Abstract
We are happy to introduce the December 2022 edition of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. This is the first edition that has gone to print with Katharine as the journal's new Editor in Chief. Katharine is an Associate Professor at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University, where she teaches international humanitarian law and human rights law. She has written widely on human rights and armed conflict, international humanitarian law, non-State actors, armed groups and legal identity. She has been a member of the Executive Editorial Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights for the past five years and is very much looking forward to her new role as Editor in Chief.
This issue starts with a column by Katharine Fortin, who reflects on the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in situations of armed conflict. Conducting a review of the key developments over the last 45 years, she comments some developments that seem to be threatening hard-won progress on key issues. The issue further contains three articles. In their article ‘The More the Better? The Complementarity of United Nations Institutions in the Fight Against Torture’, Valentina Carraro considers the extent to which the United Nations Universal Periodic Review system complements, duplicates or even contradicts the work of the United Nations treaty bodies, by focusing on the prohibition of torture. Nikolaos Papadopoulos, in their article ‘Strategic Litigation Before the European Committee of Social Rights: Fit for Purpose?’ then examines the structural element of the Collective Complaints Procedure of the European Social Charter, which allows NGOs and trade unions to apply directly before the European Committee of Social Rights for decisions on potential non-implementation in the countries concerned. Asking whether the committee is fit for purpose, they consider whether the Committee provides a reliable platform that enables the participation of organisations and vulnerable groups to deliberate on social policy issues and put serious socio-economic concerns on the governments’ agenda and to public debate. Finally, in their article ‘A Human Rights-Based, Regime Interaction Approach to Climate Change and Malnutrition: Reforming Food Systems for Human and Planetary Health’ Rosalind Turkie takes a human rights-based approach to climate change and malnutrition. Addressing what has been dubbed ‘The Global Syndemic’ (coexisting epidemics of undernutrition, obesity, and climate change), they argue that international human rights law holds potential to provide an important foundation for a response that places human health above the profit-driven motives of the food industry.
This issue also presents the SIM Peter Beahr lecture which was given by Mpanzu Bamenga in October 2022. As a lawyer, diplomat, activist, and public representative, Mpanzu Bamenga is well known for promoting human rights, diversity, inclusion, and opportunities for refugees and migrants in the Netherlands. In 2020, Bamenga, together with others, sued the Dutch State for ethnic profiling. In 2021, he was awarded, by the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens), the prize of Human Rights Person of the Year 2021 for his contribution to the fight against racism. In his lecture he explores how he sees human rights as a responsibility for each and everyone of us.
Considering that this is the last issue of 2022, it is important to say a few ‘thank yous’. Although the Executive Board and International Editorial Board thanked Professor Antoine Buyse in the last board meeting over which he presided in August 2022, the Executive Board would like to take this opportunity to say it again here more publically. We are grateful to Antoine for keeping such a steady hand on the tiller, for the constructive manner in which he managed the review process, and for the lively and efficient manner in which he chaired our Executive Board meetings. We are glad that Antoine is not leaving the journal, and will remain a member of the Executive Board in the years to come.
The publication of this issue has only been possible due to the hard work of the members of our International Editorial Board and other peer reviewers, who have carefully reviewed all our submitted articles and provided careful feedback and comments. The work of all these individuals is deeply valued by the Executive Board and we want to thank them for their dedication to the journal. It is also important to recognise the essential work behind the scenes of the NQHR that is done by its student executive assistants Daniel Eggleston, Sikora Kloster, Annabel Ashwort, and former student executive assistant Vangjel Gjorgjiev. Their careful work checking formatting, footnotes, and style is a crucial step in the publishing process and we are very grateful for their contribution to the journal. In addition, we would like to extend our thanks to the Utrecht University Library for providing the section on recent publications on human rights around the world. The Executive Board would also like to thank SAGE, our publisher, whose continued and valuable support helps ensure the smooth functioning of our journal. We are very pleased to have been selected to take part in SAGE's Subscribe to Open (S2O) pilot and hope that the removal of author processing charges and gated subscription will mean that we will welcome an even more diverse community of readers and authors from all over the world.
Lastly but not least, the Executive Board would like to express its sincere thanks to the NQHR readership. We have said it before, but we will say it again – we wouldn’t exist without you and we consider you to be the cornerstone of our journal. We are also grateful to all of the authors who have considered the Quarterly for publication of their work or recommended it others. Keep on spreading the word!
In the tradition of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, we end by congratulating several members of our Executive Board for achievements in recent months. In particular, we would like to extend our congratulations to Professor Yvonne Donders who has been appointed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee for the term 2023–2026. We would also like to congratulate Dr. Jasper Krommendijk who has been named Jean Monnet Chair at Radboud University.