Aage Borchgrevink keeps a close look on the situation in Georgia, the Russian federal territory of Chechnya as well as International criminal justice.
It was a coincidence that led me to the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, but it’s no coincidence that I’ve stayed on for 25 years.
Aage Borchgrevink
Aage came to us in 1992 when he translated a report on labour rights violations at a Belfast wharf from Norwegian to English. The following year he served his alternative military service at our Oslo office. After finishing a Master’s degree in Comparative Literature in 1997, Aage returned as a researcher with a special focus on the Balkans and election observation.
While maintaining a part time engagement at the NHC, Aage has also worked as a journalist, critic and commentator in Norwegian papers, such as Aftenposten and Dagbladet. He has been a board member of various Norwegian and international human rights groups, such as Norwegian PEN, Russian Justice Initiative and the Public Defender’s Office of the Republic of Georgia.
I was always interested in politics and justice. Being part of the global human rights movement gives you a chance to observe historical change close-up – and sometimes the privilege of doing something useful. Taking testimony of people who have gone through war and having colleagues killed are harrowing experiences, but the friendship of people in the movement and our shared belief in the cause make it important to continue.
Aage has published several books of fiction and non-fiction, including two travelogues based on his work for the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in the Balkans, Belarus and the Caucasus. He won the Norwegian Critics’ award for A Norwegian Tragedy: Anders Behring Breivik and the Massacre at Utøya (2012), which was translated into several languages, including English.
