 Good afternoon and a very warm welcome to the Max von der Stuhl Human Rights Award 2021. My name is Nikola Jeves, Professor of Human Rights Law at Tilburg Law School and it's my pleasure to welcome so many of you here today on the occasion of International Human Rights Day. It's every year on the 10th of December that we commemorate that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. And today, 73 years later, human rights have certainly not lost their relevance and continue to face old but also new challenges. Academic research in this field is important and therefore today we mark this with the Max von der Stuhl Human Rights Award for Outstanding Research in the Field. This event is organised by Tilburg University together with the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research. The network connecting 11 universities across the Netherlands in the field of human rights. We are very honoured to have her Excellency Dr Bahia Tazipli, Human Rights Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands here today to present the keynote speech. I will shortly give the floor to Professor Wim van der Donk, Rector Magnificus and Chair of the Executive Board of Tilburg University, to further welcome you. But let me just briefly run you through the program. After the welcome by Professor van der Donk and the keynote by Dr. Tazipli, we will move to the award ceremony. Professor Koen Lemmens, Chair of the Jury of the Max von der Stuhl Human Rights Award, will share the jury report and announce who wins the 2021 edition. So without further ado, I would now like to hand over the floor to our Rector Magnificus, Professor Wim van der Donk. Thank you for joining us today, Wim. Thank you for inviting me. Your Excellency, dear colleagues, dear friends from abroad, colleagues from Leuven especially also chairing the jury, what a great honour for me to say a few words at the start of this great lecture in a great tradition at our university. Due to COVID, of course, online. And that same nasty virus was the reason why in the Netherlands, where we intended to celebrate 75 years of liberation after World War II with indeed the establishment of the United Nations, was a little bit in the shadow of all these COVID activities and circumstances we had to endure. That's a pity because actually concentrating ourselves to the United Nations as a fruit of deliberations after the war, of course, it started before the war but was not fully implemented. That's a pity because I think we need in this context, especially from the viewport of human rights, not and never underestimate how important this has been in our world, who now is more and more uncertain, it seems. Thanks to the excellent work of Leonor Roosevelt, who chaired the Committee on Universal Rights, that finally in Paléchao came to conclusions that were adopted in the United Nations General Assembly. It was so important to stress the intellectual foundations of that work on human rights. I think about especially Jacques Maritain, who played an enormous important role in finding the foundations of that sometimes disputed notion of universal human rights. I think he in his time with his colleagues and many women in the committee also have done a tremendous job but indeed this job is in a sense ambiguous because it's never finished. We have defined universal human rights. The defining is one thing, making sure they are obeyed and inspired time and again by all those citizens that have to adopt the notion of universal rights in their own behavior, in the way we look upon states and powerful people. It's so important to stress time and again the notion of universal human rights. And this can also be done thanks to excellent research that is done in our time too. When new endeavors are there, the traditional uncertainties of conflict and war, but also the new vistas of digital societies which invite us to think anew in what that timeframe we should adopt on new insights of safeguarding human rights. So the theme has never ceased to be important. I myself had the honor to sometimes meet Max van der Stool when he was in our law school when I was still actively working there decades ago in a sense. It was such an inspiring man and it's such a good tradition and we are so proud of that tradition at our university that we still have this lecture tradition because I think committed to a global community, feed it by the values that are cherished also in the tradition of our university is a job that we should never give up. So your excellency we are thrilled to listen to your contribution in this extremely important series on lectures on human rights to honor Max van der Stool. But furthermore and more importantly I would say also to take this important subject on the central stage of the agenda. The agenda of the scientific community, the scientific of the international and global community. It's so important. Thank you so much that you haven't accepted the invitation to speak in this lecture series. And with no further ado I think Nicola I give back the word to you because you are the chair. Thank you for having me and I will listen with great interest to the excellency. Thank you so much Professor van der Donk for your words and for setting the stage. I would like to introduce her excellency Dr. Bahia Tazip Lee, the Dutch Human Rights Ambassador and in this capacity she promotes human rights around the world on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Previously Dr. Tazip Lee was the Dutch Ambassador to Qatar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Special Envoy for UNFS and the private secretary to Her Majesty the Queen. So the title of Dr. Tazip's Lee keynote today is education lasts a lifetime. Let's give human rights a greater place in the classroom. I'm very much looking forward to it. Thank you again for joining us Madam Ambassador and you have the floor. Thank you so much. