GPoT Center's Omar Sheira wins Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award 2014

The prize for best Master’s thesis went to Omar Sheira, who studied at Tilburg University. He examined the necessary preconditions for building an environment which can foster human rights implementation and enforcement in Egypt.

On the occasion of World Human Rights Day on December 10th, the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Awards 2014 have been awarded to two PhD theses and one Master’s thesis at Tilburg University. The jury assessed eleven nominations, from the universities of Tilburg, Utrecht, Leiden, Maastricht, Groningen, and Amsterdam, both VU and UvA.

The prize for best Master’s thesis went to Omar Sheira, who studied at Tilburg University. He examined the necessary preconditions for building an environment which can foster human rights implementation and enforcement in Egypt. The jury report stated:

In 1995 Tilburg University decided to introduce a Human Rights Award for academic publications in the area of human rights, with a view to draw more attention to this field of study in academic education and research. In 2002 the award was renamed the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award in honor of the Dutch Minister of State and former UN High Commissioner for Minorities and former UN Rapporteur on human rights in Iraq, Mr. Max van der Stoel.

“The thesis reads as a daunting, rich and detailed description by an author with a thorough knowledge of theory and practice of the Egyptian political system. A description how the system has developed historically, how it functions, and how it frustrates the growth of a consciousness of a claim to human rights among the population. Though there is little room for optimism in the end, the author pleads for acknowledging four essential points: shifting the population’s perception of governance, including a broader segment of society in the political process, initiating reconciliation and mutual compromise, and the good will to establish the means of communication between population and government. It is an impressive interdisciplinary study of a topical issue, combining legal, historical, sociological, and political approaches. The jury was impressed by the all-encompassing ambition of the author to seek for the best approach for giving human rights a chance.”

Omar’s Master’s thesis entitled, “Towards a Way Out of the Egyptian Dilemma: New Lessons for an Old Regime” can be accessed here.