Robert van Voren
Robert van Voren | |
---|---|
Native name | Johannes Bax |
Born |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada | July 25, 1959
Residence | Vilnius |
Citizenship | Canada, Netherlands, Lithuania |
Fields | political science, psychiatry |
Institutions |
|
Alma mater | Amsterdam University |
Known for | his Russian studies, human rights activism and participation in struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union |
Notable awards | from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work as a human rights activist |
Website robertvanvoren |
Robert van Voren (publishing pseudonym of Johannes Baks,[1] Dutch: Johannes Bax,[2] born 7 July 1959, Montreal, Canada[3]) is a Dutch human rights activist[4] and political scientist.[5]
He is a professor of Soviet and post-Soviet studies in the Ilia State University in Tbilisi (Georgia) and in the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas (Lithuania)[6] as well as Chief Executive of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry.[7]
Biography
He was born on 7 July 1959, Montreal,[3] Quebec, Canada[8] and graduated from Amsterdam University in 1986.[9] In the 1980s, he worked at the Bukovsky Foundation based in Amsterdam[10] and since 1989 was the director of its successor, the Second World Center.[11] Since 1980, he had regularly visited the Soviet Union including Ukraine and collected information on repression of dissidents,[12] as well as smuggling Samizdat publications to the west. In 1986, he became Chief Executive of the Global Initiative on Psychiatry.[12] He is also a Honorary Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists and Honorary Member of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association.[13] In 2005, he was knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work as a human rights activist.[13] He has a Lithuanian citizenship[14] since 11 February 2003[3] and lives in Vilnius.[15]
Robert van Voren has published over a dozen books.[9] His works cover political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union[16] and China[17] and reforms of mental health in Eastern Europe,[18] the former Soviet Union,[19] Ukraine,[20] Georgia.[21] Robert van Voren's contribution to reform of forensic psychiatry in states of the former Soviet Union is widely recognized.[22]
In 2015, he commented the Ukrainian crisis and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War.[23]
References
- ↑ Mykoliuk 2013.
- ↑ Boersema 2001.
- 1 2 3 Voren 2009b, p. 271.
- ↑ Moran 2010.
- ↑ Donskis 2009, p. 314; Mykoliuk 2013
- ↑ Voren 2013c; Clark 2014
- ↑ Leygraf 2010; Targum, Chaban & Mykhnyak 2013
- ↑ Skorokhod 2013; Wynnyckyj 1996
- 1 2 VMU 2014.
- ↑ Glasgow Herald 1987; James 1985
- ↑ RCP 2014.
- 1 2 Dobryanskaya 2010.
- 1 2 Donskis 2009, p. 314.
- ↑ Lumans 2014.
- ↑ Lavrinenko 2015.
- ↑ Voren & Bloch 1989; Keukens & Voren 2007; Voren (1983, 1987, 2009a, 2009b); Voren (2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c); Voren (2014, 2015a, 2015b)
- ↑ Voren (2002a, 2002b)
- ↑ Voren & Whiteford 2000; Tomov, Voren & Keukens 2006
- ↑ Voren 2006.
- ↑ Dobryanskaya 2010; Myagkova 2012; Voren 1992
- ↑ Rogers, Keukens & Voren 2006; Makhashvili & Voren 2013
- ↑ Gordon 2006.
- ↑ Voren (2015c, 2015d, 2015e)
Sources
- Royal College of Psychiatrists. Is there a resumption of political psychiatry in the former Soviet Union?; 3 August 2014.
- Boersema, Wendelmoet. Johannes Bax heet eindelijk Van Voren [Johannes Baks is finally called Van Voren]. Trouw. 18 January 2001. Dutch.
- Clark, Fiona. Is psychiatry being used for political repression in Russia?. The Lancet. 11 January 2014;383(9912):114–115. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62706-3. PMID 24422214.
- Dobryanskaya, Mariya [Мария Добрянская]. Роберт ван Ворен: «Финансовые потоки нужно направлять на создание европейской модели психиатрии…» [Robert van Voren:"Financial flows must be directed at creating European model of psychiatry…"]. НейроNews: Психоневрология и психиатрия [NeuroNews: Psychoneurology and psychiatry]. January 2010;1(20). Russian.
- Donskis, Leonidas. A Litmus test case of modernity: examining modern sensibilities and the public domain in the Baltic States at the turn of the century. Peter Lang; 2009. ISBN 3-0343-0335-1. p. 314.
- Freedom for another Soviet dissident. The Glasgow Herald. 18 February 1987:1.
