Joris de Bres

Born 30th April 1947

Contact e-mail: Joris & Angela

Joris de Bres has been New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner since 2002. He was previously General Manager, External Relations in the Department of Conservation and, before that, head of industrial relations for the New Zealand Public Service Association.

His main focus has been to encourage central and local government, business and community organisations to develop their own diversity programmes and to come together in the New Zealand Diversity Action Programme. The Commission facilitates the Programme, including networks on religious diversity, media diversity, language policy and refugee issues, and an annual New Zealand Diversity Forum. Other initiatives have been the production of an annual review of race relations, the development of national statements on religious diversity, language policy and race relations, monthly acknowledgments of individuals and organisations for positive contributions to race relations, and the annual New Zealand Diversity Awards.

Internationally, he has contributed to increased engagement of National Human Rights Institution with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and other Treaty bodies, and chaired the group of 39 NHRI’s that participated in the Durban Review Conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Geneva in 2009. The New Zealand Human Rights Commission co-hosted, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, an International Race Relations Roundtable for NHRI’s in Auckland in 2004.

He is also Vice-Chairperson of Oxfam New Zealand, a Trustee of Project Crimson, and member of the Advisory Board for the Victoria University Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research.

Currently living in Wellington New Zealand

More on Joris here

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Angela de Bres on Facebook here