In Memoriam: Tiemo Oostenbrink

It was with great sadness that we learned about the passing away of our colleague and friend Tiemo Oostenbrink (1951-2024) at the age of 72 years late March this year. For many years Tiemo has been a valuable and respected member of the Board of Editors of our journal Security and Human Rights, formerly the Helsinki Monitor. He joined the board in 2008 and left almost two years ago because of personal circumstances.

Tiemo has been an active human rights lawyer already from the time that he was studying law at the Leiden University. In that capacity we got acquainted as members of the Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (Nederlands Juristen Comité voor de Mensenrechten) in the late 1970s and early 1980s when we both participated in a working group that aimed at clarifying the role of human rights in Dutch foreign policy. For many years Tiemo has devoted his life to the lofty ideals of Amnesty International before joining the Advisory Council on International Affairs of the Netherlands government as its Executive Secretary. In that capacity Tiemo has actively contributed to the drafting of many thoroughgoing advisory reports of the Council to the Netherlands government and parliament. In all these capacities I had the honour and pleasure of working closely with Tiemo, who was not only an intelligent and creative worker, but also a person who cherished the pursuit of harmony and peace in his personal relations.

With Tiemo’s demise we have lost a vocal champion of human rights in the Netherlands. He will be missed by his family and many friends.

Arie Bloed

Former Editor-in-Chief Security and Human Rights