Filip Reyntjens (born 1952) is professor emeritus at

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

. His academic training is in

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

, but he later pivoted towards the study of politics especially of the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

of Africa.

Career

In 1975, while working as a research assistant at the

, Reyntjens was asked to be involved in a project that involved running a law school at the

National University of Rwanda The National University of Rwanda (NUR; rw, Kaminuza nkuru y’u Rwanda, french: Université nationale du Rwanda, UNR) was the largest university in Rwanda. It was located at in the city of Butare and was established in 1963 by the government ...

, in

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye, is a city (population: 50,220 as of 2012) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the fourth largest town in Rwanda by population. History The Belgian colonial rulers establishe ...

. This began a long affiliation with Rwanda. His

PhD Thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

: 'Power and Law in Rwanda. Public Law and Political Evolution, 1916-1973' (Original French: ''Pouvoir et droit au Rwanda. Droit public et évolution politique, 1916-1973)'', was completed in 1983, and later published as a book in 1985. After this, his research widened from Rwanda to the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

Region as a whole - publishing work on Burundi and on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Outside of academia, Reyntjens has been called as an

expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...

in cases relating to the Great Lakes region in the courts of multiple nations, as well as before the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

and the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

. He has also volunteered for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyntjens, Filip 1952 births Living people University of Antwerp faculty Scholars of constitutional law Historians of Rwanda Historians of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Belgian Africanists