Dear Koen,
It has been more than a year since we lost you.
The world is trembling. Human rights and international law — the fields you studied and defended — are being challenged and violated, every single day.
One of your final contributions to scholarship and to justice was a legal brief, co-authored with Gamze Erdem Türkelli and Thalia Kruger.[1] In it, you sharply outlined the consequences for institutional cooperation with universities in Israel, arising from Israel’s serious violations of peremptory norms of international law. The brief became a key source of inspiration for the open letter of January 2025, signed by more than 7,000 university students, staff, and external supporters calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. You are — posthumously — its first signatory.[2]
You are deeply missed – in Antwerp and across the world. I want to take this space to thank the Law and Development Research Group for the many thoughtful and inspiring ways in which they honor and remember you — initiatives that reflect both deep respect and genuine care.[3]
One of these moments was the Closing Day of the Sustainable Development and Global Justice Programme on 6 May 2025.[4] Originally funded by VLIR as an Intensive Training Programme, the programme is now thriving within the LLM – which you initiated and led for many years. On this occasion, I was invited, alongside Stephan Parmentier (KU Leuven) and Stefan Smis (VUB), to share some memories and reflections. I have also shared them here, slightly edited:
Dear family, friends, colleagues and students of Koen,
In my garden, the first tiny green leaves are emerging — sprouting from the sunflower seeds we received on the day we had to say goodbye to Professor Koen De Feyter.
A day that came far too soon. A day that struck all of us with shock and disbelief. I am grateful for this moment of remembrance, and for the opportunity to share a few memories.
As I looked back, I realized that our paths had crossed more often than what is probably best known: namely, that I worked as a postdoc for and with Koen in his Localizing Human Rights project.
Upon reflection, I identified six meaningful moments — some brief, others spanning years of collaboration — that I would like to share with you.
While personal, I hope some of them may resonate with others and help sketch a small part of who Koen was — both as an academic and as a human being.
1. The Conference
The first moment was in October 2008, when Professor De Feyter hosted the UCSIA Interdisciplinary Conference “The Local Relevance of Human Rights.” That conference would later culminate in the well-known edited volume of the same name, co-edited with Stephan Parmentier, Christian Temmerman (who also passed away too soon), and his dear friend George Ulrich.[5]
At the time, I had no idea how far-reaching Koen’s work on the localization of human rights would become — globally and in shaping my own academic journey.
I was mostly nervous: It was the first international English-language conference where I presented on my PhD research, which focused on indigenous peoples’ rights in the Peruvian Amazon.
It was also where I met José Aylwin, a human rights scholar and activist from Chile, with whom I remain in contact to this day – thanks to Koen.
2. My PhD Defense
The second moment was when I defended my PhD thesis on indigenous rights and nature conservation at KU Leuven, and Koen served on my jury, as he has also written extensively on rights of indigenous peoples.
He was both encouraging and constructively critical — encouraging me, for instance, to engage more deeply with the role of the World Bank.
I also recall his gentle protest about wearing a toga — although he wore one in the end — and how he did not attend the dinner afterwards to attend to his family.
3. The Localizing Human Rights Project
A third pivotal moment was when I applied for a 50% postdoc position as “Senior Researcher in Interdisciplinary Human Rights Methodology.” Koen had secured funding to ‘test’ his theory of localizing human rights through empirical research, and he was rightfully excited about that.
Within a broader inter-university project coordinated by Professor Eva Brems, our work package focused on “analyzing users’ trajectories in human rights law.”[6] Under Koen’s supervision, I accompanied the methodological work on four case studies:
- The relevance of the right to education for rural-urban migrants in Chongqing, China
- The right to water in Bas-Congo
- Water and sanitation rights in Delhi, India
- The trajectory of the Declaration on the Rights of Peasants at the Human Rights Council
These culminated in a working paper series on Localizing Human Rights (which are available open access).[7]
During those years, I had the privilege of working closely with Koen, learning from his sharp mind, intellectual rigor, boundless curiosity and genuine fascination with the world, all driven by a deep commitment to justice.
For me, he was a visionary academic, pioneering research on localizing human rights, developing the Law and Development research group in Antwerp together with Professor Wouter Vandenhole, and co-founding both the Flemish Interuniversity Research Network on Law and Development[8] and the global Law and Development Research Network[9].
But I also remember the small things:
- Sitting next to him on a flight to China, where he told me about the plays he used to direct and his sons’ football matches — stories that have stayed with me, especially now that I’m a ‘soccer mom’ myself.
- Sharing breakfast at a hotel in China, where we tried to guess the taste and texture of unfamiliar buffet items.
- Returning from maternity leave to be offered a gift from Koen: a book full of humorous animal facts, very creatively illustrated. Years later, with my kids being 9 and 11, it’s still a favorite in our home — far more enduring than the typical baby toys.
His work on localizing human rights continues to influence me until today, in at least two ways:
- First, at the Migration Law Research Group[10] in Ghent, we carry forward the bottom-up perspective that is central to the localization approach, as various research projects look into the relevance of human rights in the daily lives and legal trajectories of migrants – with a focus on those in a more precarious situation (such as asylum seekers, family migrants or illegalized migrants).
- Second, ever since I began teaching legal anthropology — first as an elective and now as an obligatory third-bachelor course — I introduce students to the localization of human rights, passing along Koen’s legacy.
Back then, I worked part-time in Antwerp and part-time in Ghent. For a long time, I was thinking and hoping that my next academic chapter would be in Antwerp, which felt logical and likely. I was happy here, thanks to Koen, and also to Wouter, Arne, Gamze, Rachel, Thalia and the other colleagues of that time.