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for inviting me to speak here today. It's great to be connected online to so many of you for this special event dedicated to International Human Rights Day. Right now I'm speaking from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, a ministry that Max van der Stul headed twice in the 1970s and 80s. That was years before I joined the ministry yet his influence can still be felt today. Max van der Stul was the first foreign minister to place human rights at the core of Dutch foreign policy. A priority which I'm proud to say has been upheld ever since. It is therefore a great honor for me to deliver today's lecture and pay tribute to this legendary figure, a human rights champion for so many people around the world. Three decades ago I had the special privilege of working with Max van der Stul when he was a state counselor at a Dutch council state. In fact he was the person who motivated me to try and make a difference on human rights by pursuing a diplomatic career. I made that decision 25 years ago and I've never regretted it because as a diplomat I have so many opportunities to help improve observance of human rights and to fight injustice all around the world. I've learned that this requires many different approaches as Max van der Stul used to say. There is no fixed recipe for government action to combat violations of human rights because those violations are different in nature. Sometimes you have to use quiet diplomacy working behind the scenes. Other times you need to protest or apply heavy pressure. Since September 2019 I've been working as a Dutch human rights ambassador striving to improve the human rights situation worldwide. You might think I spend all my time responding to human rights violations but my work involves much more than that. An essential part of my job is actually going out and talking to civil society organizations, human rights defenders, human rights victims and young people. The stories that are shared during these interactions can sometimes be distressing but listening to other people's experiences is a necessary eye-opener if we want to better understand the human rights challenges they face and the stories people tell bring their determination and courage to light. These stories can be so moving and they're important in raising awareness about the meaning of human rights both close to home and further afield. What's more these stories inspire people especially young people to make sure they know their rights. They empower them to make human rights part of their daily life. So that's what I would like to talk to you about today. Storytelling and giving human rights a greater place in the classroom. Distinguished guests, when I was 16 years old I watched a music video by a Canadian music artist that has affected me ever since. It was about the real life story of a brave Iranian girl. Her name was Mona Mahmoud Nijat. You can see her photograph on your screen. Mona was a young dedicated high school student with beautiful green eyes and long dark brown hair. She too was 16 at the time. One evening in October 1982 she was studying in her room for an English test when suddenly four arms revolutionary guards entered her family home. The guards blindfolded her and took her to prison by force where she was subjected to interrogation and verbal abuse for hours on end all because of her religion the Baha'i faith. The guards threatened to kill her if she did not renounce her faith. But Mona stood firm and stayed true to her beliefs. Eight months later in June 1983 the prison guards took her together with nine other Baha'i women by bus to a nearby field. One by one the women were hanged. After Mona's execution reports emerged of how she had maintained her dignity to the very end. She was the last to be hanged. When her time came she put the news around her neck, kissed the rope and smiled in a final act of resistance. This scene portrayed in the music video hit me hard. The people who had captured and tortured her did not manage to break her. This was a triumph of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable cruelty. I'm telling you about Mona because her story left a permanent impression on me. Not least because we were the same age and shared the same religion. This made me realize how fortunate I was to grow up in the Netherlands in a democratic country where we can openly express how we feel, what we believe in and what we stand for. How very different Mona's situation was. She couldn't speak out freely, practice her religion or develop her full potential. Mona was essentially deprived of her freedoms. Yet what's so inspiring is that she never lost her inner strength, her ability to stand up for her beliefs. She never gave up hope. To me, Mona's story was a lesson about courage and dignity. I changed in a way after hearing about Mona. Her story had made me aware that freedoms should never be taken for granted. This is why I began to find human rights and justice so compelling, why I decided to study law and to write my doctoral thesis on freedom of religion and belief. And my passion for human rights and my respect for human rights defenders has only grown since then. From this experience I learned how important it is to listen to and share the personal stories of courageous people who stand up for human rights. Their stories show at individual level how human rights are under pressure all over the world. They give us insight into how some countries, especially those with authoritarian regimes, look to each other to see how they can silence their critics effectively by cutting off the internet or by attacking journalists and human rights defenders either physically or online. Listening to their stories also helps us realize how fragile our own human rights are. They remind us that we ourselves could potentially be the human rights victims of tomorrow. It could be me. It could be you. It could be any of us being intimidated, threatened, arrested, beaten or tortured, or having our families targeted. Realizing