- Gordon, Harvey. Reform of forensic psychiatry in the former Soviet Union. The Psychiatrist. 31 July 2006;30(8):313. doi:10.1192/pb.30.8.313.
- James, George. Soviet dissident told to leave. The New York Times. 19 October 1985.
- Keukens, Rob; Voren, Robert van. Coercion in psychiatry: still an instrument of political misuse?. BMC Psychiatry. 2007;7(Suppl 1):S4. doi:10.1186/1471-244X-7-S1-S4.
- Lavrinenko, Inga [Инга Лавриненко]. Ракурс [Rakurs]. Эта война — только первый шаг, следующая война будет внутри России, которая начнет распадаться — голландский политолог [This war is only the first step, the next war will be in Russia which will start to disintegrate, says Dutch political scientist]; 18 February 2015 [archived 23 February 2015]. Russian.
- Leygraf, Vrolg. Ist die nachträgliche Sicherungsverwahrung am Ende? [Is compulsory hospitalization unprofitable in the end?]. Der Nervenarzt [The Neurologist]. 27 June 2010;81(7):867–872. German. doi:10.1007/s00115-010-3046-0.
- Lumans, Valdis. Robert van Voren, Undigested Past: The Holocaust in Lithuania. European History Quarterly. July 2014;44(3):586–588. doi:10.1177/0265691414537193au.
- Makhashvili, Nino; Voren, Robert van. Balancing community and hospital care: a case study of reforming mental health services in Georgia. PLoS Medicine. 8 January 2013;10(1):e1001366. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001366. PMID 23319895.
- Moran, Mark. Psychiatric abuses once led to Cold War confrontation. Psychiatric News. 5 November 2010;45(21):6. doi:10.1176/pn.45.21.psychnews_45_21_009.
- Myagkova, N. [Н. Мягкова]. Украинская психиатрия: уроки прошлого и настоящего [Ukrainian psychiatry: the lessons of the past and present]. Вестник Ассоциации психиатров Украины [The Herald of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association]. 2012;(2). Russian.
- Mykoliuk, Oksana. Punitive psychiatry in the USSR. Book by Dutch human rights champion tells about cruel treatment of dissidents in the 1970s-1980s. The Day newspaper. 6 February 2013.
- Rogers, Paul; Keukens, Rob; Voren, Robert van. Reforming the delivery of forensic mental health and prison mental health in the Republic of Georgia. Mental Health Practice. February 2006;9(5):38–40.
- Skorokhod, Olga [Ольга Скороход]. Голландский канадец спасал советских диссидентов из психушки [Canadian of Dutch origin saved Soviet dissidents from psikhushka]. Gazeta.ua. 1 February 2013. Russian.
- Targum, Steven; Chaban, Oleh; Mykhnyak, Serhiy. Psychiatry in the Ukraine. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience. April 2013;10(4):41–46. PMID 23696959.
- Tomov, Toma; Voren, Robert van; Keukens, Rob; Puras, Dainius. Mental health policy in former eastern bloc countries. In: Knapp, Martin; McDaid, David; Mossialos, Elias (eds.). Mental health policy and practice across Europe. McGraw-Hill Education; 2006. ISBN 0335214673. p. 397–425.
- Voren, Robert van. Appeal to Western psychiatrists. The Psychiatrist. 1 September 1992;16(9):590. doi:10.1192/pb.16.9.590.
- Voren, Robert van; Whiteford, Henery. Reform of mental health in Eastern Europe. Eurohealth. Spring 2000 [archived 26 April 2013];6(2, special issue):63–65.
- Voren, Robert van. Comparing Soviet and Chinese political psychiatry. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. 2002a;30(1):131–135. PMID 11931361.
- Voren, Robert van. The WPA World Congress in Yokohama and the issue of political abuse of psychiatry in China. The Psychiatrist. 1 December 2002b;26(12):441–442. doi:10.1192/pb.26.12.441.
- Voren, Robert van. Reforming forensic psychiatry and prison mental health in the former Soviet Union. The Psychiatrist. 31 March 2006;30(4):124–126. doi:10.1192/pb.30.4.124.
- Voren, Robert van [Роберт ван Ворен]. История повторяется и в политической психиатрии [History repeats itself in political psychiatry too]. Новости медицины и фармации [Medicine and Pharmacy News]. 2009a;(303). Russian.
- Voren, Robert van. Political abuse of psychiatry—an historical overview. Schizophrenia Bulletin. January 2010a;36(1):33–35. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp119. PMID 19892821. PMC 2800147.
