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…

For most of the past ten years, Europe has been in a state of ‘crisis’. The bank crisis mutated seamlessly via the Euro crisis to the present migrant crisis. Whereas previously the general assumption was that even closer cooperation within the European Union was a foregone conclusion, the EU is now…

Migration and crime are in the spotlight in society. Within the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, research in this area has strongly developed in recent years. The concept of Crimmigration is central to this.

Colonialism Inside Out: Everyday Experience and Plural Practice in Dutch Institutions in Sri Lanka (c. 1700-1800)

Located at Leiden University's Campus The Hague, GTGC lies at the heart of one of the world's main hubs of global governance. The programme maintains active contact with many key policy stakeholders. Below is more information about our links to Global The Hague.

Combining approaches from intellectual history, philology and the study of Arabic manuscripts, this study places the Bornu scholar Muḥammad al-Wālī within his intellectual environment on the one hand, and it portrays him as someone who responded to the concerns of ordinary Muslims around him on the…

Rembrandt painted the portraits of more Leiden alumni than we can show in the route. Discover who else posed for Rembrandt.

The bachelor's programmes at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, based in the city of international cooperation and politics – The Hague – prepare you for a future in governance, leadership, and diplomacy. In the administrative heart of the Netherlands, you will learn to tackle the challenges…

Jeffrey Kotyk defended his thesis on 7 September 2017

The staff of the Europa Institute possess extensive expertise on European Union law and European Human Rights law generally. Current research focuses on five areas of particular relevance for European integration.

‘Visibility and secrecy are both valuable tactics and should not be antagonized in LGBT movements, ’ says Jingshu Zhu. Zhu defended her dissertation on Wednesday 21 February.

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.

Constitutional and administrative law covers a broad area of law. It provides the rules with which issues in society can be solved by government authorities.

In the fall of 2021, Cleveringa professor Roméo Dallaire and world experts shared their thoughts about PTSD, children’s rights, war crimes, humanitarian law, and peacekeeping in a series of conversations about leadership and moral dilemma during times of conflict and crisis.

Dialogue is a multi-dimensional communication mechanism whose processes can only be examined by means of an interdisciplinary approach.

Several times per year, the Europa Institute organises a ‘Meet the Author’ event. In the context of this event series external academics come to Leiden to discuss one of their recent publications. The event starts with a conversation between a member of the Europa Institute and the author, after which…

On 9 November, Jonathan Hak defended the thesis 'Non-textual evidence in international criminal prosecutions: discovering the best practices for audiovisual materials in a digital age'. The doctoral research was supervised by Carsten Stahn and Jens Iverson.

In this study the central question to be answered is whether children are able to participate in decisions and at which moments these decisions are taken in the youth care trajectory.

On 16 June 2020, Andrea Varga defended her thesis 'Establishing State Responsibility in the Absence of Effective Government'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. N.J. Schrijver and Prof. F. Baetens (University of Oslo).

LUCSoR has chairs in Comparative Religion, Islam in the West, Christianity, and Judaism. Main areas of expertise include ancient Mesopotamian religions, the Enlightenment, Islam in the West, and new spiritual movements.

This article investigates the causes and examines how differing public perceptions of the rule of law contribute to this trend.

On 23 juni 2019, Zygimantas Juska defended his thesis 'The Role of Collective Redress Actions to Achieve Full Compensation for Violations of European Union Competition Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. T.R Ottervanger.

Stam defended his dissertation ‘Freedom of speech and the suppression of discrimination in the Netherlands: a constitutional-developmental approach’ on 12 November 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshan Ellian and Bastiaan Rijpkema

Managing scarcity to serve the public interest is a classic government task. An important way to execute this task is by allocating individual rights that are only available in limited quantities, such as CO2 emission allowances, gambling licences, subsidies, radio frequencies, public contracts and…

The bachelor's programmes at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, based in the city of international cooperation and politics – The Hague – prepare you for a future in governance, leadership, and diplomacy. In the administrative heart of the Netherlands, you will learn to tackle the challenges…

Don Scott De Amicis will give the sixth Hazelhoff Guest Lecture on international development finance: challenges and opportunities.

The central aim is to systematically study differences in crime patterns and social control between migrants and non-migrants in early modern Frankfurt am Main.

The LUGO team is part of the Administration and Central Services department of the university, with it falling under the Strategy and Academic Affairs department. Naturally, it falls into the sustainability team of the University, which consists of two full-time employees alongside the LUGO Team. The…

In a podcast episode of 'New Books in History' Claire Weeda talks about her book 'Ethnicity in Medieval Europe 950-1250: Medicine, Power and Religion'.

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies continues Leiden University’s long and outstanding tradition in the study and teaching of public international law.

The Hague is the Netherlands’ fastest-growing student city, offering great study and career opportunities to students from all over the world.

Did you know that Arabic was for centuries the lingua franca in an area stretching from the south of Spain to the Chinese border? And that the Middle East under Muslim rule was the world’s beating heart of trade, but also of science and scholarship?

Students in the GMD legal programme will be fully integrated in the student life of the overall GMD master's programme offered at Leiden University, Delft University, and Erasmus University Leiden. Acitivities, such as joint dinners, are regularly organised.

Leiden and The Hague are real student cities and has everything you’ll need to turn your time as a student into the time of your life.

Do you aspire to a career in international law? Then consider the Regular LL.M. in Public International Law at Leiden University.

Indonesia’s labour law regime has changed profoundly since 1998, reflecting the sweeping social and political developments that followed Soeharto’s fall from power.

The MSc International Organisation is offered by Leiden University in The Hague. This page explains why students choose this programme and location.

Increased public trust in law, government and democracy.

The International Arbitration Training Course, offered by Leiden Law School in cooperation with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, focuses on the theory and practice of international arbitration as a distinct field of the law and field of legal practice.

The fifth Owada Chair Symposium included two sessions of student debate together with Professor Owada and the keynote speaker, Dr Fatou Bensouda.

Israel was ordered to take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. Giulia Pinzauti, an expert on state conflicts and humanitarian law, explains the significance of the case, the specific details of the ruling and what we can expect to happen next.

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…

OpinioJuris, one of the world’s leading international law blogs, has hosted an interdisciplinary online symposium on Professor Carsten Stahn’s new book entitled ‘Confronting Colonial Objects’.

Tim Koopmans is one of the great minds in the history of Dutch and European legal scholarship. He taught law as a professor in Leiden and other universities, among which Ghent, Cambridge, Utrecht. He practiced it as a judge in the European Court of Justice and Advocate-General in the Dutch Supreme Court,…

How should jurisdictions, both on the national and on the supra-national level, handle the interaction between public and private law where it regards the regulation of financial markets?

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

How is law shaped by and shaping social, political and economic change in Indonesia?