On Thursday 7 September 2016, the VANEPS Thesis Award was presented on Aruba. This year’s winner was Stacey Kransen. The prize, a check and a certificate, was presented to her during a special Thesis Award Night at the University of Aruba. With this annual prize, VANEPS awards the author of the best master thesis at the Faculty of Law of this university.
This year, the Faculty of Law nominated two candidates for the VANEPS Thesis Award. The winner was chosen by an assessment committee. Attorney at law Steffen Hagen, manager of the Aruba branch of VANEPS, was one of the members of this committee. The winning thesis was selected based on various criteria, like the quality of the hypothesis, originality and structure.
The winning thesis of Stacey Kransen with the title ‘A father has rights as well’ focuses on the question how the position of the father who is not married to the mother and does not have custody over his child can be improved, bearing the interest of the child in mind. According to the assessment committee, this thesis has both social and legal relevance. Furthermore, the thesis was praised for its clear structure and consistency. The committee also pointed out that Kransen was not afraid to come up with non-legal solutions as well, without these being far-fetched or artificial.
As an organization where know-how is essential, VANEPS actively supports education. Good education creates opportunities for the future generations in the Caribbean society in which the firm operates. The annual presentation of the Thesis Awards on both Aruba and Curaçao, is one of the initiatives by which the firm brings this policy into practice.
