Stephan Parmentier

Stephan Parmentier is Emeritus Professor of Criminology and Human Rights at KU Leuven, Belgium, where he still coordinates the Research Line on Human Rights and Transitional Justice within the Leuven Institute of Criminology. He is also a Research Associate at the universities of Oxford (UK) and the Free State (South Africa). His interdisciplinary scholarship connects sociology, law, criminology and the study of societies confronting violence and injustices. He is also Secretary General of the International Society for Criminology (ISC-SIC), Paris, since 2010.

His research examines political crimes, victims’ rights, reparations, transitional justice, restorative justice, and peacebuilding. Through comparative and empirical work across different regions (mostly Europe, Africa and Latin America), he explores how accountability, participation and social repair can contribute to adequate responses to serious human rights violations. His service includes editorial leadership, doctoral supervision, research evaluation, international teaching and advisory work for public institutions and civil society in Europe and beyond.

Parmentier has helped sustain global scholarly cooperation in multiple ways. He is a member of Academia Europaea and serves in advisory capacities with the International Center for Transitional Justice (New York and Brussels). In 2017, the Victimology Society of Serbia recognised his contribution with its Third Way Award, and in 2024, the City of Leuven awarded him the Erasmus medal. Several of his European projects received the qualification of ‘good practices’.