The Convention and the Kingdom
How the Netherlands received the European Convention on Human Rights
- Date
- 10 November 2025
- Time
- 20:00
- Location
- SPUI25
This roundtable, based on a new book by Wiebe Hommes, discusses these developments and highlights the usages of history in the current pushback against European human rights.
That the Convention today looks very different from what its drafters intended in 1950 is self-evident. To most, whether they defend or critique the European human rights system, this is the result of historical actions of the European Court itself. Wiebe Hommes’ book, The Convention and the Kingdom, tells a different story. Focusing on the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it highlights a range of new actors and showcases how the domestic context actively participated in the creation of European human rights.
In retelling the history of the Convention, it sheds light on forgotten paths, changes in meaning and key moments in which the future of European human rights was determined. Crucial therein is the fact that human rights were (and are) a matter which affected the entire Kingdom, harboring a colonial legacy which still shapes its present day meaning.
SPUI25 is the academic-cultural podium of Amsterdam. Since 2007, we have been giving scientists, authors, artists and other thinkers the opportunity to shine a light on issues that occupy, inspire or concern them. In cooperation with a large number of academic and cultural partners, we organize between 250 and 300 freely accessible programs per year. These are enriching, often interdisciplinary programs that move between science and culture, fact and fiction.
SPUI25 is one of the UvA podia in the University Quarter.
