In November 2020 former dean Rick Lawson, professor of European Human Rights Law, was elected member of the Management Board of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna. He was nominated by the Dutch Government following an open selection procedure.

Following the Mangold and Kücükdeveci case law of the CJEU, the horizontal direct effect of EU general principles and of provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights became a hotly debated issue.

Recently, Ingrid Leijten’s book Core Socio-Economic Rights and the European Court of Human Rights was published with Cambridge University Press. The monograph was published in the series Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy (edited by Laurence Gormley and Jo Shaw) and deals with the protection…

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

On 9 June 2023, the workshop on ‘Academic Freedom and its Philosophical Underpinnings in EU law’ 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…

This research project from Leiden University looks at the opportunities and threats that flow from the existence of institutional and normative diversity in the area of fundamental rights for the effective protection of those rights in a pluralist world.

The drafting of a handbook that serves as the first guide to European law in the area of children's rights, taking into account the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as well as the decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights…

On Tuesday 23 May 2017, Jasmina Mackic defended her doctoral thesis ‘Proving discriminatory violence at the European Court of Human Rights’. The supervisor of the research is Vice Dean and Professor of Public International Law Larissa van den Herik. A brief summary of her thesis is provided below.

Melanie Fink has been awarded the APART-GSK grant of the Austrian Academy of Sciences to carry out her research project ‘No right without a remedy: Making EU fundamental rights enforceable’ for a period of four years.

From 2-4 November Jorrit Rijpma taught the students of the Master in European Law at the European Public Law Institute in Athens.

Our Master Law in European and International Human Rights Law (LL.M.) looks at the various human rights protection mechanisms from a comparative perspective

Jasmina Mačkić, Assistant Professor of Human Rights Law at the Europa Institute, has published her book, Proving Discriminatory Violence at the European Court of Human Rights. This work is based on her doctoral dissertation, which she defended in May 2017 and which was funded by the Netherlands Organisation…

On 18 June 2019, Peter Kempees defended his thesis 'Hard power and the European Convention on Human Rights'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. R.A. Lawson and Prof. H. Duffy.

In this paper, Sibgatullina and Abbas aim to illuminate the complex connections between the European right-wing movements and Islam and discusses how the adoption of Muslim identity may function as a politically strategic opportunity for European conservative forces.

Are you thinking about studying European and International Human Rights Law? Learn more and watch the videos.

What are the institutional dynamics of the adoption of internal market legislation?

Melanie Fink, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Europa Institute of Leiden University, has published her book Frontex and Human Rights, Responsibility in 'Multi-Actor Situations' under the ECHR and EU Public Liability Law. This work is based on her doctoral dissertation, which she defended in December…

On 26 June, Dr Vicky Kosta and Dr Olga Ceran visited the University of Bologna, Italy, to present the Vidi research project ‘The EU fundamental right to

As of September 2023, Leiden University is a new host of the Research Network on Academic Freedom.

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 9 billion people (now 8 billion). In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this population will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables, water…

On 24-25 April 2017 Vasiliki Kosta, Assistant Professor at the Europa Institute, participated in the workshop “Human rights norms in ‘other’ international courts and tribunals”.

Chemical biology research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is aimed at understanding biological processes at the molecular level to strengthen the knowledge base of human health and disease. The approach to achieve this goal is a fundamental chemical one; with the aid of chemical probes biological…

Can the KLM reject an applicant for a job as a pilot or stewardess if they refuse to get vaccinated against Covid-19? Or put more broadly: can the employer of a new employee demand that they are vaccinated? Those questions were at the centre of court proceedings brought on Thursday by the Dutch Airline…

Through metabolism, biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life. Acquired and inborn errors in metabolism underlie many diseases occurring in man. The challenge for present day medical biochemistry is to find, and integrate, pieces of information at molecular, cell and organismal level…

Dr. Kosta held a presentation on her research ‘The EU Fundamental Right to ‘Freedom of the Arts and Sciences’: Exploring the Limits on the Commercialisation of Academia’ at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich on 25 May 2020.

The ECtHR needs to provide effective rights protection, but it also needs to set clear standards while showing deference to decisions made at the national level. Especially when socio-economic issues are concerned, meeting these different demands is a challenging task.

On 22 September, the Social Justice Expertise Center and the Dutch Association on Labor Rights (VVA) brought together eighty (Dutch) labor law lawyers to discuss the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and fundamental labor rights.

This collaborative project aims to explore the history of the concept “barbarism” in Europe from the 18th century to the present, with a particular emphasis on the role of literature and art in the concept’s shifting functions.

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action.

On 23 June 2022, Kristof Gombeer succesfully defended his dissertation entitled ‘Relations of Duty in an Age of Rights: A study of the supply side of human rights in the context of maritime migration’.

The Vidi grant is for experienced researchers who have already spent several years doing postdoctoral research.

On 22 April 2016, the Social Justice Expertise Center (SJEC) hosted the first global conference for international labour law judges and other adjudicators themed ‘Ensuring Coherence in Fundamental Labour Rights Case Law: Challenges and Opportunities’ at the Academy Building of the University of Leid…

On 11 November 2021, Mariana Gkliati defended the thesis 'Systemic Accountability of the European Border and Coast Guard'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P. Rodrigues and Prof. L. Besselink (UvA).

Fundamental rights protect citizens from the government, but they are not absolute. A crisis situation not only gives the government the opportunity to restrict freedoms, it also shows citizens how far it is willing to go in doing so. ‘In the [Dutch] cabinets led by Rutte, there seems to be less and…

The European courtroom as political arena? Judicial interference in politically charged issues in European asylum law and criminal law

From 1-2 December 2022, the Frontex fundamental rights team met for a Workshop to reflect on their role and discuss current issues. Melanie Fink, Assistant Professor of European Law, was invited to contribute to the discussion with insights from her research on Frontex’s obligations and responsibili…

The number of children being housed in emergency asylum accommodation has skyrocketed over the past two years. Various agencies have been issuing warnings for several years about the distressing conditions found in emergency accommodation in the Netherlands. Dr Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor of…

Voltammetry plays a crucial role in modern scientific research by offering valuable insights into the electrochemical properties of materials, with wide-ranging applications in fields such as materials science, energy storage, corrosion studies, and sensor development.

To make the right clinical decisions or develop effective diagnostic tests and treatments, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of a condition or behavior.

On 21 October 2021, Frederik Behre defended the thesis 'A European Ministry of Finance?'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. S.C.G. Van den Bogaert.

How can we understand the implementation of EU policy and what challenges are involved?