The Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award is presented every two years on 10 December (Human Rights Day) in recognition of outstanding academic works in the field of international human rights.

Chances that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will become Secretary General of NATO are becoming increasingly likely now that the US and most western countries have expressed their support. The question now is how to appoint someone to the position of Prime Minister, who to appoint and when the situation…

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) is to investigate whether comments made by 'Forum voor Democratie' MP Gideon van Meijeren about going to parliament to protest are punishable. How should the political centre in The Hague respond?

On 4 March 2024, the Local Public Sector Alliance (LPSA) held a meeting of its Working Group on Local Democracy and Inclusive Governance, in which theoretical ideas and experiences about local governance and decentralisation were discussed. Esteban Szmulewicz, PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional…

The Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE), in partnership with the World Association of Wine Tourism (AMETUR), the International Wine Law Association (AIDV) and the European Network of Wine Cities (RECEVIN) organised, in Portugal, from 22 to 25 October 2023, a very interesting…

On 10 December Walter Burkard won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2020 for his thesis on climate change and children’s rights.

Ton Liefaard, Stephanie Rap and Peter Rodrigues have edited the book 'Monitoring Children’s Rights in the Netherlands. 30 Years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child' (Leiden University Press).

From 23 to 27 January 2017, the Child Law Department and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School organized the first regional edition of the Leiden University Frontiers of Children’s Rights Summer School. The Frontiers of Children’s Rights in the ASEAN Region was set…

What is the current situation of human rights in relation to detention under criminal law and immigration law, now that more and more parties are becoming involved in the administration of detention and crimmigration is on the rise? PhD defence on 21 January 2020.

On Thursday 11 January 2018, Xiang Li will defend her doctoral thesis: “Collective Labour Rights and Collective Labour Relations of China”. The defence will take place at 11:15 hrs at the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor Guus Heerma van Voss and Professor…

From deepfakes and disinformation to killer robots, surgical robots and AI lawmaking: AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing our world. That raises the question whether this requires some form of regulation. At eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, prof. Bart Custers…

Gerrie Lodder has published an article in the Dutch legal periodical Nederlands Juristenblad on the exploitation of labour migrants from the perspective of human rights.

To what extent are the rights of children in the Netherlands guaranteed? On 8 December 2015 the Dutch Children’s Ombudsman has published the Children’s Rights Monitor 2015.

The team from Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) came out on top at the international online Moot Court organised by Leiden University and law firm Baker McKenzie.

On 11 April 2018, students of the Advanced Master’s in European and International Human Rights Law attended a lecture on the human rights situation in Mexico. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Víctor Avendaño Porras, who lectures and researches at Mexico’s CRESUR (Research Centre on Teaching Formation…

On the 15th of June, 2017, Professor Ton Liefaard gave a key note address at the occasion of the conference International Conference for Children's Rights. A Rights-based Approach to Child Welfare in Taipei, Taiwan.

Professor Ann Skelton, Rotating Honorary Chair of Enforcement of Children's Rights 2020/2021 at the Department of Child Law, has been re-elected as member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

To what extent are the rights of children in the Netherlands guaranteed? On 13 December 2016 the Dutch Children’s Ombudsman has published the Children’s Rights Monitor 2016, a jubilee edition.

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.

Crime victims cannot always fully exercise their rights, said Maarten Kunst, Professor of Criminology, in his inaugural lecture on 26 October. His mission is to find out why exactly this is and to see whether change can be brought about.

In this new series, students have the opportunity to meet leading children's rights experts, including representatives of UN agencies, international civil society organizations and research institutes.

Prof. Ton Liefaard connected to around 150 legal professionals in India and beyond to reflect upon the COVID-response of governments from a children’s rights perspective.

Children and young people feel the government is not listening to them during the coronavirus pandemic and this is a cause for concern in light of international children’s rights. This is the conclusion of a recent report by a research team from Leiden University on how children and youngsters have…

Children are suffering disproportionally from the coronavirus measures. They feel depressed more often compared to other age groups. But what about the legal perspective? Are children’s rights being violated?