this can make us even more committed to achieving change for others. After all, as John Cotter, a professor of leadership at the Harvard Business School, aptly said, we can learn best and change from hearing stories that strike a chord within us. That is so true. That is the power of storytelling. At the same time, stories also fill us with hope. They show us that people whose rights are violated still believe in humanity, no matter how great the obstacles they face. Norma Librada-Ledezma, a Mexican whom I met at UN in Geneva, told me about how she became a human rights activist after the disappearance and cold-blooded murder of her innocent daughter Paloma. I could see and feel the pain and grief in her eyes. At that time, her daughter was the same age as my eldest daughter, 16 years old. It made me wonder, what would I have done in her situation? I'm not sure. But do you know what Norma did? She founded the organization Justice for Our Daughters because she knew all too well that her daughter's death was not an isolated case in Mexico. According to the UN, around 10 women are killed in Mexico every day. That's why Norma decided to offer people legal advice and support. In cases of murder, trafficking, and kidnapping of women, so far she has supported over 200 investigations into cases of feminicide and disappearances. She has stayed strong in the face of adversities saying, the justice that my daughter didn't get along with all those women and girls. I don't think this is something I'll be able to see with my own eyes. Yet I will fight, Norma said. I will continue fighting despite my situation, despite the threats for life of freedom, for a world of freedom, and for a world in which women can live free. Precisely because of the stories of human rights defenders like Norma, I'm convinced that fighting for human rights will never become a thing of the past. Human freedom is something that can never be permanently repressed, controlled, or restrained. Because despite their terrible experiences, human rights defenders keep their face in humanity and continue their struggle to achieve human rights. They continue to believe that the norms of human rights are shared and supported by most people around the world. Distinguished guests, we need opportunities to listen to the stories of courageous people who are fighting for human rights under difficult conditions and how special it will be to interact with them directly so they can share with us in person what they've been through, how they deal with the challenges they face, and what they need to be able to create a change for others. But where can we meet them and listen to their powerful stories? We have one possibility through the Dutch shelter city program which gives weary human rights defenders a chance to take a rejuvenating break in another country so we can meet them during the brief time that they spent in a shelter city. Over the past nine years, more than 300 human rights defenders have been given temporary accommodation, training, and security in a shelter city. Twenty cities are now taking part in this initiative by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Organization Justice and Peace Netherlands. Twelve Dutch cities and eight cities in a range of other countries. I've been fortunate to meet many of these people, activists, scholars, artists, political figures, journalists, and lawyers. Even more importantly, many of them have shared their stories with people in the Netherlands, including many students, so people could hear their activism and the challenges they face back home. And here what they're staying in a shelter city means to the human rights defenders. Defenders like Moja Liefa are human rights activists from Zimbabwe who stayed for a while in Tilburg. Moja, as his friends call him, is a cheerful man who often wears a rainbow colored scarf around his neck. He told me that he is in great danger in his native country, both because of his LGBTI activism and because he is gay. I have worked with people who disappeared overnight, Moja has said. I always wonder when they will come for me. He continued, however, but we do work that needs to be done. It is like an army going to the battlefield. Seeing countries like the Netherlands feeds us with hope. Following his time in Shelter City, Tilburg, Moja was able to return back home with renewed energy and determination to continue his work despite the danger it involves. And then there's David, a human rights activist defending the families of missing persons in Mexico. David constantly needs to be on the lookout for the drug hotels because of his support for 120 families whose lives are missing. David has said that being in Shelter City Utrecht, a safe place, is something he could never have imagined as a real possibility. Experiencing this safety first hand gave him hope that creating a different, more secure world is possible and that things can change in his own country, Mexico. Last but not least, let me tell you the story of Sohail, a Pakistani human rights activist who stayed in Shelter City, Zola for several months this year. Sohail was unjustly imprisoned for 10 years without either a fair trial or a lawyer. He was lucky because his sister was able in the end to pay enough money to get him released, but that doesn't mean he is safe now. So Sohail too was grateful for the breathing space that the Netherlands provided. At the same time, he looked forward to continuing his mission defending prisoners' rights with renewed strength back in Pakistan. As Sohail says, I am here to heal myself and to help others. The experiences that Moja, David and Sohail shared with people in the Netherlands made many of their listeners, especially young listeners, appreciate the significance and necessity of the work that these activists do back home. This shows how human rights defenders' stories can foster dialogue between people who might not normally cross paths. This is why in my own work and especially in