Jimmy Carter’s crowning achievements came after having the most powerful job in the world

The Georgian was a campaigner for human rights, democracy and public health - and a devoted husband

It was the spring of 2014 and I was at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington to interview Jimmy Carter. The former president had just published a new book on women's rights and was keen to make his case. The abuse of women and girls was, he believed, the worst human rights violation of the time and he was determined to issue a global call to action on the subject.

He argued passionately and eloquently, rolling though a litany of abuses women and girls around the world face: rape and violence in war, trafficking, infanticide and, in his own country, an epidemic of sexual assault at universities.