Miklós Haraszti

Miklós Haraszti (born 2 January 1945) 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. Currently he is adjunct professor at the School of International & Public Affairs of Columbia Law School, New York and visiting professor at the Central European University (CEU), Department of Public Policy.

Biography Haraszti was born Jerusalem. He 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. 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. He served until October 2018 when he was succeeded by Anaïs Marin.

Personal life He is married. His wife is Antónia Szenthe. They have two daughters.

Selected publications

Essays "The Hungarian Independent Peace Movement". Telos 61 (Fall 1984). New York: Telos Press

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.