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Every two years on International Human Rights Day, the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research, Tilburg Law School, and Studium Generale organize the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award. Established in 1995, the award is given to the best PhDs and the best masters thesis in the field of human rights produced at universities in the Netherlands and Belgium. The award is meant to incentivize human rights scholarship and is named in honor of Max van der Stoel, former OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorites and Professor of International and European Law at Tilburg University. Today, the prize will be awarded during a ceremony to be held at Tilburg Law School.
In recognition of International Human Rights Day and the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Awards, Human Rights Here invited the winner of the 2023 edition of the award in the best PhD category, Floris Tan, to give his professional and personal insights into the award’s importance and impact.
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By: Floris Tan
10 December marks Human Rights Day, this year will celebrate the 77th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is also the day that the Max van der Stoel human rights award is awarded, for both the best PhD thesis and the best master thesis in the field of human rights. The editors of the blog have asked me, as the 2023 laureate, to reflect on the meaning of this award for me professionally and personally, as well as on my work in the context of Human Rights Day.
Reflections on a professional level: Protecting human rights during armed conflict
My dissertation was about the duty to investigate in situations of armed conflict, examining that obligation from the perspectives of human rights law, international humanitarian law, and their interplay (Brill version, open access dissertation). Out of many findings, one is that human rights continue to apply during armed conflict. Reflecting on the 77th anniversary of the adoption of the UDHR, I can’t help but see a connection. It was the atrocities committed during the Second World War that had made it so clear that human rights had to be protected under international law. To my mind this has always been one of the reasons that it’s beyond doubt that human rights apply during armed conflict: after all, what sense is there in setting up a regime to protect human rights in response to atrocities committed during armed conflict and occupation, to then devise that regime in a way that it would not apply to the atrocities they were set up to prevent?
My drive when I decided to research this topic, was wanting to contribute to the protection of human rights when people are at their most vulnerable. When they therefore need protection the most: during armed conflict. This drive to contribute to human rights protection also led me to transition to practice after the PhD, and when I was awarded the Max van der Stoel prize in 2023 I worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
In the Ministry, I continued to work in the field of human rights and armed conflict. I drew on the expertise I had gained during my PhD, and strove to implement the ideas developed there in my practical work. What I found most gratifying was trying to do so in litigation, when I worked – with colleagues with incredible expertise – on proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights relating to the downing of Flight MH-17, an intervention with 26 Council of Europe States in relation to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and on proceedings before the International Court of Justice, relating to the systemic torture in Syria under Assad. This is where I believe the expertise I gained in academia had the biggest practical impact.
Winning an award for my academic work, I think, gave my ideas added credibility and assisted me in putting them into practice. A few colleagues in foreign ministries of friendly States asked me for a copy of my book, and a court reached out as well. This, too, is where I’m hoping my work can have an impact on practice, and on the protection of human rights during armed conflict: through those engaging with my book.
Protecting human rights in the climate crisis
Since then, I’ve since transitioned to a different field. I now work with Climate Litigation Network, an NGO dedicated to supporting climate litigation worldwide. Human Rights Day to me is a good moment to reflect on how far human rights protection has come since 1948, and what challenges remain, or have arisen since then. Armed conflict is a challenge that has remained. Climate change is a challenge that has arisen and continues to worsen since then – to the point that it is now “one of the most pressing issues of our times”, according to the European Court of Human Rights. It impacts and threatens human rights at a global scale. Any reflection on the state of human rights protection in the world today, must necessarily include the climate crisis.
Climate litigation is one means of propelling States and other high emitting actors towards stronger climate action, thereby protecting human rights. This year marks a decade since the Dutch Urgenda case — the first time a court, anywhere in the world, ordered a government to take stronger climate action. 10 years of climate litigation have built a legal architecture for climate protection, spanning the globe.
International courts, from the European to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to the International Court of Justice have come to the same conclusion as domestic courts around the world have before them. It is now incontrovertible: governments have binding legal duties to protect people from climate change; and big polluters have a duty to pull their weight in the global effort to stop dangerous climate change. Governments now have legal duties to keep people safe, do their fair share to limit global temperature rise to less than 1.5°C, protect future generations, and show that their actions match their promises.
This has a very tangible impact. Even if I can only make a very small contribution to this field, this feels very impactful and worthwhile – and it aligns perfectly with my drive to rely on the law to protect human rights.
Coming back to Human Rights Day. The beauty of the Universal Declaration – as well as the human rights treaties adopted since – is that the wording is broad and flexible enough to respond to new crises. Even if global warming was not at the forefront of the minds of those drafting the UDHR, the rights they formulated still apply. 10 years of climate litigation, and court rulings from around the world, clearly show this.
Reflections on a personal level
The editors’ request also led me to reflect on what the Max van der Stoel award has meant to me on a personal level. I feel incredibly honoured, especially because I really look up to past laureates I’ve had the chance to work with. I also see it as an acknowledgement to all those who’ve supported me during the writing process, especially for my supervisors Helen Duffy and Titia Loenen, and those closest to me.
What’s been the most impactful for me personally and what sticks with me, goes back to the end of the 3rd and start of the 4th year of my PhD. This was when I was working on the most complex chapters of my dissertation, where international human rights law and international humanitarian law had to come together. There was such an overwhelming amount of literature and case-law on this issue, that I was struggling to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
This was also when I learned my mum was sick, and she passed away 5 months later. I felt overwhelmed with trying to have all of that in my head at the same time. On the PhD front, it was a real struggle to resurface and be able to see both all of the details and the overarching picture at the same time. When I did manage to finish these chapters, they were the result of a lot of struggle and doubt, during a difficult period in my life. Then, during the award ceremony and sitting next to my brother and father, the Max van der Stoel jury especially highlighted and praised precisely those chapters. This was a really special moment for me, that will stay with me, and for which I’m grateful.
Bio:
Floris Tan is senior legal associate with the Climate Litigation Network, where he supports national organisations bringing framework climate cases against their governments. He specialises in human rights law, and the implementation of human rights arguments in climate litigation. He holds a PhD in international law and human rights law from Leiden University, the Netherlands. He previously worked at the International Law Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, on issues including human rights and the environment, and climate litigation before the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice.