13 September 2022

The Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award is an annual award for the best thesis in the field of Children’s Rights granted by Defence for Children and the Department of Child Law of Leiden Law School.

On 1 November 2012, the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award was established in honour of Professor Jaap Doek for his outstanding achievements in the field of children's rights, in the Netherlands and worldwide.

This year the thesis award will be presented for the tenth time. Both law students and students from other disciplines can apply. For several years now, candidates from the Dutch Caribbean, Surinam and Flanders are also cordially invited to submit their theses.

Prize and conditions

The Jaap Doek Thesis Award is rewarded with an organised trip to Geneva, including a visit to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (note: only if the conditions at that time allow this trip to take place), and prize money of €500 to be spent freely. Only master’s theses graded with (the equivalent of) an 8 (eight) or more in the preceding academic year (1 September 2021 until 31 August 2022) will be considered. The master’s thesis should be submitted before 12.00 am on Monday 10 October 2022. Detailed information about conditions can be found in the regulations.

Jury

The jury consists of experts with special merits in the field of Children’s Rights:

• Jaap Doek (chairman), emeritus professor of Children’s Rights (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam);
• Karin Arts, Professor of International law and development (ISS The Hague, part of Erasmus University Rotterdam);
• Sharon Detrick, senior legal adviser, PhD (Defence for Children);
• Ton Liefaard, Vice-Dean of Leiden Law School and UNICEF professor of Children’s Rights (Leiden University);
• Wouter Vandenhole, Professor of Human and Children’s Rights (University of Antwerp).

Award ceremony

The prize will be awarded on the afternoon of Tuesday 6 December. Depending on the circumstances, the award ceremony will take place either ar the law faculty of Leiden University or online. The participants who are nominated by the members of the jury will be invited to present their theses during the award ceremony.

Contact

If you require any further information please contact the secretarial office of the Department of Child Law by e-mail to jeugdrecht@law.leidenuniv.nl or by telephone: 00-31-(0)71-5276056.