Michael Th. Johnson

Michael Th. Johnson has been chairperson of the board of directors at the Institute for Justice Sector Development, based in The Hague and New Hampshire, since 2006. From 2008 to 2012, he served in Timor-Leste, initially as Senior Advisor to the Prosecutor General and, from 2010 on, as Director of AusAID’s Justice Sector Integrated Information Management Project.

In 2008, Mr. Johnson directed an evaluation team of national experts and researchers on the effectiveness of the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission under a Special Services Agreement with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In 2007 Mr. Johnson served in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Senior Advisor to the Attorney General of Afghanistan and Chief of the Attorney General’s Office Support Section (AGOAS) for the Justice Sector Support Project.

As a United States Institute of Peace Senior Fellow in 2006 and 2007, Mr. Johnson focused on issues involving international humanitarian law and complementarity between international and national courts, in the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace. From 2004 to 2006 Mr. Johnson served with the United States Department of State – Office of War Crimes Issues, as the Registrar (Chief Project Executive Officer) for the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, establishing the first sustainable national level War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia and Herzegovina under international standards of fair trial and due process of law. In 2001 Mr. Johnson was appointed the Chief of Prosecution for the United Nations, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and (Acting Deputy for) the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) - Office of the Prosecutor. He was a chief prosecutor and public legal counsel in the United States from 1982 to 2001 before taking up his role with the United Nations in the Netherlands.

He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Texas, at Austin, and a Jurist Doctorate from Catholic University, Columbus School of Law, in Washington, D.C.

Last updated: 2015