Preceded by Office created | Name Max der Succeeded by Rolf Ekeus | |
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Books Peace and Stability Through Human and Minority Rights: Speeches by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities | ||
2011 osce max van der stoel award winners ndc skopje
Maximilianus "Max" van der Stoel ( [ˌmɑksimiliˈjaːnɵs ˈmɑks fɑn dɛr ˈstul]; 3 August 1924 – 23 April 2011) was a Dutch politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. He served as the first High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Contents
- 2011 osce max van der stoel award winners ndc skopje
- 2014 max van der stoel award announcement
- Career
- Honours of the Netherlands
- Foreign honours
- Freedom awards
- Honorary appointments
- Honorary degrees
- Other
- References
On 17 May 1991, he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State.
2014 max van der stoel award announcement
Career
Van der Stoel studied law at Leiden University where he obtained an LL.M. degree. From 1953 to 1958 he worked for the Wiardi Beckman Stichting, the scientific bureau of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA, the Dutch labour party) and became international secretary for the PvdA in 1963. From 1973 to 1977 and 1981 to 1982 he was the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1977, during his visit to communist Czechoslovakia, he met with philosopher and dissident Jan Patočka, and they discussed Charter 77 and human rights in Czechoslovakia. This provoked harsh criticism by the Czechoslovak authorities and president Gustáv Husák cancelled scheduled meeting with van der Stoel.
He was appointed as the first High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in December 1992 and took up his functions in January 1993. He remained in office until 2000. Max van der Stoel was a member of the Bilderberg Group.
In 2001, following his intervention as High Commissioner in the ongoing problem of equitable access to higher education by members of the Albanian ethnic group in the Republic of Macedonia, he became the founding President of the International Foundation for the South East European University, raising some 35m Euros from the international community. He later served as President of the University Board until 2004. He was awarded the University's first honorary Doctorate and the University named its Library in his honour.
Van der Stoel was a member of the Advisory Board of the European Association of History Educators (EUROCLIO).