: Programme Director, New York with Human Rights Watch, the largest US-based international human rights organisation." ^[1]

2002-2005: Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture "as its new director in September 2002, bringing more than 25 years experience in international human rights with him. He left the organisation early in 2005.

2006 - : Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa programme. ^[2]

Current Affiliations

Human Rights Watch Africa Advisory Committee former member
Article 19 – former member of the International Advisory Board; former deputy director
Amnesty International – Program Director: Middle East
Department for International Development (DFID) – Economic Advisor – Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department^[3]

Poulton, Hugh and Malcolm Smart. State Before Freedom: Media Repression in Turkey. London: Article 19, 1998.
Testimony by Malcolm Smart in front of Parliamentary committee, re: Article XIX. What is of interest: the strong links between Article XIX and the British government – evident from the testimony. 12 May 1998.
Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Prisoner of Conscience lists and the reason for double standards, Letter, 9 August 2010. (Accessed: 15 February 2011)