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.
Theodora Siemons
Board
Theodora Siemons is an applied linguist with a specialization in Intercultural Communication. She works as a teacher trainer and NT2 teacher. Siemons is a team member of DocP.
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.
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.
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.
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 was 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.
Bert de Vries
Advisory Council
Bert de Vries served as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and chair of the Christian democratic party CDA. He was professor of financial and economic policy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
Jaap Hamburger
Board
Jaap Hamburger is chair of A Different Jewish Voice (EAJG).
Hans Jordens
Board
After completing his studies in theoretical physics, Hans Jordens has worked as a teacher in secondary education, the University of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and for the last 30 years at the University of Groningen. He has been involved in the Palestinian cause since 1971.
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.
Ghada Zeidan
Board
Ghada Zeidan is an expert in gender & development, conflict transformation & peace building and inclusive local governance & citizen participation with a focus on the MENA region. Mrs. Zeidan is a Palestinian Human Rights defender and the Founder and Director of Palestine Link; a Palestinian Advocacy group in the Netherlands.
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.
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.
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.
Lex Takkenberg
Advisory Council
Lex Takkenberg worked with UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from 1989 until late 2019, most recently as the first Chief of its Ethics Office. He also served as first Chief of its Ethics Office, General Counsel, agency-wide Director of Operations, and Deputy Field Director in Gaza and Syria. He is co-author of the standard work “Palestinian refugees in International Law”. He currently is Senior Advisor to Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development and teaches organizational ethics at Fordham University.