Heiner Bielefeldt

Heiner Bielefeldt (April 12, 1958) is a German philosopher, historian and Catholic theologian. He is Professor of Human Rights and Human Rights Policy at the University of Erlangen. In 2010, he was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Life.
Bielefeldt studied philosophy and Catholic Theology at University of Bonn und University of Tübingen, which he completed in 1981 and 1982 respectively. Afterwards, he took a third undergraduate degree in history from University of Tübingen in 1988. In 1989 he received his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tübingen with a thesis on social contract theories.
He then worked until 1995 at the Faculty of Law at the University of Heidelberg. As a recipient of an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellowship, he spent 1993/94 at the Faculty of Law and the Department of Philosophy of the University of Toronto. In February 2000, he took his post-doctoral habilitation degree in philosophy from the University of Bremen.
From 2003 to 2009, Bielefeldt served as Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, which monitors the human rights situation inside Germany.
In 2009, Bielefeldt was appointed professor in the newly created Chair of Human Rights and Human Rights Policy at the University of Erlangen. Bielefeldt teaches in the areas of political science, philosophy, law and history.
Between June 18, 2010 and October 31, 2010, Bielefeldt was the appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.