Danilo Türk served as President of Club de Madrid between 2020 and 2025 and is a member of its Board of Directors. Early in his carrer, he was Director of the Institute of International Law at the University of Ljubljana. His academic and professional work has focused on international law, human rights, and global governance. Before entering politics, Türk served as a member of the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and as UN Special Rapporteur on the Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1986–1992).
He also contributed to drafting Slovenia’s 1991 Constitution, preparing the chapter on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Between 1992 and 2000, he was Slovenia’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations, representing the country on the UN Security Council in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, a post he held until 2005.
As President of Slovenia, he focused on social inclusion, regional cooperation, and Slovenia’s engagement in international institutions. He later chaired the Global High-Level Panel on Water and Peace (2015–2016) and was a candidate for UN Secretary-General in 2016. In 2022, Türk was named one of the 12 Eminent individuals invited to be part of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism Comprises, which was asked to build on the ideas in Our Common Agenda to make concrete suggestions for more effective multilateral arrangements across a range of key global issues.