my outreach to young people, I use storytelling to encourage dialogue on human rights issues, especially through film because visualization is so effective at helping us understand a reality very different from our own and empathize with the people who live it. For example, when I as a teenager watched a music video on Mona, it allowed me to picture the brutality of her execution and at the same time to comprehend her admirable, resolute courage. That's why I use the power of storytelling through film now as a way of reaching people, especially students. Together with Nadja Hoopen, an art producer and director of the Foundation Human Rights in the Picture, I recently visited a series of universities in the Netherlands, including, of course, Tilburg University, as well as students in Hungary, Poland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kursau and Aruba. At each event, we use the same formula. We began by watching a human rights documentary with the students, either in person, in hybrid settings or online. Then we use the documentary to facilitate interactive discussions with the students about their ideas, needs and concerns regarding human rights and justice. One documentary, for example, is called Out and About. It dives into the world of family members of LGBTI people. The students get to see fathers and mothers talk about the challenges they face as parents of a gay child, like the Kenyan mother, Josephine, who explains how she will prepare her own extended family to accept the coming out of her daughter, Gigi, or Elena, a mother in Russia who reveals the big crisis she faces because her son, Alex, feels threatened by the homophobia in his country and wants to emigrate. Usually at the end of the documentary, the whole class is silent for a while, waiting to see who will speak first, to reflect on what they've just seen and heard. Then little by little, the students start opening up to Najja and me, but most importantly, to each other. At each event, the students impressed us with their openness and courage. For instance, some students talked about how they viewed influences like Niki de Jager, a Dutch beauty vlogger and transgender woman as role models, inspiring them to be who they want to be. At one university, several students showed support when they found out one of them was gay. Some placed a hand on the fellow student's shoulder, others wept when hearing about their awful experiences. In a discussion at one European country's university, students were particularly worried about their government's hateful rhetoric towards LGBTI people. Yet despite these concerns, one of the students courageously revealed to his classmate that he is, in fact, gay. He asked, when did it become a bad thing not to be exactly the same as everybody else? So through stories that strike a chord with them, and especially through documentaries, we can give human rights more meaning to young people. And through dialogue, we can encourage these young people to think deeply about human rights in their daily lives and those of others. Distinguished guests, the American philanthropist George Jonas once said, others see the child of today, we see a leader of tomorrow. I strongly agree with his vision. That's why I believe schools are key in raising awareness about human rights. Back when I first joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was asked to design a colorful poster with an illustration for each article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These posters were hung in schools across the country to raise awareness among children and young people about their human rights and potential. That was 23 years ago. Yet a recent UNICEF poll of children in the Netherlands showed that 51% of them could not name one human right. 13-year-old Quinty, for instance, said, I think I once had a lesson about it in history, then something was said about human rights. And 14-year-old Rowan commented, we did have a lesson about human rights, but I don't really remember it. This lack of human rights literacy among children is alarming. If young people are not aware of their rights and other people's rights in society, how can we expect them to stand up for human rights, let alone make a difference in their neighborhoods or cities, not to mention other countries? As Eleanor Roosevelt said, universal human rights begin in small places close to home. And let's not forget that young people are especially good at spreading knowledge, skills, and habits to others. They will take what they've learned from their schools and playgrounds into their homes and beyond, into their communities and societies as a whole, making their societies part of a global human rights community. That's why I'd like to call on you all today, go back to school, let's be more active in bringing human rights into the classroom so we can invest more in young people's knowledge and work together to increase human rights literacy. We can do that on a day like today, International Human Rights Day, the 10th of December, but I think it would be even better for us all to visit schools and universities during a special dedicated week culminating on International Human Rights Day. We could turn this human rights awareness week into a national or even global human rights week and repeat the campaign every year. So we can truly start a chain reaction and inspire more and more people to join in, in the Netherlands and around the world. Just as Global Money Week was successfully introduced nine years ago in every region of the world, a week every year when professionals go back to school to make children more financially aware and teach them the skills, attitudes, and behaviors they need to make sound financial decisions. Since its inception Global Money Week has reached over 53 million children and young people in 176 countries worldwide. So why not duplicate the success of Global Money Week for human rights by launching a Global Human Rights Week, a week in