Ben Grama Email and Phone Number

My fellowship is part of the multi-university project: 'Future proofing human rights: Developing thicker forms of accountability', which is an interdisciplinary research project which combines legal, sociolegal, and extra-legal approaches to developing a thicker conception of human rights accountability. My role is to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and to produce a final synthesis of the research findings of the project.My research aims to help us make significant strides… Show more My fellowship is part of the multi-university project: 'Future proofing human rights: Developing thicker forms of accountability', which is an interdisciplinary research project which combines legal, sociolegal, and extra-legal approaches to developing a thicker conception of human rights accountability. My role is to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and to produce a final synthesis of the research findings of the project.My research aims to help us make significant strides forward in terms of thinking about how to bring legal and non-legal approaches to human rights together in a way that considers (and seeks out the interfaces and synergies) between ‘human rights as law’ and ‘human rights as norms’, The final research output will be a conceptualisation of accountability that is more attuned to rights-holders’ lived experiences of injustice. Show less

My PhD research was on the topics of business and human rights and company grievance mechanisms. In this role, I applied qualitative research methods to analyse how norms from state-oriented human rights law take on new meaning and inform new practices in an era of global governance. My approach included an integrative literature review, a critical discourse analysis of the drafting of the UNGPs, a reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 29 practitioners, and a case study… Show more My PhD research was on the topics of business and human rights and company grievance mechanisms. In this role, I applied qualitative research methods to analyse how norms from state-oriented human rights law take on new meaning and inform new practices in an era of global governance. My approach included an integrative literature review, a critical discourse analysis of the drafting of the UNGPs, a reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 29 practitioners, and a case study of a company grievance mechanism in practice (Kakuzi's grievance mechanism in Kenya) based on field research including semi-structured interviews with 50 participants, 11 focus groups, participant observation, and document collection, with communities, workers, company officials, and other actors. Show less

I co-ordinated the activities of Pax, Amnesty International Netherlands and Oxfam Novib in relation to their activities as Parties to the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on international responsible business conduct regarding human rights: a multistakeholder initiative which aims to achieve a material positive impact for people facing adverse human rights impacts related to the activities of clients of the Dutch banking sector. This position was funded by Pax, Oxfam Novib, and Amnesty… Show more I co-ordinated the activities of Pax, Amnesty International Netherlands and Oxfam Novib in relation to their activities as Parties to the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement on international responsible business conduct regarding human rights: a multistakeholder initiative which aims to achieve a material positive impact for people facing adverse human rights impacts related to the activities of clients of the Dutch banking sector. This position was funded by Pax, Oxfam Novib, and Amnesty International Netherlands. Show less

I have worked with the Human Rights Capacity-Building Programme at Amnesty International Netherlands designing business and human rights capacity-building materials aimed at sub-Saharan African NGOs. I wrote the first HURICAP handbook in a new series specifically related to corporate-related human rights abuses. It includes an explanation of the core elements of international human rights law and human rights standards in relation to different actors, with a specific focus on labour rights… Show more I have worked with the Human Rights Capacity-Building Programme at Amnesty International Netherlands designing business and human rights capacity-building materials aimed at sub-Saharan African NGOs. I wrote the first HURICAP handbook in a new series specifically related to corporate-related human rights abuses. It includes an explanation of the core elements of international human rights law and human rights standards in relation to different actors, with a specific focus on labour rights, environmental damage, land rights, security and armed conflict, corruption, and the right to remedy. Show less

I worked as a business and human rights volunteer/intern for Amnesty International’s Human Rights Capacity Building Programme (HURICAP), formerly the Special Programme on Africa, a human rights capacity building programme for communities. I carried out needs-based research on the need for human rights capacity building programme and resources specifically aimed at business and human rights issues.

I carried out research assistance for Prof. Cedric Ryngaert for UNIJURIS, a project on jurisdiction and global values funded by the European Research Council and the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research, which aims at the identification, or not, of a novel principle of jurisdiction that aims at the protection of global interests.

I taught a second year undergraduate law course in European Union Law and first year course in Public International Law. For EU law, this included seminars in freedom of movement (services, establishment, workers, people), the area of freedom, security and justice, competition law and state aid. For Public International Law, this included seminars on sources of international law, treaties, subjects of international law, jurisdiction, immunity, state responsibility, peace and security, dispute… Show more I taught a second year undergraduate law course in European Union Law and first year course in Public International Law. For EU law, this included seminars in freedom of movement (services, establishment, workers, people), the area of freedom, security and justice, competition law and state aid. For Public International Law, this included seminars on sources of international law, treaties, subjects of international law, jurisdiction, immunity, state responsibility, peace and security, dispute settlement, environmental law and law of the sea. I also taught a vocational paper-writing track and supervised student mooting. Show less

As Editor-in-Chief of Utrecht JournaI I was ultimately responsible for the continuity and the quality of the Journal. This included managing a team of 13 people including 7 Board Members and 6 Specialist Editors.

I was responsible for corresponding with prospective authors. I am the first point of contact for checking relevance and quality of submissions before blind peer review.

My role at ACCESS Facility involved researching and analyzing national, regional, (multi)industry and operational level non-judicial grievance mechanisms dealing with company-community conflicts. I was also involved in assisting the ACCESS team with outreach activities and other assigned tasks.