Board and Advisory Council
The Rights Forum has a board of dedicated experts, headed by former UN Child Rights Committee chair Prof. Jaap Doek. About 20 former ministers and professors of international law are associated via an advisory council. The organization’s strategy and work is carried out by an experienced director, a communication officer and two part-time staff members.
Dries van Agt
Honorary Chair
Andreas van Agt was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982. Consequently, he was the Queens’ Commissioner (Governor) of the province of North Brabant and European Union Ambassador to Japan and the United States. Van Agt is the founder and honorary chair of The Rights Forum.
Mouin Rabbani
Board
Mouin Rabbani is historian, Middle East expert and an independent analyst. Rabbani worked for the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Pieter Bekker
Advisory Council
Pieter Bekker is a jurist specialized in public international law. He is a lawyer and teaches at the faculty of Law of Columbia University, New York. Bekker worked at the International Court of Justice, based in The Hague.
Marcel Brus
Advisory Council
Marcel Brus is Professor of International Law at the University of Groningen and Secretary of the Netherlands branch of the International Law Association. Brus has taught at the universities of Leiden and Oxford.
Cees Flinterman
Advisory Council
Cees Flinterman is Honorary Professor of Human Rights at the University of Utrecht and the University of Maastricht and member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Egbert Myjer
Advisory Council
Egbert Myjer was between 2004 and 2012 Judge on the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Until 2012, he was Professor of Human Rights at the Free University, Amsterdam. He is Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and a member of the board of the Dutch section of Amnesty International.
Bert de Vries
Advisory Council
Bert de Vries was Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and chair of the Christian democratic party CDA.
Jaap Doek
Board
Jaap Doek is Emeritus Professor Family and Juvenile Law at the VU University Amsterdam. He was a member and the chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Jaap Doek advises various international organisations and countries on child rights. He contributed to the establishment of the international child rights organisation Defence for Children, taught at several universities and was president of the European Law Faculties Association (ELFA). Doek is the chair of the board of The Rights Forum.
Henri Veldhuis
Board
Henri Veldhuis is theologian and minister of the Protestant Barbara-church in Culemborg. Veldhuis is treasurer of the board of The Rights Forum.
Theo van Boven
Advisory Council
Theo van Boven is Honorary Professor of International Law at Maastricht University. Van Boven was UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the Netherlands’ representative on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Director of the UN Division of Human Rights.
Hedy d'Ancona
Advisory Council
Hedy d’Ancona was a member of the Senate, State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Thom de Graaf
Advisory Council
Thom de Graaf (D66) was a member of the Parliament, chairman of the D66 party (Democrats 66) and Minister of Government Reform and Kingdom Relations. De Graaf is a member of the Senate and chairman of the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.
André Nollkaemper
Advisory Council
André Nollkaemper is Professor of Public International Law at the faculty of Law of the Universitity of Amsterdam and a member of the Advisory Commission on Public International Law of the Netherlands.
Klaas de Vries
Advisory Council
Klaas de Vries is a member of the Senate and Professor at the Radboud University Nijmegen. De Vries was Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of Interior of the Netherlands.
Jaap Hamburger
Board
Jaap Hamburger is chair of A Different Jewish Voice (EAJG).
Frans Andriessen
Advisory Council
Frans Andriessen was Minister of Finance of the Netherlands and Vice-President of the European Commission, among others responsible for Trade and External Relations.
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst
Advisory Council
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst was State Secretary of Foreign Affairs, EU Ambassador to Japan, Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Koos van Dam
Advisory Council
Nikolaos (Koos) van Dam was Dutch Ambassador to Iraq, Egypt, Turkey, Germany and Indonesia. He is Arabist, political scientist and Middle East expert. Van Dam is a member of the Advisory Committee on Peace and Security of the Advisory Council on International Affairs.
Tineke Lodders
Advisory Council
Tineke Lodders was chair of the Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), vice and interim chair of the Christian democratic party CDA and member of the Senate.
Jan Pronk
Advisory Council
Jan Pronk was Minister of Development Cooperation, Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Housing and a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. Pronk was the UN Special Representative for Sudan. He is Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Social Studies, chair of IKV Pax Christi and chair of the Society for International Development (SID) in Rome.
Paul de Waart
Advisory Council
Paul de Waart is Emeritus Professor of Public International Law at the VU University Amsterdam. De Waart was a member of the ‘Independent Fact Finding Commission on Gaza’, established by the Arab League.
Julus Hosman
Board
Julus Hosman worked for the Dutch foreign ministry and was Head European and International Public Affairs of Hoogovens and Corus.
Karin Arts
Advisory Council
Karin Arts is Professor International Law and Development at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, with special interest in human rights and the role of the European Union. Arts is a member of the Advisory Committee on Issues of Public International Law and the human rights commission of the Advisory Council on International Affairs.
Hans van den Broek
Advisory Council
Hans van den Broek was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy.
John Dugard
Advisory Council
John Dugard was Judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice and Special Rapporteur of the United Nations. For the UN Human Rights Council, he reported on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Dugard was a Professor of international law at various universities, including Leiden University, Princeton University, UC Berkeley and the universities of New South Wales and Pretoria. He is a member of the Institut de Droit International.
Mairead Maguire
Advisory Council
Mairead Maguire received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. She is active in inter-church organisations and the international peace movement. Maguire is a member of the International Peace Council.
Nico Schrijver
Advisory Council
Nico Schrijver is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Leiden and a member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Liesbeth Zegveld
Advisory Council
Liesbeth Zegveld is a lawyer, specialized in international law and human rights. Zegveld is a member of the Committee for Compensation for War Victims of the International Law Association and Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden.