PhD awarded to Kristof Gombeer
On 23 June 2022, Kristof Gombeer succesfully defended his dissertation entitled ‘Relations of Duty in an Age of Rights: A study of the supply side of human rights in the context of maritime migration’.
Gombeer’s thesis concerns a theoretical and doctrinal study of the justification of extraterritorial human rights obligations of states. It uses the search and rescue of migrants at sea as a case study to explore how power and causal relations inform the justification of relations of duty under human rights law compared to and in light of obligations arising under the international law of the sea. In this regard, the thesis focuses on two human rights instruments, the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The thesis was written in the framework of a ‘co-tutelle de thèse’ between Leiden University (Europa Institute) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Department of Public Law). It was supervised by professor Lawson and professor Rijpma, affiliated with Leiden University, and professor Franckx and professor Smits, affiliated with the VUB.