Birgit Schwarz

Background

About Birgit Schwarz

13 years at Human Rights Watch (HRW), 12 of those based in South Africa. Now based in Brussels, Belgium. Last position held at HRW: Deputy Communications Director Europe and Africa. Award-winning journalist. Worked as Africa correspondent and Asia editor for Der Spiegel for 12 years. And as journalism trainer for the Thomson Reuters Foundation's Wealth of Nations program in English and French speaking Africa. The program taught investigative skills to expose illicit financial flows. Headed up the Investigative Journalism Workshop at Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg and was instrumental in setting up the African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC)- then Power Reporting Workshop - now the biggest conference for investigative journalists on the continent. Worked several years as radio feature writer and host at Deutsche Welle and Voice of Germany. And set up the first office for DPA - the German Press Agency - in South Korea during troubled times (1985-1988). Fluent in German and English. Good French.