Column
| Published date | 01 June 2007 |
| Date | 01 June 2007 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934410702500201 |
| Subject Matter | Column |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 25/2, 155–157, 2007.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 155
COLUMN*1
Although the title Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights only exists since 1989, we
celebrate th is year its 25th anniversary. We have been asked to write about this event,
simply b ecause of t he fact, t hat durin g its 25 year s of existe nce, we have be en involved
in this publication in various capacities.
With the establishment of the Netherlands Inst itute of Human Rights (its Dutch
abbreviation; SIM) in October 1982 , the SIM Newsletter was publi shed. It was meant
to be a quarterly to keep the outside world in formed of the progress made by SIM. It
further conta ined a section on new publications publishe d or received by the institute,
on international meetings a nd on research done in the eld of human rights. e
organisation was quite simple, the editor was the d irector of SIM – at that time
Hans oolen – and furt hermore everybody who worked at SIM was suppos ed to
contribute to the Newsletter. It was not always an ea sy job meeting the deadlines. We
were writing contributions , doing the lay-out, editing and typing.
As the owner of a car, it was also Leo Zwaak’s task to bring t he camera-ready
ma nus cri pt t o a pr in tin g ho use . e day we received the printed copies, everybo dy was
suppo sed to b e in th e o ce, i n order to help sending the Newsletter around the world.
For a long time the changes in t he SIM Newsletter were mainly technical. Our rst
issue was a product of a typewriter; soon we had a computer to take over that work.
e co ntents cou ld be elect ronical ly tran sferred. During t he rst ye ars of publication,
the work was done by the director as ed itor and the entire SIM sta . Every body was
included in writing , typing, ma king the layout and mai ling when the journa l was
printed.
During the rst ve years of its ex istence the SIM News letter had gradually
developed into a more academic journal covering a wide range of issues relevant
to human rights such as documentation and fact nding, but also developments in
standard-sett ing and publications of results of legal and empirica l research. us
in 1988, with the appointment of Manfred Nowak as the new d irector of SIM, the
decision was taken to add the new sub-title Netherlands Quar terly of Human Rights.
Apart from the change i n lay- out, it was also decided to aim at concentrating on one
or two major topics in every issue. At the same time, Jacqueli ne Smith became the
new co-editor, next to Manfred Nowak a nd Leo Zwaak. A minor change in the name
of the Quarterly took place in 1989, when it became the Netherlands Q uarterly of
Human Rights in continuation of the SIM Newslet ter. i s was also the rst ste p in the
direction of a more independent academic journal, although SIM stayed and still is
responsible for the segment on Documentation.
* Leo Zwaak, lega l researcher, Netherla nds Institute of Human R ights (SIM), Utrecht Universit y, the
Netherlands a nd Jacqueline Smith, forme rly working as a legal resea rcher at SIM.
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