In 1986 a group of international human rights experts convened in Maastricht to discuss the character and scope of state parties’ obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. This resulted in the Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant…

The jubilee conference for the centenary of the Vereniging van Drentse Gemeenten (the association of municipalities in the province of Drenthe) took place on 23 September. The conference focussed on the collaboration between the municipalities, the province and the water boards in Drenthe past, present,…

Last weekend, Reijer Passchier talked about the constitutional right of the king to renounce the kingship.

Mariana Gkliati participates as a PhD representative and member of the Steering Committee to the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research (NNHRR), the development of the long-existing Netherlands School of Human Rights Research.

Recently, Hart Publishing published the book Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments, From Academic Vision to New Practice edited by H. Stalford, K. Hollingsworth and S. Gilmore.

On 20 November 2015, on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day, the Council of Europe and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights launched the Handbook on European law relating to the rights of the child.

Prime Minister Rutte has broken the Archiefwet (Dutch Public Records Act) for years by deleting his text messages. That was the conclusion of the Information and Heritage Inspectorate in a scathing report. On Monday, Speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives Vera Bergkamp also filed charges after…

Each year, the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award is presented to the student who has written the best master’s thesis in the Netherlands or Belgium in the field of children’s rights. The award was established by Defence for Children and Leiden University's Department of Child Law.

Christa Tobler writes an extensive article on voting rights for different groups for the annual congress of the

Students attending Richard Albert’s seminar on constitutional change asked Reijer critical questions about an article he recently wrote with Maarten Stremler.

Students attending Richard Albert’s seminar on constitutional change asked Reijer critical questions about an article he recently wrote with Maarten Stremler.

On 3 and 4 March, the 2nd Doctoral Seminar on International Criminal Law, International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law was held at the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights in Sicily. Ida Asscher and Anna Smulders, both PhD Candidates at the Grotius…

On 10 December Sarah-Devorah Poot won the Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award 2019 for her thesis on child-friendly judgments.

Collaboration is worthwhile. A joint LUMC and Leiden Law School project has received €142,500 from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This grant will advance research into the law and ethics of regenerative medicine.

As part of his PhD trajectory, Esteban Szmulewicz was invited to give a presentation at a seminar titled 'Challenges of representative and participatory constitution-making: insights from the recent Chilean processes'. The seminar was attended by colleagues affiliated with the Warsaw institution as…

On 15 February 2018, Simone van der Hof gave a keynote lecture entitled 'Data Protection and Children's Rights - the reasoning behind the protective provisions for children in the GDPR' at the International School of Amsterdam conference on Strategic marketing & communications for international scho…

The third generation of students of the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights 2017-2018 received their much-coveted master diplomas on Monday 27 August.

In my research I am concerned with the possibility of a politics of sexuality without reverting to identitarian conceptions of sexuality. In a reading of the work of the American author James Purdy, I propose to move towards a politicizing of the concept of narrative identity as developed by the French…

On Thursday 14 December at 16.15 hrs Michal Diamant will defend her doctoral thesis that addresses the right to assess the budget of the Dutch parliament in light of European economic governance. The defence will take place at the Academy Building of Leiden University. Supervisors are Professor Wim…

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 the Leiden Law School. This year the thesis award will be presented for the fourth time.

The government wanted to show some muscle by making it compulsory to wear face masks in public indoor spaces as of 22.00 hours on 14 October. But it looks as though this will be 1 November after all. No need for that, tweeted Leiden professor of constitutional law Wim Voermans on 14 October, you can…

From 26 until 28 January Leiden Law School hosted the regional training for lawyers as part of the EU funded project Advancing the Defence Rights of Children, organized by Fair Trials.

Alumnus Petri Freundlich received the first prize for his LL.M. thesis in the category Master’s theses and academic articles of the Max van der Stoel Human Rights awards 2017

Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for her commitment to the rights of women and children in Africa and elsewhere. She will be awarded the honorary doctorate on the Dies Natalis, the University’s foundation day, on 8…

Esteban Szmulewicz, a PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, spoke at the annual Salzburg Global Weekend, organised by the Salzburg Global Seminar with the theme 'Democracy on the Front Lines'. Key speakers included Nobel Peace Laureate the Ukrainian Civil Rights defender…

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 the Leiden Law School.