Inaugural lecture
Cleveringa lecture
- Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You
- Date
- Tuesday 26 November 2024
- Time
- Address
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
This year, Leiden University has appointed lawyer and human rights activist Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You to the Cleveringa Chair.
Amid rising polarisation and discrimination, lawyer and human rights activist Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You wants to show in her Cleveringa Lecture on 26 November how dangerous exclusion is. ‘We have to resist.’ And that takes a conscious effort, says Gonçalves-Ho Kang You. We can only do so if we see others as our equals. As individuals, we can do that by putting ourselves in other people’s shoes and thinking about how we would feel if our parents, child, brother or sister were treated a certain way.
And the state should set an example and ensure it does not discriminate itself. ‘We have had so many scandals I almost don’t dare to mention them: the child benefits scandal, ethnic profiling by the police and Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. So much policy is developed against institutional discrimination and yet so little action is taken against it.’ Examples should be made, she says. ‘Criminal law should be used to punish wrongdoing.’
Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You
Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You worked as a lawyer and later as State Councillor for the Council of State. She was also active for Amnesty International, the National Bureau against Racism and the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission. She currently holds posts including that of chair of the Colonial Collections Committee. In 2015 Gonçalves-Ho Kang You was awarded an honorary doctorate by Leiden University for her commitment to human rights, especially women’s rights.