14.00 – 14.05 hrs., Introduction by the chair Prof. Dr. Monica Claes

14.05 – 14.30 hrs., Book presentation by Dr. Dilek Kurban 

14.30 – 14.40 hrs., Comments by Prof. Rick Lawson

14.40 – 14.50 hrs., Comments by Prof. Françoise Tulkens

14.50 – 15.10 hrs., Panel discussion

15.10 – 16.00 hrs., Q & A and open discussion.

Dilek Kurban is a Fellow and Lecturer at the Hertie School in Berlin. She obtained her PhD from Maastricht University, Faculty of Law in 2018. Her dissertation received the Erasmus Dissertation Prize 2019 in the Netherlands. She also holds a Juris Doctor (JD) from Columbia Law School and a Master in International Affairs (MIA) from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Her research interests include supranational human rights courts, state violence, legal mobilization and judicial politics, with a particular focus on authoritarian regimes and a regional focus on Turkey. She is the author of Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey’s Kurdish Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Kurban’s research is also published in edited volumes and in peer-reviewed journals, including Human Rights Law Review and Columbia Human Rights Law Review. Her research received funding from Columbia University, the European Commission (the Marie Curie and FP programs) and Mercator Stiftung.

During 2012-2019, as the Turkey expert of the Network of Independent Experts in the Non-Discrimination Field, she reported to the European Commission. Before transitioning to academia, during 2005-2013, she engaged in policy-oriented research at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), most recently as the Director of its Democratization Program. During the same period, she wrote regular columns in Turkey’s leading newspapers and frequently appeared on international media to discuss her research and to comment on human rights and democratization in Turkey. Earlier in her career, Kurban worked as an Associate Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York.

Kurban has been awarded the Max Weber post-doctoral fellowship at the EUI for 2021-2022 academic year.

Monica Claes is Full Professor of European and Comparative Constitutional Law and Vice-Dean for Research at Maastricht University, Faculty of Law. Her research focuses on issues of European constitutional law, the relationship between legal systems in Europe, national constitutional diversity and European fundamental rights law.

Françoise Tulkens has a Doctorate in Law, a Master’s degree in Criminology and a Higher education teaching certificate (agrégation de l’enseignement supérieur) in Law. She was a Professor at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and has taught, in Belgium as well as abroad, in the fields of general criminal law, comparative and European criminal law, juvenile justice and human rights protection systems. From November 1998 to September 2012, she was a Judge in the European Court of Human Rights, serving as Section President and as Vice-President of the Court. She has been an Associate Member of the Belgian Royal Academy since 2011. From 2011 to 2015 she chaired the Board of Governors of the King Baudouin Foundation. In September 2012, she took up an appointment as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Advisory Panel for Kosovo, which completed its work in June 2016. Françoise Tulkens is the author of many publications in the areas of human rights and criminal law. She holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Geneva, Limoges, Ottawa, Ghent, Liège and Brighton.

Rick Lawson is a law professor and current Chair in European Human Rights Law at Leiden University. Previously, from 2011-2016, he was the Dean of Leiden Law School. In his research, he focuses on human rights and the rule of law, specifically on how European organizations – including the OSCE – contribute to global and regional human rights. Lawson advises the Council of Europe, notably the Parliamentary Assembly, and the European Union on issues surrounding human rights. He also previously worked as a lawyer for the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg and was a founding member of the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights. Lawson’s first position (1988) was actually at the NHC as the Committee’s first paid staff member. Lawson’s motivation for being on the Committee is the belief that the organization can play a very useful role in the promotion of human rights and the Rule of Law and that there is a great potential for synergy between the NHC and academia.

Lawson studied law and received his doctorate degree in law from the University of Leiden. He has also conducted research at the Europa Institute in Edinburgh.

'Limits of Supranational Justice: The European Court of Human Rights and Turkey's Kurdish Conflict', published by Cambridge University Press, is now available as digital and print editions. To order a copy of the book, please click here.