which we all participate. Academics, activists, practitioners, judges, lawyers, parliamentarians, diplomats, students, anyone who is passionate about human rights. Wouldn't Human Rights Week be a refreshing and inspiring opportunity for interactive dialogue with children and young people on human rights issues? To listen to their ideas and aspirations about human rights and learn about their concerns, needs, and vulnerabilities. Just as I experience on my tour of universities, these interactions can stick with them for the rest of their lives and with us. We can tell children, for instance, about the rights and freedoms enshrined in a universal declaration of human rights and talk with them about what these rights mean in their lives. We could discuss one or more rights in greater detail and in particular why these rights are important for them and everyone. We could talk about situations where children have seen or heard people enjoy the night or demand human rights, or we could ask if they have ever stood up for their rights or the rights of others. There are so many possibilities. Above all, I'd like to encourage everyone to share impactful stories with young people. We can use our own stories or the stories and experiences of courageous human rights defenders whose lives are under threat of inspiring human rights icons and of vulnerable people in needs so we can speak to young people's hearts and minds and motivate them to integrate human rights into their thoughts and actions. We can also share stories by showing students documentaries or plays followed by discussions or listen to music or read poetry. We can simply be creative in our interactions with young people. Distinguished guests, I hope all of you will support my call and join me in taking part in Human Rights Week next year to give a voice to the marginalized among us, to help raise awareness among young people, and to make Human Rights Week as big a success as Global Money Week. This is something we can do for all the brave human beings like Mona who have given their lives for human rights. For the countless people who continue to show courage and resilience and refuse to lose hope like Sohail, David, Norma, and Mojalefa and for all those who have stood up for human rights like Max von der Stuhl. Because in a world where human rights are being violated in so many places, both online and offline, it is never too late for people to realize why human rights matter and to stand up for those rights, both close to home and further afield, as long as we all contribute. So let's launch Human Rights Week and all go back to school every year. Let's share stories and promote the crucial commitment the world made on this day 73 years ago to the idea that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Ambassador. Thank you for profiling us with so much inspiration and food for thought and insights into the important and challenging work that you do. And thank you also for giving us this call for action to establish a human rights awareness week. Among the participants here today are many students also from my class and they're from all over the world and I know that no doubt they will take back home your call to action. So thank you. Thank you for your inspiration. Given the online setting and the number of participants we have today and our full program we unfortunately cannot continue a discussion but I do hope we have the opportunity to continue the conversation and your inspiring ideas when we have the opportunity to meet again in person I hope really soon. So thank you. The lecture by Dr. Tasip Lee will be available online on the website of the government of the Netherlands and Studium Generale will also make the video recording of this event available online next week. So let us now turn to the last part of our event and no doubt some of you will by now have become increasingly nervous. So who will win the 2021 Max van der Stool Human Rights Award? For this part of our program I would like to give the floor to Professor Kuhn Lemmens, Professor of Human Rights Law at the Catholic University of Leuven and Chair of this year's jury. Professor Lemmens you have the floor. Okay thank you. Thank you very much Professor Jagens and welcome to all of you. I hope you can you can hear me. So in 1995 Tilburg University introduced the Human Rights Award for outstanding academic publications in the area of human rights with a view to draw more attention to this field of study in academic research and education. In 2002 the award was renamed the Max van der Stool Award of Human Rights in honor precisely as has been said already of the former Dutch Minister of State first OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, former UN rapporteur on Human Rights in Iraq and Professor of International and European Law at Tilburg University, Mr Max van der Stool. In 2019 it was decided that Tilburg Law School and the Netherlands Network for Human Rights would jointly organize the Max van der Stool Human Rights Award on a b-annual basis starting in 2019. The first edition of the prize under this new arrangement was held in 2017. Now this year an international jury of human rights scholars was appointed to select the winners. The jury was composed of the following members, Professor Josse Duté who is Professor of Health Law at Redbelt University in Nijmegen and Commissioner at the Netherlands Human Rights Institute in 2010 to 2019. There was Professor Lisbeth Lehmza, Professor of Practice of International Law at Marseille University. There was Dr Eva Rieter, Assistant Professor and Senior Researcher in International and European Law at Redbelt University in Nijmegen and myself Koenlem. The award is conceived as an incentive for young researchers and nominations are limited to graduates, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral researchers. Nominations that is important can be submitted by all schools and institutes linked to Dutch and Flemish universities as well as by the TMC Acer Institute in The Hague. So this is so to say the human rights award of the low countries. The award is presented in two categories. Category one is the best doctoral dissertation and category two of course is the best non-dissertation in the academic context which means that we hint at master thesis or papers published in academic journals. In order to have been nominated this year, doctoral dissertations must have been defended between the 1st of July 2019 and the 1st of June 2021. Manuscripts in the second category, so the non-dissertation and academic texts must have been defended or published between the 1st of September 2019 and on August 2021. Only texts written in Dutch or English were considered. Now as to the nominations, we got 20 nominations that were received. 