- Voren, Robert van. Abuse of psychiatry for political purposes in the USSR: a case-study and personal account of the efforts to bring them to an end. In: Helmchen, Hanfried; Sartorius, Norman (eds.). Ethics in psychiatry: European contributions. Springer Netherlands; 2010b. (International library of ethics, law, and the new medicine. Vol. 45). ISBN 90-481-8720-6. p. 489–507.
- Voren, Robert van [Роберт ван Ворен]. От политических злоупотреблений психиатрией к реформе психиатрической службы [From political abuses of psychiatry to the reform of psychiatric service]. Вестник Ассоциации психиатров Украины [The Herald of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association]. 2013a;(2). Russian.
- Voren, Robert van. Psychiatry as a tool of coercion in post-Soviet countries. The European Parliament; 2013b. doi:10.2861/28281. ISBN 978-92-823-4595-5.
- Voren, Robert van [Роберт ван Ворен]. Психиатрия как средство репрессий в советских и постсоветских странах [Psychiatry as a tool of coercion in post-Soviet countries]. Вестник Ассоциации психиатров Украины [The Herald of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association]. 2013c;(5). Russian.
- Voren, Robert van. Is there a resumption of political psychiatry in the former Soviet Union?. International Psychiatry. August 2014 [archived 5 September 2014];11(3):73–74.
- Voren, Robert van. Fifty years of political abuse of psychiatry – no end in sight. Ethics, Medicine and Public Health. January–March 2015a;1(1):44–51. doi:10.1016/j.jemep.2014.12.001.
- Voren, Robert van. Ending political abuse of psychiatry: where we are at and what needs to be done. Psychiatric Bulletin. 30 April 2015b. doi:10.1192/pb.bp.114.049494.
- Vytautas Magnus University. Prof. van Voren discussed maidan events; 16 May 2014.
- Voren, Robert van. Путин спровоцировал мировой конфликт [Putin provoked a world conflict]. Новое Время [New Time]. 10 October 2015c [archived 12 October 2015]. Russian.
- Voren, Robert van. Путин - неизлечимый пироман, повышающий ставки [Putin is an incurable pyromane who rises stakes]. Новое Время [New Time]. 12 September 2015d [archived 22 September 2015]. Russian.
- Voren, Robert van. Домашний русский медведь. Москва застала Запад врасплох [The pet Russian bear. Moscow caught the West unawares]. Новое Время [New Time]. 26 June 2015e [archived 26 July 2015]. Russian.
- Wynnyckyj, Andrij. Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry promotes reform of mental health institutions in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Weekly. 8 December 1996:3.
Books
- Voren, Robert van. Political psychiatry in the USSR. Amsterdam: Stichting Comité Vladimir Boekovski [Vladimir Bukovsky Foundation Committee]; 1983.
- Voren, Robert van. Koryagin: a man struggling for human dignity. Second World Press; 1987. ISBN 90-71271-07-2.
- Voren, Robert van. Pere-strojka of de-strojka?: de Sovjetunie op weg naar de eenentwintigste eeuw [Pere-strojka of de-strojka?: the Soviet Union by the twenty first century]. Buijten & Schipperheijn; 1988. Dutch. ISBN 9060646835.
- Voren, Robert van; Bukovskiĭ, Vladimir. Gorbatsjov, tussen hoop en illusie [Gorbachev, between hope and illusion]. Buijten & Schipperheijn; 1988. Dutch. ISBN 9060646738.
- Voren, Robert van; Bloch, Sidney. Soviet psychiatric abuse in the Gorbachev era. International Association on the Political Use of Psychiatry; 1989. ISBN 90-72657-01-2.
- Voren, Robert van; Bon, Alexander. Nationalism in the USSR: problems of nationalities. Second World Center; 1989. ISBN 9071271102.
- Voren, Robert van. On dissidents and madness: from the Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev to the "Soviet Union" of Vladimir Putin. Amsterdam—New York: Rodopi; 2009b. ISBN 978-90-420-2585-1.
- Voren, Robert van. Cold War in psychiatry: human factors, secret actors. Amsterdam—New York: Rodopi; 2010c. ISBN 90-420-3048-8.
- Voren, Robert van. Neįsisavinta praeitis: Holokaustas Lietuvoje [Undigested past: the Holocaust in Lithuania]. Kaune (Kaunas): Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (Vytautas Magnus University); 2011. Lithuanian. ISBN 9955127163.
- Voren, Robert van. Undigested past: the Holocaust in Lithuania. Amsterdam—New York: Rodopi; 2011. ISBN 940120070X.