General information

Prof. Dr. Paul Lemmens (born 1954) studied law at the University of Antwerp and at K.U.Leuven. He obtained his law degree (“Licentiate in Laws”) in 1976 (magna cum laude). He subsequently obtained an additional Master's Degree in Law at Northwestern University, Chicago (1978). In 1987, he obtained his PhD (“Doctorate in Laws”) at K.U.Leuven, with a thesis on “Disputes about civil rights and obligations. The scope of application of Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 14 § 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”. Paul Lemmens began his academic career as a research assistant in constitutional law (1976-1977) and civil procedure (1979-1986). He was subsequently appointed professor (1986) and in this capacity he has taught international human rights law (1986-...), civil procedure (1986-1995), administrative procedure (1995-1997) and constitutional law (1997-2008).

Currently Paul Lemmens is a part-time professor of international human rights law at K.U.Leuven, and the founder and director of the Faculty of Law's Institute for Human Rights. He is also a councillor (judge) at the Belgian Council of State (Supreme Administrative Court) and a member of the UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel in Kosovo (since 2007).

Paul Lemmens is also a member of the Council of Directors (1997-...) and of the Executive Committee (1999-2001, 2003- ...) of the European Master Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation, based in Venice. He is president of the Flemish Interuniversity Center for Human Rights (1992-...), a member of the Commission for Legal Science of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (1995-...) and a member of the Association for the Comparison of the Law of Belgium and the Netherlands.

In the past, Paul Lemmens was also a member of the Brussels bar (1976-1984 and 1987-1994), of the Belgian Commission for the Protection of Private Life  (1987-1997) and of the Board of the Center for Equality of Chances and Combat against Racism (1993-1994). He was a visiting professor at Northwestern University (1999), where he worked in close collaboration with Prof. Dr. Douglass Cassel. He was an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights in two cases against Belgium (judgments handed down in 2002 and 2003).

Contact information

Institute for Human Rights
Faculty of Law
Tiensestraat 41
B-3000 Leuven - Belgium
Tel.: ++ 32 16 32 51 17
Fax: ++ 32 16 32 54 66
E-mail: paul.lemmens@law.kuleuven.be
Office: Nieuwe Valk 03.01