Multiple prizes for Dutch Caribbean lawyer with VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne

Last Saturday, February 12, the “Universitaire Scriptieprijs” (University Thesis Prize) was awarded in Leiden for the best thesis of the year 2010-2011. The prize was won by Dirk Ormel. He could not accept the prize himself, because he was employed with VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne in the Dutch Caribbean on February 1.

Mr. Ormel received three prizes in total for his international criminal law thesis on Congo. The recently awarded “Leidse Universitaire Scriptieprijs”, a university-wide prize, was for the best thesis within the category arts and humanities and social sciences. During the ceremony, prof. mr. Paul F. van der Heijden, rector magnificus and president of the Executive Board of Leiden University, called Ormel’s work “excellent” and “impressive”. The thesis earlier already won the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award, an initiative of Tilburg University. This prize was created in 1995 to encourage academic research on human rights. Moreover, he ended second for the thesis prize of the law faculty in Leiden.


Dirk Ormel (third on the left) at the Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award

Dirk Ormel won the prize with the thesis “Ne pas tuer la poule aux oeufs d’or”, freely translated “Don’t kill the chicken with the golden eggs”. The title refers to the passive attitude of the international community with regard to the natural resources related conflict in Congo. He carefully highlights the situation in Congo from various perspectives: historically, geographically, culturally and legally. Ormel concludes that illegal trade in natural resources can be deemed a war crime and that those responsible should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. He did research for his thesis in Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo.

Dirk Ormel with his thesis at law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne.

15 February  2012