11 doctoral dissertations entered the competition under category one and nine manuscripts entered category two. Nominations came from 10 Dutch universities, University of Amsterdam, de Wey Universiteit Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University, Maastricht University, Tilburg University, Leiden, Radboud University Faculty of Law, Radboud University Faculty of Management and Gronen University. There were also nominations coming from Belgium, universities, the University of Antwerp Faculty of Law, the University of Antwerp Institute of Development Policy and Ghent University. What were the selection criteria? So in assessing the submissions, the jury followed the selection criteria which conceived of human rights in a broad sense to include civil and political rights as well as social, economic and cultural rights. The criteria also allowed for works addressing the rights of groups, for instance through the lens of gender, age or ethnicity, or human rights in specific situations, such as in emergencies and during or after violent conflicts. The criteria further indicate that studies can be submitted on human rights procedures, institutions and other forms of implementations, monitoring and enforcement. Finally, submissions may be theoretical in nature or they can be based, of course, on empirical research. Now the jury held its deliberations online on the 11 November 2021. They were also happy to be, they were happy to have the assistance of the academic coordinator of the Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research and that is Dr Leon Castellanos Jankiewicz, who's present also I see and thank you Leon for your precious aid. Now, of course, you're all waiting for the awards. So applying the criteria I just mentioned, the jury decided to award a price of 3000 euros for the best doctoral dissertation and a price of 1500 euros for the best non-doctoral academic test. And so the prize winners are the following. Category one, the price for the best doctoral dissertation. Dr Yusef Befiki, the University of Antwerp, was awarded the price for the best PhD for her dissertation titled, reasonable accommodation in education, an integrated human rights approach on the basis of the right to equality, inclusive education, and freedom of religion, defended at the University of Antwerp. The jury's decision was unanimous. According to the jury, the work of Dr Befiki is a very convincing testimony of scientific competence in terms of methodology and analysis. Moreover, it is a book that challenges readers to react to agree or not to agree, with therefore engages with its audience in a meaningful way. According to the jury, Dr Befiki is aware of the importance of stories and the question from which perspective and how they are told. That's also what the ambassador somehow illustrated here today and how much this also plays a role in legal science and her own position in it. The added modes of critical analysis are not involved as an afterthought, but instead develop on an integrated human rights approach. The approach taken in the book is astute, transparent, and courageous. The legal technique and interpretation is, moreover, very impressive, and the use of sources was excellent. So, congratulations, Dr Befiki. When it comes to category number two, the price for the best non-dissertation in the academic text, here the jury found, Katie Penney from Leiden University was awarded the price under category two. For her master thesis, Tinker-Taylor Twitter lie, government disinformation and freedom of expression in past truth era, submitted to Leiden University. She will receive, as indicated, the 1,500 euros in prize money. The jury was of the opinion that Mrs. Penney's thesis topic is very timely and relevant, and that her work contains a clear analysis. The thesis is well written, immediately relevant, and gives a useful overview of the relevant ECHR case law on the topic, making it a practical study on a pressing issue. That were the conclusions of the jury. I think I can congratulate both winners once again on behalf of all the members of the jury. I'd like to add that it was a pleasure. I'm speaking for myself, but I'm quite sure that this is backed by the fellow members of the jury. It was a pleasure reading all the words. They were of great quality, and it's always a wonderful experience to see how in these low countries human rights research is done and the level and the general quality is impressive. Thank you so much to all the participants. Thank you, Professor Lemonson. Thank you so much for all the work of the juries, also to the other jury members. Congratulations, Dr. Benfekie and Mrs. Penney, with winning the 2021 Max von Sturm Human Rights Award. I'm putting you on the spot a bit here, but perhaps I can invite you to very briefly respond. If you would like to do so, could you turn on your camera? I think you've been unmuted. So perhaps first I can give the floor to Dr. Benfekie if you are welcome and congratulations. Thank you. I'm a bit startled. So I'm going to try and gather my thoughts. First and foremost, I want to extend my gratitude to everyone involved in the award from the