SIM Peter Baehr Lecture
| Author | Eduard Nazarski |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0924051917738871 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Subject Matter | SIM Peter Baehr lecture |
SIM Peter Baehr lecture
SIM Peter Baehr Lecture
Shrinking space for civic space:
The countervailing power of NGOs
Eduard Nazarski
Director of Amnesty International Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Annual SIM Peter Baehr Lecture, 29 September 2017
1
It was some ten years ago that I spoke at a New Year’s meeting at the Amnesty office in
Amsterdam. Peter Baehr was in de audience. I was arguing points that are at the heart of
Amnesty’s work, in this case regarding the Netherlands. He came up to me afterwards and said:
that was a good speech, Eduard. And he added: ‘But you will appreciate that I do not agree with
what you said’.
He then offered to follow my blogs and speeches and give some feedback. And so he did, many
times. That for me was Peter Baehr. Very loyal towards Amnesty and the human rights movement,
turning up at event after event. Also a loyal and critical advocate of the things he thought the Dutch
government was doing right, within the national and international space that a government is
allowed. And loyal most of all towards clarity of reasoning, to argumentation that does justice
to the possibilities and restrictions of all parties.
It is a true honour to have been invited to give this lecture named after Peter. I can only hope to
do justice to what Peter has taught us. I feel there is no better way to start this lecture than with a
place and a person that were near to Peter.
What John Locke taught
That person is John Locke. He came to Utrecht shortly after having arrived in the Netherlands from
England in 1683. He moved to Amsterdam in 1685, then came back to Utrecht since, as one of his
Corresponding author:
Eduard Nazarski, Director of Amnesty International Netherlands, Amsterdam 1016, Netherlands.
E-mail: amnesty@amnesty.nl
1 This lecture was presented as the 7th annual SIM Peter Baehr lecture, delivered at Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
The annual SIM Peter Baehr lecture marks both the anniversary of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM),
established in 1981, and commemorates one of its former directors, professor Peter Baehr.
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
2017, Vol. 35(4) 272–281
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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