Dutch politician and parliamentarian, born in The Hague, W Netherlands, the son of W F de Gaay Fortman. He studied law and economics at the Free University of Amsterdam, then taught at the University of Lusaka (Zambia) (196771), and chaired the Zambian government committee on agricultural prices. Originally a member of the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (ARP), in 1967 he left the ARP, disagreeing with their acceptance of a coalition with the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD), and joined the Politieke Partij Radikalen (PPR). In 1977 he was appointed professor at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and in 197784 was president of the NOVIB organization for development co-operation. In 1991 he became Commissioner of World Council of Churches.
| Position: | Chair in Political Economy of Human Rights |
| Birth: | November 6, 1937 |
| Place: | Den Haag, The Netherlands |
Bastian (Bas) de Gaay Fortman (born November 6, 1937, the Hague) is a dutch politician and scholar. He currently holds the world's only chair in Political Economy of Human Rights at the University of Utrecht.
Career before politics
After attending public elementary education, he attended the Christian Gymnasium in the Hague, specialising in sciences. After graduating in 1956 he studied law and economy at the Free University of Amsterdam, receiving his Master of Law, and Doctorandus in Economy in 1963 cum laude. In the last four years of his study he taugh Civil Law, Commercial Law and Political Economy.
In 1967 De Gaay Fortman left Amsterdam to become a senior lector at the University of Zambia in Lusaka, where he was head of the Economic faculty.
While in Zambia De Gaay Fortman kept close tabs on the developments in Dutch politics. De Gaay Fortman was a member of the Christian-democratic Anti-Revolutionary Party. The group regreted that their party, ARP, joined a coalition with the liberal VVD instead of the social-democratic Partij van de Arbeid.
Political career
In 1971 De Gaay Fortman returned to the Netherlands from Zambia for the election campaign of the PPR. In the elections the party got two seats in the Lower House of Parliament, one of which was to be occupied by De Gaay-Fortman. During his period as member of the Lower House he was Professor Extraordinary of Economic Development at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. De Gaay Fortman became the leader of the parliamentary party. De Gaay however was very popular under young people.
Career after politics
Before 1977 elections the younger Ria Beckers succeeded De Gaay Fortman. De Gaay Fortman became member of the Higher House of Parliament. De Gaay Fortman remained senator for this party.
During this period De Gaay Fortman returned to his passion, science. He was professor of Political Economy at the Institute for Social Studies between 1977 and 2002.
After 1991 Bas de Gaay Fortman has held numerous research positions: from 1991 to 1993 he was the director of research for the Institute for Social Studies. From 1992 to 1998 he was a researcher in both the Research School for Development Studies (CERES) and the Netherlands Research School on Human Rights.
De Gaay Fortman also served as correspondent in the Netherlands for several development programs, such as the United Nations Development Program and the European Commission's.
In 2002 he became professor of Political Economy of Human Rights at the University of Utrecht. He is the only chair in Political Economy of Human Rights in the world. Until 2005, he taugh his trademark class "Political Economy of Human Rights", which was part of the Master in Conflict Studies at University of Utrecht.
His research interests focus on the political economy of law, human rights and jurisprudence and political economy of conflict and collective violence.
De Gaay Fortman has written and edited many books on Development Cooperation and many other subjects including: "Help we're developed" in 1978, "The Art of Ivory turning" in 1979, "New Progress" in 1984, "The Small path between Power and Morale" in 1989, "Internal Conflicts, Security and Development" in 1997, "God and Goods.
Political Views
As a devoted human rights activist, De Gaay Fortman has championed the idea that every human being has human dignity which is meant to convey an idea of absolute and inherent worth. He outlined the necessary preconditions for broad respect of human dignity through his "Golden Triangle of Human Dignity". Each corner of the triangle houses one of the three manifestations of human dignity: human security, human rights, and human development.
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