Dr Mamadou Hébié, Associate Professor of International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, served last week as legal counsel in the world’s first advisory proceedings concerning climate change before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), on the one hand, and…

Enya Seguin is an idealist. This 22-year-old alumna of Leiden University College in The Hague wants to make it possible for patients in Africa to have access to doctors anywhere in the world via an app. She is not deterred by the many problems and pitfalls she meets along the way.

PhD defence

Conference, Discussion

On 12 October, Melanie Fink and Jorrit Rijpma presented at the Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights in Warsaw, on the issue of responsibility under EU and international law.

Adv. LL.M. Students visit the International Criminal Court

On Wednesday 27 January, EU Careers, an organisation that on behalf of the Dutch government offers assistance with job applications at EU institutions, and the Europa Institute organised a Q&A session for the students of the LLM European Law on the Blue Book Traineeship at the European Commission.

On 6 March 2018, the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection, Mr. Dekker, responded to the Ph.D. dissertation ‘Voorlopige hechtenis in het Nederlandse jeugdstrafrecht’ (‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’) in a Letter to Parliament.

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’.

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.

Pieter Omtzigt, a strong contender in the polls for the Dutch general elections with his New Social Contract party (NSC), has said he would prefer to remain in parliament as party leader. He is not saying who the NSC candidate for prime minister might be and will only reveal this after the elections.…

Dr. Vanessa Newby (ISGA) and Dr. Catherine Jones from St Andrews won a grant worth over €23.000 from the RSE Saltire Facilitation Network Award entitled: ‘Worse Things Happen at Sea’: The Governance & Security of the Ocean. The grant will comprise three workshops in 2022: one in Leiden, one in Edinburgh…

With inflation skyrocketing, more and more workers are willing to take action for better working conditions. From regional transport to municipal officials, and from healthcare staff to pharmacy workers, it’s one strike after another in the Netherlands.

For the first time in the Netherlands this summer: the Space Studies Programme - an international summer university for those who aspire to a space career. In parallel: the Sizzling Summer of Space, which is a public programme for both young and old.

The democratic rule of law is under pressure due to a series of scandals and integrity issues, as seen in the recent parliamentary inquiries. Professor Ronald Kroeze explains: 'Public office holders are expected to show complete dedication, but that norm is quite absolute, and what we mean by it is…

More people seeking asylum, overcrowded asylum accommodation and asylum procedures that take years because of a lack of capacity. The current government wants to declare an asylum crisis but what is that exactly and can they just do that?

VVI Research Meetings 2023-2024

PhD defence

On the 1 June 2021, Professor Eric De Brabandere and Dr Daniel Peat of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School launched the Leiden Investment Treaty Arbitration Database.

The Dutch conservative VVD party plans to make the right to family reunification more difficult for people with temporary residence permits. In Germany, this restriction led to several lawsuits which were won by status holders. Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor in Migration Law, believes this is a…

The Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) want to use private DNA databases for genealogical research in criminal investigations. The method could be used in serious criminal cases that have stalled and it is already being used in investigations abroad. Whether…

Yesterday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a preliminary ruling in a case brought by Nicaragua against Germany. Nicaragua accuses Germany of genocide and violating international humanitarian law by supplying arms to Israel. Eric de Brabandere, Professor of International Dispute Settlement…

Today a Report on the Commission’s proposal for a European Border and Coast Guard was published online. The report was written by Jorrit Rijpma at the request of the European Parliament’s LIBE committee.

On Monday 28 November 2016, Ton Liefaard spoke at the International Conference on Crime Prevention and Resocialization of Children in Contact with the Criminal Justice System in Chile. In his lecture he discussed European perspectives on crime and prevention and reintegration.

On 23 September the Dutch Embassy in Rome organised a round table on “Migration in times of the Coronavirus”, in cooperation with MoltiVolti, an NGO from Palermo which works in the field of integration of migrants and asylum seekers in Italy.

