Do you have to be able to say everything on Twitter and Facebook? Is Instagram morally obliged to remove photos from attacks? Should we allow the terrorist group to recruit new members on the internet?

On 12 November Ingrid Leijten was a guest on Dutch NOS NPO Radio 1 programme Met het Oog op Morgen. She was asked to speak about the right to freedom of expression.

The Europa Institute has invited Dorjana Bojanovska from Macedonia to visit Leiden Law School to conduct her master thesis research from 6 March - 31 March 2017. Dorjana is a student at the Comparative Constitutional Law program at the Legal Studies Department of the Central European University. The…

Prof. Mark Leiser and a team of thirteen law students from Leiden University’s Advanced LLM programmes in European and International Human Rights Law as well as in Law and Digital Technologies together drafted a report for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom…

Press freedom in Indonesia is still under pressure, despite the demise of Soeharto’s regime in 1998

From Incident to Precedent

Online platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) have become part and parcel of everyday media use. Journalists incorporate posts from politicians into newspaper reports, scientists share their insights in short posts or videos, and the judiciary uses social media to explain their…

The Press Freedom Monitor is set to be presented during this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations on 3 May. To mark this occasion, the interactive media museum Beeld & Geluid in The Hague will publish a three-part podcast series.

The aim of this research is to define the relationship between sources of articulation for different kinds of instrument in the period between the beginning of XVI century (first extant indications) and the end of XVIII century.

NETHATE is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) project seeking to investigate the roots, societal impact and mitigation strategies of hate in offline and online foras.

On 3 May, World Press Freedom Day was held and the Dutch 2022 'Persvrijheidsmonitor' was presented. The safety of journalists in 2022 was the most important theme in the area of press freedom in the Netherlands. Tarlach McGonagle, Professor of Medial Law & Information Society in Leiden, and Otto Volgenant,…

PhD defence

Authorities in Denmark and Sweden are examining whether it is possible to ban Quran burning following recent incidents. These have caused tension in many Islamic countries as well as in the countries where they occurred.

On 1 June 2022, Tom Herrenberg defended the thesis 'Prosecutorial Discretion in International Criminal Justice'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur and Prof. B.R. Rijpkema.

On 5 May we celebrate freedom, a basic human right that should not be taken for granted. We asked international students and staff what it means to them.

On 10 June 2021, Merinda Stewart defended her thesis 'Freedom of Overflight: A Study of Coastal State Jurisdiction in International Airspace'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.M.J. Mendes de Leon en Prof. J.J. Rijpma.

In recent decades, the Netherlands’ struggle with multiculturalism has caused an upsurge in public interest in the relationship between state and religion. In this, the Dutch address a subject relevant not just to them, but to all of Europe.

In the public debate on the coronavirus, bold assertions from academics, doctors and other medical practitioners are often heard. For example, that the coronavirus would be no more deadly than the flu. Or that measures to combat the virus like wearing face coverings are unnecessary.

Jurisprudence is a philosophical introduction to the law. This subject is taught by the department of Jurisprudence.

DNA carries various forms of information. Out of these forms of information the most well-known is classical genetic information.

In October, the Provincial Executive in Friesland reprimanded four civil servants who had signed an incendiary letter asking the government to adopt a more active climate policy. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, feels that the Executive made a mistake.

On 30 November, Florian Theissen defended the thesis 'Sincerely believing in freedom: a reconstruction and comparison of the interpretation of the freedom of religion and belief on the Canadian Supreme Court, the South African Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights'. The doctoral…

Performances of solo keyboard repertoire can sound more or less polyphonic depending on the performer’s use of divergence in expression.

I was disgusted by the recent Ongehoord Nederland broadcast on 15 September. The racist and hateful comments made by alumna Raisa Blommesteijn were, as far as I am concerned, way over the line and in my opinion also violate Article 1 of the Constitution of the Netherlands.

A European cooperation project on disinformation and fact-checking training empowering current and future media and media education professionals, to identify, prevent, and combat fake news spread over digital networks.

What does academic freedom mean? And how do we give shape to it in Leiden? The Academic Freedom Core Team considered these questions and presented its final report on 17 June.

Most people know what law is. But what it should be or where it comes from is what interests the researchers from the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law. Key to their approach are topics that go right to the heart of philosophy of law. What is a state? What are the limitations of…

On 15 September, Democracy Day, Michael Klos, researcher/teacher at the Department of Jurisprudence of Leiden Law School appeared as a guest on Radio Weetlust.

On 11 October, the roundtable on ‘Academic Freedom – Theoretical Perspectives’ took place at the Academy Building, Leiden. It was organized in the framework of the Vidi research project The EU fundamental right to 'freedom of the art and sciences': exploring the limits on the commercialisation of academia…

Recently Cambridge University Press published dr. Jan Osters monograph “Media Freedom as a Fundamental Right”.

The gripping story of a collective passion for freedom that shook the world.

In Freedom Stories we share the freedom stories of our students and staff, in honour of Liberation Day in The Netherlands. Today, we share Leen's story. We asked her, what does freedom mean to you?

The Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University values an inclusive learning environment where all students are supported to realize their full potential. We consider diversity of thought, approach, background, and identity essential for high-quality research and learning. We therefore want to facilitate…

Promotores: J.N. Kok, H.J. Hoogeboom

Conatus News has publiced an extensive review of the book The Fall and Rise of Blasphemy Law by Paul Cliteur and Tom Herrenberg.

On 17 May 2018, a delegation of LUC students from all different majors, coordinated by Dr. Joris Larik, participated in the Roosevelt Awards Laureates Dialogue Event at Nieuwspoort in The Hague (‘Roosevelt in The Hague 2018’).

All players on the world stage operate strategically in order to safeguard their interests. Political scientists at Leiden University cast light on this volatile interplay of forces. Their research helps voters, NGOs, governments and international organizations make smart choices in this complex and…

Dutch activist Frank van der Linde has initiated summary proceedings against the extension of the emergency order following the recent disturbances in Amsterdam. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional Law, comments on the case in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.

Sasse, van Breen, Spears & Gordijn demonstrated an anger gap in response to sexism which was larger for women than for men and found evidence that expressed anger was associated with instrumental concerns.

How do borderland dwellers living along militarised frontiers negotiate regimes of state security and their geopolitical location in everyday life? What might 'freedom' mean to those who do not resist captivity engendered by borders? Focusing on the predicaments of a double-minority, Radhika Gupta examines…

In the light of the fragility of current liberal democracies, this dissertation aims to contribute to rethinking political order by reconstructing Hegel’s account in the Philosophy of Right.

This thesis focuses on the concepts of freedo and fixity as two central topics of my artistic research. I present, analyze. and contextualize four of my works which have explicit links to fleedom and fixify and which demonstrate the dynamic interrelationship between the two.

On 22 November 2018, Els De Busser spoke at a panel during the conference