Building a human rights community: The history of the NNHRR

The Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (NNHRR) is today a vibrant community that brings together human rights scholars from universities and research institutes across the Netherlands. Through its annual conference, working groups, PhD training program, publication series, grants, and networking activities, the Network supports research, collaboration, and academic exchange in the field of human rights. Its origins can be traced back more than three decades.

The Consolidation of a National Human Rights Research Community

The foundations of the Network were laid in the early 1990s. Researchers from several Dutch universities sought to create a national structure that would connect scholars working on human rights across different disciplines. In 1993, academics agreed on a joint research initiative focused on the study of international human rights standards, their implementation, and their supervision at national and international levels.

The initiative brought together expertise from law, history, philosophy, political science, and social sciences. This multidisciplinary vision was present from the outset. Peter Baehr, the first director of the Research School, was a political scientist, reflecting the ambition to study human rights from multiple perspectives rather than through a purely legal lens.

The Board of Utrecht University formally established the Research School for Human Rights in October 1994. On 20 June 1995, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) formally recognised the National Research School for Human Rights. Its official opening followed on 15 September 1995 in Utrecht. Administrative support was provided by the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), while Peter Baehr served as the School's first director.

Building a National Human Rights Research School

The Research School quickly expanded. By 1996, it included Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Maastricht University, and Tilburg University. The participating institutions developed a joint PhD training program that offered courses and seminars to doctoral researchers. The first introductory course for first-year PhD candidates took place in Leusden in 1996.

The School also pursued an international outlook. It welcomed visiting researchers from abroad, offered research grants, and organised summer courses. In 1997, it launched a two-week international summer school together with KU Leuven, attracting participants from around the world. The program helped sustain the Netherlands as an important centre for human rights scholarship.

The directors of the School during this period were Peter Baehr, Cees Flinterman and Tom Zwart. Their leadership guided the School through its formative years and helped create a durable national infrastructure for human rights research.

From Research School to Research Network

Over time, the institutional landscape of Dutch higher education changed. The original model of nationally recognised research schools gradually disappeared, prompting a reorganisation of the human rights community. The Network that exists today emerged from this transition in 2017.

The Board of the Research School played an important role during this period, transforming the Research School into NNHRR. The organisation of the NNHRR is currently carried out by a Steering Committee with representatives from each member institution, headed by a chair and supported by an academic coordinator and an intern. NNHRR is hosted by the TMC Asser Instituut and guided by an Advisory Board of well-respected practitioners from legal and civil society institutions.

The tasks of NNHRR include:

  • Maintaining and strengthening the cooperation among human rights researchers in the Netherlands and abroad;
  • Providing an interuniversity research network context to researchers, PhDs in particular;
  • Enhancing the visibility of Dutch Human Rights Research nationally and internationally and promoting participation in international human rights research projects; and
  • Reaching out to non-academic organisations, such as Dutch Ministries, NGOs, or Human Rights Defenders, for their suggestions and inputs in the design of the research agenda and for valorisation of the research outcomes.

In 2017, the member institutions of the Network included Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiden University, Maastricht University, Tilburg University, T.M.C. Asser Institute, University of Amsterdam, University of Groningen and Utrecht University. In 2023, Open University, Radboud University Nijmegen and Vrije Universeit Amsterdam joined as members. In 2025, Wageningen University joined as an associate member after a number of years of informal participation.

Since 2017 the Steering Committee has included many leading figures in Dutch human rights scholarship, a list of whom can be found here.

Growth, Internationalisation and New Generations

One of the most notable developments since the early years has been the growing international character of the Network. Today's NNHRR members include several researchers based in the Netherlands from a wide range of countries and academic backgrounds.

To this day, the Network maintains a strong commitment to supporting early-career researchers and PhD training continues to be a cornerstone of its activities. New initiatives expand opportunities for early career scholars through research workshop grants, conference participation funding, working groups, and professional networking opportunities. These activities create spaces for researchers to meet colleagues across institutions, develop collaborative projects, and exchange ideas. The Steering Committee also welcomes bottom-up initiatives and ideas from members that align with its tasks of cooperation, networking, and visibility.

Today, the Network continues to foster academic exchange through its rich program of activities, including: