Eva Brems

Eva Brems (born 1969) is a Belgian university professor, human rights defender and politician. She is a senior lecturer in human rights and non-Western law at Ghent University. Besides her academic engagements, Brems has also been politically active. From 2006 until 2010, she was the president of the Flemish division of Amnesty International. In the spring of 2010 she announced her candidacy in the 2010 Belgian general election for the Chamber of Representatives. She now represents the constituency of Leuven for the environmentalist party Groen.

Groen (political party)

Education Brems attended the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix in the city of Namur as a law undergraduate (1987–1989) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven as a law graduate (1989–1992). The first semester of her final year she participated in de Erasmus Programme to study at de Università degli Studi di Bologna in Italy. Subsequently, she attended the Harvard Law School as a Van Waeyenbergh fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation and obtained a Master of Laws (1994–1995). Thereafter, Brems completed her doctoral programme at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with a dissertation titled "Human Rights: Universality and Diversity" (1999). Furthermore, she followed several Italian, Arab and German courses.

Besides her academic efforts, Brems is a member of the board of Vormen, a Flemish organisation for human rights education, and head editor of the Tijdschrift voor Mensenrechten (Journal for Human Rights) since 2003. She was president of the Flemish division of Amnesty International from 2006 until April 2010.

Brems became known on a larger scene in 2007, while participating in the popular Flemish TV-quiz De Slimste Mens ter Wereld (The Smartest Person in the World), in which she became third. During the winter of 2010-2011, she joined the quiz once again to compete with the other highest scoring players from previous seasons. She became third as well as best scoring female and winner of the most consecutive episodes.

In the spring of 2010 she announced her candidacy in the 2010 Belgian general election as frontrunner of the constituency of Leuven for the environmentalist party Groen!. She was elected for a seat in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.

Timeline

Publications Eva Brems, Conflicts between fundamental rights, Intersentia, 2008, , 9789050957793 Eva Brems (red), Federalism and the Protection of Human Rights in Ethiopia, Volume 8 van Recht und Politik in Afrika, LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, , Eva Brems, Article 14: the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, Volume 14 van Commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2006, , Eva Brems, Human rights: universality and diversity, Volume 66 van International studies in human rights, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2001, ,