BIOGRAPHY

Jan Kleijssen firmly believes in promoting and protecting our shared values of Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy.  He brings with him 40 years of accumulated institutional knowledge in all main sectors of international co-operation :  Judicial, Parliamentary and Intergovernmental.

 Having obtained Master’s Degrees in International Law (Utrecht) and in International Affairs (Ottawa) and performed military service as an officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy, Jan joined the Council of Europe in 1983 as a Lawyer with the European Commission of Human Rights. Subsequently he served for some 9 years as Secretary to the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, playing a major role in the accession procedure for new member states. 

Moreover, as Director of the Private Office, from 1999 until 2004, he was responsible for major reforms, political initiatives and crisis management.

Fluency in English, French, German and Italian alongside his native Dutch, reinforce Jan’s multicultural outlook. A strong awareness of different cultures, their traditions, behaviour, values and beliefs has provided him with invaluable insights into the multiple layers of human identity, indispensable to skilled, empathic communication and worldwide networking.

Until February 2023 as Director of Information Society -Action against Crime he led some  200 highly qualified and motivated international staff staff,  responsible for standard-setting, monitoring and co-operation activities on a wide variety of issues, such as : Freedom of Expression, Data Protection, Artificial Intelligence, Internet Governance, Cybercrime, Terrorism, Criminal Law, Prison Management, Fighting Corruption and Money Laundering. 

He served as the Council of Europe Internet Governance coordinator since 2018. On his initiative, the Council of Europe gave a partnership status to a still growing number of major global and regional private companies and associations. The marketing software platform, Onalytica, included Jan among the 2019 Top 100 influencers on the regulation of new technologies.