institutions, Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research, the Astor Institute, Tilburg University, the distinguished members of the jury, but also definitely the people that have supported me throughout my dissertation journey, which has been of course sometimes tenuous and arduous and difficult and without whom I would not have continued on. I think first and foremost of my excellent supervisor, Professor Wouter van Anhole, the excellent members of my jury, some who are also present here today, Professor Eva Brens, Professor Loree Beeman, and others, friends and family of course. I think what I would maybe like to add is that I agree very much on what has been said about storytelling. In the beginning it was also mentioned that there's not only the importance of defining human rights, but also more than that. The two cents that I would like to share today is maybe what I tend to observe is that we often focus on the rights part of human rights and rightly so pun intended. However, we should I think also equally interrogate our notion of the human and not only focus on the right part of human rights, but on the human. What and who do we understand as human and who is left out of that abstract universal notion of the human. I think many of the human rights violations today are in essence not only about or not or not only about not respecting rights, but about not seeing the human rights subject as fully human. And I think that ties in with the political and ideological history of the Western conception of human rights and I think that is while we celebrate the 10th of the December, a December we should also pause and reflect on that. And I don't believe we can make a real headway if we don't really disrupt and question the categories of the human and how it has been historically conceived and which groups have not been part of that human. And I think that very much ties in and that's I promise the last thing I would say it because people are not like she probably knows what she's saying but I'm really not but the last thing I want to say is that that in turn ties in with storytelling, like her Excellency Dr. Bahia does at least said because in our stories we portray the other as in a certain way. And as long as we don't tell different stories, we will keep on uttering certain subjects also in the human rights field. And I think both in my capacity as a human rights lawyer and as a port and a writer, my mission is to disrupt those categories and help us reimagine and find new and better ways of relating to one another and the world. Thank you once more. I'm deeply, deeply honored and humbled. And I wish we were together to celebrate in real life. But I'm more than happy to do it this way. Thank you once more to everyone, to all the other candidates as well. I don't really feed much of competition anyway. And I am sure that they were equally interesting and have equally contributed to the academic debate. So many thanks again. Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts also and congratulations again. In real life, of course, we would have now given you a big bunch of flowers. So I unfortunately, you'll just have to imagine the virtual flowers in this case. Perhaps very briefly also, Miss Pentney, are you here? And can we sort of put you on the spot to give a brief reaction to the fact that you have won the second category of the Max von Stuhl Human Rights Award? Yes, I am here and I am very honored to be here and so honored to have been chosen. So thank you so much to the members of the jury. And I'm sure you had a number of excellent options to choose from. So I'm so humbled that you selected mine. And just very briefly, I have to thank Professor Tarla McGonagall, who was my supervisor and who I would not be here without. And I had a number of excellent professors as well. And I did the master's program at Leiden, who really informed my thinking and shaped the thesis in such a meaningful way. So my thanks to them and thanks to you and to the Netherlands Network of Human Rights and to the University of Tilburg for organizing the event. I know it's not ideal to be online, but I'm very hopeful we can be in a room together very, very soon. But I really appreciate the yeah, the event going ahead and recognizing the value of studying and researching and thinking critically about human rights. So it's wonderful to be a part of this community. So thank you so, so much for this recognition. Yes, thank you. Thank you so much and congratulations to both of you again. I hope this also inspires the students that are here today, perhaps in two years time, we'll be able to award the Max von der Sturck Human Rights Prize to you for the thesis that you are now currently probably in the process of writing. So thank you. Thank you all. And that brings us to the end of today's event. I just have a few short final remarks for the students among us. Please note that if you have participated in this event, this counts towards the Studium Generale Certificate. And as I said, the Studium Generale will also make this recording available online in the YouTube channel of the University next week. I wanted to briefly thank a few people that made this event possible. First and foremost, our jury members, Professor Lemmens, Professor Dutte, Professor Lijnzad and Dr. Eva Rieter for undertaking this huge task of reading no less than 20 nominations and selecting such excellent winners. We owe you great gratitude. Thank you. I would also like to thank Miriam Koumberg of our support office and Annelie Kostoff, Studium Generale. And a special thank you goes to the team of the Netherlands Network at the Else Institute, Leon, Hannah, Merel. Thank you for all your excellent support throughout the year. And finally, thanks to everyone for attending here today. I wish you an inspired human rights day. And I hope we get the opportunity to meet again in person in two years' time for the 2023 Max von der Stuhl Human Rights Award. Thank you all and goodbye.