This book examines the impact of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on national and international jurisprudence, since its adoption in 1989.

This research paper seeks to examine the nature of the nexus between right-wing extremism and the military by surveying five potential consequences (i.e., problem areas) arising from the presence of right-wing extremists within the armed forces of twelve Western countries.

Taking Mozambique as a case study, the aim of this research is to develop a methodology for improving flood risk assessments by extending hydrological records using paleo hydrologic evidence of past floods, combined with a socio-legal assessment of the land rights of those impacted by climate change…

As children learn, develop and acquire more skills, their legal position also changes. Professor of Children’s Rights Ton Liefaard works closely together with Leiden social sciences researchers to shed light on these growing capacities and their implications for our legal system. ‘Our ideas about children’s…

Industrialised countries extract natural resources in the territories of indigenous peoples, and appropriate the knowledge and culture of these peoples. Leiden anthropologists work to protect the rights of indigenous peoples. Their knowledge and advice enable governments to source sustainable produc…

On 16 January 2024, Professor Obiora Okafor from Johns Hopkins University opened the third cycle of the Owada Chair with the lecture Global Diversity and the Living International Human Rights Law.

On 26 juni 2018, Claire Achmad defended her doctoral thesis 'Children’s Rights in International Commercial Surrogacy: Exploring the Challenges from a Child Rights, Public International Law Perspective'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. Dr. Mariëlle Bruning.

Are you thinking about studying this Advanced LL.M. International Children's Rights? Learn more and watch the videos.

On 9 April 2020, Mohamed Azizi defended his thesis 'Reflecties op Wereldburgerschap: In de spiegel van Afghanistan en Nederland'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.B. Cliteur en Prof. W. Veugelers (Universiteit voor Humanistiek).

The German hand-reader Julius Spier (1887-1942) played an important role in the life of the Dutch Jewish diarist Etty Hillesum (1914-1943). This thesis argues that instead of being a charlatan - as he has become viewed through Hillesum's writings -, Spier was a talented hand-reader who 'psychologized'…

Corporeality, intimately bound to the notion of space, to the diffuse border that connects, entangles, and fuses an inside and an outside, is understood in this book as a space which puts the individual at stake as a war machine that, in its fight for a form of life, redefines political territories.

On 1 October 2020, Arianne de Leeuw defended her thesis 'Scheiding van zeggenschap en belang in de familiesfeer'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. F. Sonneveldt and Prof. A.O. Lubbers.

Paisaje, cerámicas e interacciones

This research aims to address the relationship between cinema and political thought in Latin America, in order to question a limited understanding of cinema politics, which has dominated the field of study since the middle of the last century, and to propose a different one that we will call politics…

On 7 March 2019, Maria de Jong-de Kruijf defended her thesis 'Legitimiteit en rechtswaarborgen bij gesloten plaatsing van kinderen'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. mr. M.R. Bruning en Prof. mr. T. Liefaard.

El Chorro de Maita, Cuba

This book is a result of the collective research project Urban Societies in the Port Towns of Atlantic Europe in the Late Middle Ages. It studies the connections between diplomacy and trade from a comparative and transnational perspective throughout medieval Atlantic Europe.

Iconografía, epigrafía e historia en los monumentos arqueológicos

The heritage of Indigenous Peoples has long been researched and commented upon from the outside. This book adopts an innovative approach by engaging with the heritage of Indigenous Peoples from the ‘inside’.

Helen Duffy, Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, has been named ‘Lawyer of the Month’ for April 2026 by Scottish Legal News, recognising her global human rights work and her unique combination of academic expertise and strategic…

This socio-legal research focuses on the impacts of environmental displacement on land rights and land-related conflict in Mozambique in the aftermath of cyclone Idai, and on the role of the legal framework in addressing these problems.

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Choosing a study programme is fun and exciting, but it’s not always easy. Your choice of study is a major decision; after all, it is about your future. At the same time, it’s good to remember that this choice will not determine the rest of your life.

Valentina Carraro explores the relationship between overlapping UN human rights institutions, specifically the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

On 18 March 2020, Hoko Horii defended her thesis ‘Child Marriage as a Choice. Rethinking agency in international human rights’. The doctoral research was supervised by prof. A.W. Bedner and prof. G.A. van Klinken.

On 7 September, Francesc Claret Traid defended the thesis 'On the nature of the right to resist: a rights-based theory of the ius resistendi in liberal democracies'. The doctoral research was supervised by Afshin Ellian and Gelijn Molier.

The ECtHR needs to provide effective rights protection, but it also needs to set clear standards while showing deference to decisions made at the national level. Especially when socio-economic issues are concerned, meeting these different demands is a challenging task.

Human Rights at Risk brings together social scientists, legal scholars, and humanities scholars to analyze the policy challenges of human rights protection in the twenty-first century.

How can child participation be defined, what is the importance of child participation and how can it be promoted?

Our Master Law in European and International Human Rights Law (LL.M.) looks at the various human rights protection mechanisms from a comparative perspective

On 10 november 2021, Carmel van Niekerk-Jacobs defended the thesis 'Realising the right to reproduce with assistance in South Africa'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. J.J. Sloth-Nielsen and Prof. T. Liefaard.

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,…

Recently Cambridge University Press published dr. Jan Osters monograph “Media Freedom as a Fundamental Right”.

On 9 January 2019, Willem van der Muur defended his thesis 'Land rights and the forces of adat in democratizing Indonesia'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. A.W. Bedner and Prof. dr. J.M. Otto.

On 7 February 2019, Helena Ursic-Vrabec defended her thesis 'Uncontrollable: Data subject rights and the data- driven economy'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. S. van der Hof.

This book rigorously investigates the contemporary state of children's rights and the multifaceted challenges facing children, uncovering the complexities at their core.

The Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law edited by prof. Janice Bellace of the University of Pennsylvania and ass. prof. Beryl ter Haar of Leiden University. The book is publisehd in Edward Elgars series on Human Rights.

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.

This research project from Leiden University looks at the opportunities and threats that flow from the existence of institutional and normative diversity in the area of fundamental rights for the effective protection of those rights in a pluralist world.

Are you thinking about studying European and International Human Rights Law? Learn more and watch the videos.

On Thursday 16 November 2017, Lalin Kovudhikulrungsri defended her doctoral thesis entitled ‘The Right to Travel by Air of Persons with Disabilities’. The supervisors are Professor P.M.J. Mendes de Leon and Professor A.C. Hendriks.

Op vrijdag 4 april 2025 organiseert de werkgroep Stedengeschiedenis een bijeenkomst bij de Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed onder de titel ‘Archeologie en de stad’. De studiedag is gratis en voor iedereen toegankelijk.

Holtz defended her dissertation ‘Collective human rights as an (onto)logical solution to climate change: reconceptualizing, applying and proceduralizing an overlooked category of human rights’ on 16 October 2025. The doctoral research was supervised by Carsten Stahn and Daniëlla Dam-de Jong.