But life sometimes unfolds in unexpected ways. Against the odds, I was offered a position in migration law at Ghent University.
4. Critical Indigenous Rights Studies
Even after I moved full-time to Ghent, our paths continued to cross. Together with Giselle Corradi and Katrijn Vanhees, Koen and I were among the organizers of a conference on indigenous peoples, and we later co-edited a volume outlining the contours of a new field: Critical Indigenous Rights Studies.[11]
I had just started in a new legal domain and had recently given birth to my second child. I remember one of the very few times I cried at work — out of sheer exhaustion — during an editorial meeting with Koen and Giselle. But I also remember feeling safe. Supported. (Otherwise, I wouldn’t have cried).
In his later years, Koen deepened his research on indigenous rights through an extensive collaboration with the Universidad Católica Boliviana.[12]
5. Doctoral Guidance Committees
In these more recent years, our interactions were often online, through doctoral guidance committees — either where I served as a member for his students, or where he chaired the committees at the University of Antwerp.
I sometimes regretted that all those meetings were online, as I would have loved to share a brief conversation with him in the corridor afterward — just to check in and exchange thoughts. But COVID had other plans…
6. The Final Message
I was glad to hear that Koen had taken up the role of dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Antwerp. On 3 September 2024, I wrote him an email to congratulate him and wish him the very best in his new role.
Six minutes later, he replied:
“Dag Ellen,
Dank je,
Koen.”
Not a word too many. But every word that mattered. That is how I remember Koen.
I used to think, when receiving invitations for retirement ‘emeritus’ celebrations, that the one I truly wouldn’t want to miss would be Koen’s. A celebration for someone who had meant so much — academically and personally.
And that’s just from my small corner of his vast professional life.
I can only begin to imagine what he meant to his family, lifelong friends, and more long-standing colleagues — and how profound the loss must feel, even as life around you moves on.
And I hope that, just as the tiny green leaves in my garden will grow and eventually blossom into sunflowers, his academic ideas and lifelong quest for justice will continue to inspire us all.
Thank you, Koen.
Dear Koen,
For the past year, your picture has been on the mantelpiece in my office, next to that of my UGent colleague, Mathilde.[13]
You both remind me of the importance of life — and the relativity of academia.
The sunflowers didn’t fully bloom this year, but I will plant new ones next year.
[1] Gamze Erdem Türkelli, Koen De Feyter and Thalia Kruger, ‘Serious Breaches of Obligations Arising from Peremptory Norms of General International Law & Consequences for Institutional Cooperation with Universities in Israel’ <https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/files/7154/0961f696-b017-4904-b4a1-22d7b5e6c149.pdf> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[2] The Brussels Times, ‘University students and staff reiterate demand for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions’ <https://www.brusselstimes.com/1416799/university-students-and-staff-reiterate-demand-for-a-boycott-of-israeli-academic-institutions> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[3] Law and Development Research Group at the University of Antwerp <https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/law-and-development/> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[4] Sustainable Development and Global Justice, ‘Postgraduate Programme’ <https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/sustjustice/> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[5] Koen De Feyter, Stephan Parmentier, Christiane Timmerman and George Ulrich (eds), The Local Relevance of Human Rights (Cambridge University Press 2011).
[6] Human Rights Centre Ghent University, ‘The Global Challenge of Human Rights Integration: Towards a Users’ Perspective’ <https://hrc.ugent.be/research/human-rights-integration/> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[7] Law and Development Research Group University of Antwerp, ‘Localising Human Rights Working Paper Series’ <https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/law-and-development/publications/localising-human-rights/#:~:text=The%20Localizing%20Human%20Rights%20Working,law%2C%20political%20and%20social%20sciences> (accessed 18 November 2025). See also Pascal Sundi Mbambi, ‘Revisiting Koen De Feyter’s thought through the Congolese lens’, 3 October 2025, <https://law-and-development-conversations.com/revisiting-koen-de-feyters-thought-through-the-congolese-lens/> (accessed 18 November 2025); Shisong Jang, ‘Koen De Feyter’s Unspoken Contribution to Cities and International (Human Rights) Law‘, 31 October 2025, <https://law-and-development-conversations.com/koen-de-feyters-unspoken-contribution-to-cities-and-international-human-rights-law/> (accessed 18 November 2025); Richard Lumbika Nlandu, ‘Ombre et actualité de Koen De Feyter dans la vie des droits de l’homme en pays Kongo’, 14 November 2025, <https://law-and-development-conversations.com/ombre-et-actualite-de-koen-de-feyter-dans-la-vie-des-droits-de-lhomme-en-pays-kongo/> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[8] The Flemish Interuniversity Research Network on Law and Development, <https://www.lawanddev.ugent.be/> (accessed 19 November 2025).
[9] Law and Development Research Network, <https://lawdev.org/> (accessed 19 November 2025).
[10] Migration Law Research Group Ghent University, <https://www.ugent.be/re/epir/en/researchgroups/public-law/research/migration-law/> (accessed 19 November 2025).
[11] Giselle Corradi, Koen De Feyter, Ellen Desmet and Katrijn Vanhees (eds), Critical Indigenous Rights Studies (Routledge 2019).
[12] Law and Development Research Group University of Antwerp, ‘Cooperation with Universidad Catolica Boliviana renewed for five more years’, <https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/law-and-development/news-and-events/cooperation-with-bolivia/> (accessed 18 November 2025).
[13] Ghent University, ‘In memoriam – Mathilde Brackx’, <https://hrrn.ugent.be/news/in-memoriam-mathilde-brackx/> (accessed 18 November 2025).