In April 2018, Melanie Fink was elected as a member of the Coordinating Committee of the ESIL Interest Group ‘The EU as a Global Actor’. For the next four years, she will work in that function alongside Christine Kaddous (University of Geneva), Anne Thies (University of Reading), and Ramses Wessel (University…

Maria de Jong-de Kruijf was awarded a doctorate degree on 7 March for her research on children in secure residential youth care. The Dutch website for legal professionals, Mr. Online, interviewed her for their ‘lawyer of the week’ column.

Italian PM Meloni’s election promise to limit the number of boat migrants entering the country looks like being fulfilled with help from Albania. A deal was recently approved that provides for two reception centres for asylum seekers in Albania. Dr Mark Klaassen, an expert in immigration law, questioned…

On 18 October 2017, Leiden Law School was honored to welcome a group of experts upon invitation of Prof. M.R. Bruning, professor of Child Law and head of the Child Law Department of Leiden University, to discuss current and future research projects in the field of international child abduction law and…

In two moving articles, Dutch newspaper Trouw has reported on the lengthy detention of Abu Zubaydah in Guantánamo Bay. Zubaydah was tortured over a period of many years. Helen Duffy, Professor of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and also Zubaydah’s lawyer, recently booked a major victory…

The chance that it will do so is about zero, but Russia is legally obliged to investigate violations of law during the war in Ukraine. States that enter into an armed conflict often deny liability, but under international humanitarian law and human rights they are obliged to investigate their military…

Employees are laying down their work in various sectors, such as regional public transportation and Dutch postal service PostNL. Inflation appears to be increasing dissatisfaction about working conditions, thinks Barend Barentsen, Professor in Labour Law at Leiden University. ‘It's the final straw.’

From 23-25 August the Child Abuse & Violence Congres ‘ Broken 2018’ took place. Mariëlle Bruning was one of the keynote speakers and talked about the child’s right to protection against all forms of violence and the implementation of this children’s right in domestic child protection systems.

Dr Amy Strecker has recently been awarded a LGI BREED grant to develop her project on property and spatial justice in international law. Building on her previous research into landscape protection from cultural heritage, environmental and human rights perspectives, Amy will combine legal analysis with…

Leiden researchers Max van Duijn (Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science) and Vasilika Kosta (Leiden Law School, Europa Institute) will join The Young Academy (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) KNAW)).

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.

'Mariana Gkliati delivered a presentation entitled: 'Accountability of the Europepan Border and Coast Guard Agency: The Litigation Route' at the Refugee Law Initiative's 2nd Annual Conference in London, on Monday 5 June

Study information

Yvonne Erkens and Fieke Weber, both from the Department of Labour Law and Social Security, recently organised a panel discussion on behalf of the International Labor Rights Case Law Journal (ILaRC). The discussion took place during the ISLSSL World Congress in Rome and was a huge success.

Jeugdhulpinstanties zijn ernstig tekort geschoten bij hulp aan het mishandeld pleegmeisje uit Vlaardingen, blijkt uit nieuw onderzoeksrapport. Hoogleraar jeugdrecht Mariëlle Bruning schoof aan bij Nieuwsuur: ‘Het gaat om extreem menselijk falen.’

Indigenous philosophies have been ignored for too long. This prompted Osiris González Romero to study the wisdom of the Nahua in Mexico. Their philosophy has an important message for the consumption society: see the earth and nature as living beings and not just as resources. PhD defence 22 June.

Dr Robert Heinsch and his team of IHL Clinic researchers at the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law have won a prestigious Erasmus+ grant for cooperation partnerships in higher education in cooperation with the IHL Clinics at Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany) and Roma Tre University…

Conference

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been transferred to Russia from occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, reports say. Is this, as the government in Kyiv has claimed, an act of genocide? Defined as an intent to destroy a particular group of people, the term genocide was first coined amid the horrors…

Lecture, INVISIHIST event

Every year, Humanities students can nominate their favourite lecturer for the Humanities Education Award. Traditionally, the winner of the award will be announced at the start of the academic year. Who are 2017’s nominees and what inspires them to teach?

Every year on or around International Women’s Day on 8 March, Leiden University holds its Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture. This year’s lecture will be given by Sylvana Simons, MP and leader and parliamentary chair of the BIJ1 party. What does International Women’s Day mean to her and which challenges…

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW) has awarded an Academy Professorship to Ewine van Dishoeck, Professor of Molecular Astrophysics at Leiden University.

