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René Cassin Thesis Prize in Human Rights for Aleydis Nissen

Aleydis Nissen was awarded the René Cassin Thesis Prize 2021. The René Cassin Foundation - International Institute of Human Rights organises the competition. This Prize is awarded to the best PhD theses on human rights.

Aleydis Nissen

René Cassin was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Cassin created the Strasbourg-based International Institute of Human Rights in 1969 to contribute to the protection and the promotion of human rights through research and teaching.

The English-language jury of the René Cassin Thesis Prize 2021 was composed of chairperson Jim Murdoch (University of Glasgow) and members Paola Gaeta (Graduate Institute Geneva), Mikel Mancisidor (Washington College of Law; Vice-Chair United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) and Andrea Saccucci (LUISS Guido Carli Rome and Studio S&P). The jury reviewed PhD theses from all over the world in English and French on the legal theory of human rights and international, regional and comparative human rights law.

The jury decided to award the Prize to Nissen’s PhD thesis ‘Business and human rights: the role of European Union member states in developing accountability mechanisms for corporations from developing and emerging states’. Exceptionally, there were two winners for the English-language Prize. Juan Carlos Benito Sanchez (Université Catholique de Louvain) also won the René Cassin Prize 2021 for his thesis ‘Securing housing for all in diverse European societies: applying international and European antidiscrimination law to the housing context’.

Nissen passed her PhD viva without corrections at Cardiff University’s School of Law and Politics. She is currently working as a postdoc researcher in Leiden and Brussels. In Leiden, she contributes to the Dutch sector plan theme ‘Institutions for Conflict Resolution’. She obtained grants from FWO and FNRS-F.R.S. to study barriers to justice for women in ‘business and human rights’ matters.

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