Jane Olson

Jane Olson "has served as co-chair of Human Rights Watch/California, since it began in 1987 and is on the national board of Human Rights Watch and the advisory board of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki.

"Jane is also vice president of the Women Commission for Refugee Woman and Children, which is under the auspices of the International Rescue Committee in New York. She has been on five delegations to the former Yugoslavia in 1992, and most recently in September 1995. She also served on a delegation to Azerbaijan in June 1994 and will return in April.

"In 1979 Jane began working on efforts to reverse the nuclear arms race and build Soviet-American relations, which fostered her continuing focus on Human rights and humanitarian concerns. She served as a public member of the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), held in Moscow in September 1991, following the August coup attempt. She traveled to Nicaragua on a peace delegation in 1984, and to Cuba with a group of environmentalist in March 1993." 

She is a member of the Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Advisory Committee and the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee.

"Jane Olson has a long history of social activism. Jane founded and served as co-chair of the California Committee of Human Rights Watch from its inception in 1989 until 2000... She serves as the board chair for Landmine Survivors Network, based in Washington, DC. She has also been on the board of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and spent many years as vice president of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children at the International Rescue Committee in New York. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

"Jane has been on many missions to the former USSR and Yugoslavia. She has also participated in missions to the Caucasus, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Middle East to look at problems with refugees, human rights issues and landmines. She served on the US delegation to the CSCE (now OSCE) Conference in Moscow in 1991.

"In 1979 Jane began working on efforts to reverse the nuclear arms race and build Soviet-American relations. She co-founded and chaired for eight years the Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race and is currently helping to organize the Interfaith Campaign for a Nuclear Free World in Los Angeles.

"She and her husband received the 2000 Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice. In 1995, Jane received the Community Achievement Award from Public Counsel, and was given the Corita Kent Peace Award by Immaculate Heart College Center.

"She is married to attorney Ronald L. Olson." 


 * Commissioners: Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children