“The union’s 60th birthday is not a moment for gifts and cake, but for reinvention around three new strategic idea. (…) The new Europe must protect, improvise and tolerate opposition”. This is what Prof. Luuk van Middelaa, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions,…

The Pension Funds Dispute Authority (GIP) was founded on 1 January 2024. Albert van Marwijk Kooy has been appointed Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee, which forms part of the GIP.

In the online panel discussion of ESOF 2022 ‘The effect of the online world on adolescents’, together with Amy Orben, Professor Eveline Crone, Sterre van Riel, Professor Anne-Laura van Harmelen and Professor Jan Sleutels, Professor Ton Liefaard shared his research on adolescents and the online world…

Opportunities and challenges of digitalisation, the platform economy, and flexibilisation of European labour markets.

The Dutch asylum application centre in Ter Apel is overburdened, an issue that is currently a prominent feature in the Dutch media. In podcast De Verbranders, PhD students Neske Baerwaldt and Wiebe Ruijtenberg engage in dialogue, and use different angles to examine themes related to migration, borders…

On 11 February 2019 the Women in International Law Network, established in 2017 as an informal network for midlevel to senior female officials, experts, advisers and academics working in international law in the Netherlands, organised a panel discussion and the book launch of ‘Frontex and Human Rights’,…

In a lawsuit concerning the upcoming Dutch elections, the Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals) is claiming that everyone should be able to cast a postal vote. Is it a form of discrimination that everyone above the age of 70 is allowed to cast their vote by post, but people who are younger and…

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) want to use private DNA databases in an effort to solve deadlocked murder cases. Bart Custers, Professor of Law & Data Science at eLaw, Center for Law and Digital Technologies, expects that this is permissible from…

Fransje Molenaar, who defended her dissertation at the Institute of Political Science (Leiden University) in September 2017, has been awarded the Jaarprijs Politicologie. Out of 66 entries from Flanders and The Netherlands, her study of party legislation in Latin America made the biggest impression…

Dr. Moritz Jesse, associate professor for European Law gave two presentations at the annual conference of the Council for European Studies, which took place in the city of Chicago, end of March 2018.

Door de geopolitieke spanningen wereldwijd waaronder de oorlog in Oekraïne, wil Defensie overal in het land fors uitbreiden. Dit zal o.a. gevolgen hebben voor de opvanglokaties waar asielzoekers verblijven, maar ook voor burgers waarvan de woningen voor de plannen moet wijken.

The Sackler Distinguished Lecture Series on Human Rights was established at Leiden University through an endowment given by Dr. Raymond R. Sackler and his wife, Beverly, international philanthropists with a commitment to supporting scientific research. The lectures mark the annual celebration of International…

Different groups can have different memories of the same historical event. This can lead to conflict but does not have to. How is this, and how can countries and people reconcile with the past?

PhD defence

On 20 & 21 April 2017 international researchers in the field of law and society and criminology presented their work in Brussels and shared ideas on discretion and decision-making.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law, the conference ‘Public and Private Regulation of Financial Markets’ was held on the 11th of May 2017 at law firm Stibbe in Amsterdam. The conference attracted an international audience originating from more than five different…

You check out Facebook to see if one of your friends or someone in your family has done something interesting. Your attention is drawn to a holiday advert. That’s a coincidence, you think, because just before you went to Facebook you had been searching internet for a holiday destination. But this is…

Graduation ceremony

Inaugural lecture

Leiden University's Centre for Professional Learning (CPL) and the Montesquieu Institute are jointly launching the ‘Academie voor de Rechtsstaat’ (Academy for the Rule of Law). With this initiative, they intend to offer a course providing in-depth knowledge and insight into the basic principles of the…

In a speech on Keti Koti the Dutch king, Willem-Alexander, apologised on behalf of the royal family for the Netherlands’ historical role in slavery. What is the significance of this?