Simone van der Hof, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies at eLaw, and Mohammed Raiz Shaffique, researcher and PhD candidate at eLaw, have published a self-assessment tool on age assurance for the European Commission.

During the colloquium ‘Minorities and the Criminal Justice System’, Jasmina Mačkić (lecturer at the Europa Institute) presented some of the research results from her PhD thesis ‘Proving Discriminatory Violence at the European Court of Human Rights’.

Each year on the university’s birthday, children at primary schools in Leiden and The Hague have a lesson from a professor – about children’s rights and robots in surgery, for example. The children get to do activities. And ask questions: ‘How do you become a professor?’

Masterclass

Inaugural lecture

On 7th November 2018 Kristel van Kruisbergen was guest speaker for an event organised by the European Union Student Association (EUSA) on ‘The Rule of Law: the situation in Poland and Hungary’.

A pregnant woman from Drenthe will lose her baby directly after it is born. A juvenile court has already ruled during her pregnancy that the infant will go to a foster family. The court believes that the child would risk physical neglect.

Leiden Law School and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies are very pleased to announce that Dr. Mamadou Hébié will be re-joining the Grotius Centre on the 1st of May 2021.

Universiteit Leiden en Unicef werken al 10 jaar samen om kennis over kinderrechten uit te breiden en te verspreiden. Ze verlengen deze samenwerking.

Lecture

Companies in Poland employ North Korean forced labourers on a large scale. Some of these companies are supported by the European Union. These are the findings of a research team headed by Leiden Professor of Korean Studies Remco Breuker and employment lawyer Imke van Gardingen. The study is still ongoing…

Dr Amy Strecker (Heritage Dept., Faculty of Archaeology) has recently been awarded a LGI BREED grant to develop her project on property and spatial justice in international law. Building on her previous research into landscape protection from cultural heritage, environmental and human rights perspectives…

On 15 June 2023, the book presentation for the ‘Panta Rhei: recht en duurzaamheid’ (Panta Rhei: law and sustainability) was held at the Oude Sterrenwacht in Leiden. The book provides an overview of research in the field of sustainability conducted at Leiden Law School and was compiled by Yvonne Erkens,…

On 11 November 2016, The Hague Law Labs and the department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, in collaboration with the Italian Association for European and Comparative Law, will organise ‘The Dutch Constitution Beyond 200: tradition and innovation in a multilevel legal order'.

On 16 April 2024, ERA (Europäische Rechtsakademie / European Law Academy) organised an online conference on the subject of 'Legal Aspects of Gender Identity in Europe', including information on the experiences of gender diverse people, case law by the European Court of Human Rights and by the Court…

Over the past two centuries, the concept of human dignity has moved from the fringes to the centre of the international legal system. This book is the first single-authored detailed historical, theoretical and legal investigation of human dignity as a normative value, the intellectual sources that shaped…

On 3 December 2019 Hanna Bosdriesz defended her dissertation on the fight against impunity for grave human rights violations in Latin America.

Graduation ceremony

Four master's students from Leiden University participated in this year’s edition of the International Migration and Refugee Law Moot Court, hosted by Antwerp University. Following the verbal rounds held between 21 and 22 March, the team went through to the finals, achieving second place overall.

On 25 October 2017, Ledi Bianku, judge at the European Court of Human Rights, gave a guest lecture entitled “The ECHR and asylum”. Ledi Bianku is Judge at the European Court of Human Rights since 1 February 2008. He has held the position of Vice-President of Section I of the Court from January 2016…

Dr Yannick van den Brink, Assistant Professor at the Department of Child Law, has been awarded a grant from the Rubicon programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to conduct research for a period of eighteen months at the University of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology,…

On 8 October, the Independent Expert, Prof. Manfred Nowak, leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty presented his report to the UN General Assembly. The presentation of the final report is set for 19 November 2019, at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the…

In an attempt to retain employees and tackle shortages in the labour market, some employers are now prepared to go further in offering attractive employment benefits. Dutch news programme 'Nieuwsuur' has discovered that large international companies, like Uber, McKinsey, and Salesforce, are prepared…

Prof. Ton Liefaard has been appointed as member of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles.

Lecture