(New York, August 20, 2003)
Human Rights Watch mourns the loss of Arthur Helton, a leading advocate for refugees and internally displaced persons, who was among the victims of the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.
His death is a loss not only to Human Rights Watch and other international organizations, but to the millions of refugees and displaced persons the world over who benefited, however unknowingly, from his hard-nosed and persuasive advocacy.
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Arthur Helton, director of peace and conflict studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, was a valued colleague and longtime friend to Human Rights Watch. He was among the small circle of advisors who first encouraged and supported Human Rights Watch's work on the rights of refugees and displaced persons. He was a member of the advisory committee of Human Rights Watch's Africa Division and provided ready advice on a wide range of refugee issues from Eastern Europe to North Korea. Despite his own busy schedule, he was generous with his time and expertise and his judgments were always measured, thoughtful and insightful.
But more than this, as head of the Refugee Program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Forced Migration Project at the Open Society Institute, and as a law professor at NYU and Columbia, Arthur Helton was an invaluable mentor to many Human Rights Watch staff members. He was a great friend to many of us, who found his acerbic wit a cheering tonic while battling official indifference.
His death is a loss not only to Human Rights Watch and other international organizations, but to the millions of refugees and displaced persons the world over who benefited, however unknowingly, from his hard-nosed and persuasive advocacy.
Last year the increasingly slim and trim Arthur ran and completed the New York City Marathon. On explaining his reason for going to Iraq, Arthur had insisted it was "to avoid running another marathon!"
Human Rights Watch extends its condolences to Arthur's wife Jacqueline Gilbert; and to his longtime assistant Marie Jeannot.
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