Winners of ‘Poems for Human Rights’ competition announced

Utrecht University is proud to announce the two ex aequo winners of its first “Poems for Human Rights” competition, one written in English, one in Dutch. Congratulations to the poets whose work stood out from 66 entries! 

Jury’s winning poems:

• Marieke Vreeken – Human Treaty 
• Vicky Breemen – Universe Declaration 

The competition attracted an incredible diversity of poems, making the judges’ task of selecting two winners particularly challenging. The jury, comprising of Geert Buelens, Antoine Buyse, Hanneke van Eijken, Marieke Gelderblom, Mia You and Michiel Doorman, selected the winning poems on a blind review basis (not being shown the authors’ names) and noted: “The poems were so wide-ranging in terms of poetical traditions and forms that it was difficult to compare them. However, the winning entries distinguished themselves through their originality, depth, and impact.”  

Human Treaty by Marieke Vreeken

Human treaty, Marieke Vreeken explains, is part of her ongoing project, ‘Conventions’, where she “cut[s] words out of international treaties, aiming to transform the rigid, formal language of these legal texts into softer, contemplative pieces.” The words for this poem were sourced from the Charter of the United Nations.

Human Treaty offers a pointed commentary on the conflict between the ideals of human rights on paper and their implementation in practice. The poem’s interplay of clashing words and punctuation intensifies this confrontation.

“Human Treaty offers a pointed commentary on the conflict between the ideals of human rights on paper and their implementation in practice. The poem’s interplay of clashing words and punctuation intensifies this confrontation. Its brevity only amplifies its impact, delivering a forceful message with precise, deliberate clarity,” according to the jury. 

Of her inspiration, Vreeken, UU alumna and current Policy Advisor on Asylum, Migration & Rule of Law for Dutch Greens in EU Parliament, explains: "This poem offers a contemplation of my personal experiences with working in the human rights field. It explores that nagging feeling of resistance to what is not right; that urge to force life to follow the fundamental rights frameworks; the tenseness that this struggle can create inside the human body and the blurring of the boundaries between work and self. I purposefully used a rigid form, with words cut out of an international treaty text, to create a wholly different kind of piece, as a way to mirror that stubborn sense of hope that real change is possible."

Universe Declaration by Vicky Breemen

Boom! het hout op in het holst van de
stad als een illegale vijg geen lucht krijgt

als we het uitgestoten voor de kieuwen krijgen,
door de beslisbomen het de facto bos niet meer zien

het is niet dat we op in-de-knoop-punten
te drinken zijn gevraagd
met wie we in zee of door het stikstof gaan

of wie zal opdraaien voor de nachtschade als we
straks spooksteden kweken zonder schaduwarchief

uit eigen schijnbeweging houden we ons
graag een zeespiegel voor:
zal er met de kunstmatige kennis van nu
nog een wal staan waaraan we stuurlui kunnen zijn?

waren onze bekken maar opengebroken

overwegende, dat de aard der verklaring is:
we zouden moeten bouwen op drijfhout

Universe Declaration makes the reader pause and re-think what makes rights human (or more than human), and it creates this effect by way of innovative, beautiful and playful use of the Dutch language.

“Universe Declaration connects the notion of human rights as a fragile ideal to the wider universe of our living environment and the pressures it faces. In doing so it makes the reader pause and re-think what makes rights human (or more than human), and it creates this effect by way of innovative, beautiful and playful use of the Dutch language“, in the jury’s view. 

Breemen, who is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Intellectual Property Law and the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice at Utrecht University, explains what led her to work on this poem: "In my work on law, innovation and technology, I have seen that new technologies likely impact (the rights of) both future generations and nature, and the two are also interconnected. But who represents the future or non-human actors? That perspective is sometimes missing in the discussions, and I wanted to give that a voice in my poem."

Commended poems

The jury also commended the following poems for their rich imagery and powerful messages: 

• Wie schrijft dan nog – Ongehoord Soedan by Elyse Touron - van der Roer 
• Ashes and Echoes by Sandeep Kumar Mishra 
• True colours by Safiya Lall Mohamed 
• It rains bombs by Alessandra Spadaro 

Prizes and publicity

The three winners will each receive a prize of €100, thanks to the sponsorship of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), the Freudenthal Institute and Institutions for Open Societies.  

The winners will also be invited to perform their poems at the ‘Impact Night 2024: Human rights, for present and future generations’ on 10 December 2024, Human Rights Day, and at the Faculty Club on 6 February 2025.  

Additionally, both the winning and commended poems will be showcased in a travelling exhibition throughout Utrecht: 

• Janskerkhof 3, Utrecht (10-17 of December 2024) 

• University Library City Centre, Drift 27 (mid-December 2024 to mid-January 2025) 

• Bibliotheek Neude, Neude 11 (30 January – 5 February 2025) 

Check their respective websites for more details, and don’t miss the opportunity to experience these powerful works!  

Thanks to everyone who participated in the competition and contributed to shine a light on human rights.