Leiden Law School and the Mexican Supreme Court strengthen collaboration
Leiden Law School and the Center for Constitutional Studies of the Mexican Supreme Court (CEC-SCJN) have signed a memorandum of understanding, to carry out joint activities in the field of constitutional law and children's rights.
Both the Director of CEC-SCJN, Ana María Ibarra, and the Dean of Leiden Law School, Joanne van der Leun, expressed their delight at the collaboration, which Ana María Ibarra says is 'a concrete step towards consolidating a global community of constitutional and human rights law where both Mexico and the Netherlands play a key role.'
The collaboration will bring a comparative perspective to the practical implementation of constitutional systems and the role of judges in the protection of children’s fundamental rights. 'Both the CEC-SCJN and Leiden Law School are at the forefront of the study of legal protection and promotion of children's rights by courts. This agreement will allow us to deepen these joint efforts, already established, in the international and constitutional comparative field of human rights, in an instrumental way for the strengthening of child-friendly justice', said Nicolás Espejo-Yaksic, CEC-SCJN researcher and guest lecturer at Leiden Law School. Nicolás also highlighted the relevance of this agreement in the area of children’s access to justice.
The first project derived from this agreement will be the development of a Spanish-language platform as part of the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory. The Observatory is an online database that offers reflections and analyses of decisions taken by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communication Procedure. Providing this resource in Spanish can serve to increase the participation of Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries and communities in discussions on children's rights and access to justice at the international level.
Ton Liefaard, Vice-Dean of Leiden Law School, commented that while the plan is to 'continue and extend our collaboration with the CEC-SCJN on children's rights, access to justice and the Leiden Children's Rights Observatory, this collaboration opens up many more opportunities and I am sure it will benefit legal professionals, researchers and students in Europe and America.'
Leiden Law School is ranked first in the Netherlands and 24th globally. It offers a unique legal degree (LLM) in international children’s rights. The CEC-SCJN is currently developing a series of specific projects on constitutional law, family law and children's rights.