The research project addresses the question how complaints in the voluntary youth care system are dealt with on the municipal level and what role (municipal) Children’s Ombudspersons play in this context, through qualitative research methods.

Get the most out of your programme International Children's Rights at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities. For example to participate in the study trip and class field tip

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 strikes by Dutch rail operator ProRail are not predicted to end any time soon, and that will cause considerable inconvenience for travellers. ‘They may have already reached the limits of what’s allowed,’ says Barend Barentsen, Professor of Labour Law, in Dutch daily newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.

Which challenges exist for girls to effectuate their right to education and specifically getting access to education?

The writings of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) are famously and purposely marked by fragmentariness. Paradoxically, a central aim of his work was to connect: all his life he sought to further the integration of scholarship in the humanities which, he believed, had too long suffered from the prevalence…

On 26 January 2023, a conference was held at Leiden Law School on children’s rights and migration. The conference, organised by Stichting Migratierecht Nederland (SMN) and the Europa Institute of Leiden University, was attended by academics, lawyers, judges, policymakers, and other legal professionals…

On Friday 13 April 2018, the Department of Child Law of Leiden University was proud to host the international symposium 'Deprivation of Liberty of Children in The Justice System – Towards A Global Research Agenda', organised by Prof. Dr. Ton Liefaard and Dr. Yannick van den Brink.

On 2 and 3 October 2017, a delegation of the Child Law Department has participated in the 15th European regional conference of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in The Hague.

The Department of Child Law of Leiden University and Defence for Children invite you to the ninth Jaap Doek Children’s Rights Thesis Award ceremony, which will take place online, on Tuesday 7 December from 15.30 onwards (in English).

A new report on admissibility under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on a Communications Procedure (OP3) has been published.

Politicians in Barcelona are preparing for a new political battle. Nationalists fighting for Catalan independence have announced that they will organize a referendum this autumn, just as they did in 2014. Other parties claim that it will lead to new court cases because the referendum is unconstituti…

A civil servant employed by the municipality of The Hague was cause for discussion after taking part in an Extinction Rebellion protest. Only under additional conditions could the employee in question stay on at the municipality. She decided to resign. According to Barend Barentsen, Professor of Labour…

On Friday 12 January 2018, the University of Curaçao celebrated its 39 years of existence. Prof. Ton Liefaard , Professor of Children’s Rights and UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights addressed the audience with a lecture entitled: “20 years United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Do we…

From 24 to 28 June the 7th edition of Leiden University’s annual Frontiers of Children’s Rights Summer School took place in Leiden and The Hague.

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.

The latest newsletter of the Master of Laws Programme: Advanced Studies in International Children's Rights and the UNICEF Chair in Children's Rights of Leiden Law School, Department of Child Law has been published.

This commentary on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption discusses each provision of the treaty, traces the provisions’ drafting history, and explores their implementation in domestic legal systems.

Mariëlle Bruning, Professor of Child Law, is elected Member of the Expert Group on Responses to violence against children (CAHENF-VAC), which is established to assist the Ad hoc Committee for the Rights of the Child (CAHENF) of the Council of Europe.

The right to strike is regulated by the European Social Charter, but employers also have the right to take collective action. Employers actually resorting to this in reality hardly ever happens, however. Instead, we constantly hear about workers going on strike.

On the 24th of March, Prof. Ton Liefaard gave a lecture at the Girne American University entitled ‘International Children’s Rights: Achievements and Challenges’.

The research focuses on the understanding of symbolic stratigraphy of the land (through time) from the worldview of the People of the Rain (one of the Indigenous Peoples of southern Mexico), by studying contemporary cultural heritage in communities of the Mixtec Highlands.

Leiden University social scientists have shown that customised intervention pays off. A new fundamental research-based approach in children who are in danger of going off the rails has delivered spectacular results.

On 13 May 2025, Melanie Fink presented her latest research on the role of the duty to reason and other explanation rights to safeguard human dignity in the automated state at the AI & Law Summer School hosted by the University of Tübingen.

Leiden University neuropsychologists have shown that customised intervention pays off. A new fundamental research-based approach in children who are in danger of going off the rails has delivered spectacular results.

Digitisation and poor reception of refugees are putting children’s rights at risk. This warning comes from Professor Ton Liefaard. His department is organising a summer school on this issue.

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 Leiden Law School.

In Freedom on the Offensive, William Michael Schmidli illuminates how the Reagan administration's embrace of democracy promotion was a defining development in US foreign relations in the late twentieth century.

On the occasion of the launch of the Council of Europe’s new children’s rights strategy 2016-2021, the Republic of Bulgaria hosted a high-level conference in Sofia on the 5th and 6th of April, 2016.

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Can process-oriented dynamic testing be applied to everyday educational practice?

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.

What are the rights of migrants in Morocco and how do this receiving state and migrants deal with them in practice?

On 24 November 2016 dr. Stephanie Rap received the publication prize of the Society for Family and Child Law for her publication ‘A children’s rights perspective on the participation of juvenile defendants in the youth court’, published in The International Journal of Children’s Rights, vol. 24(1),…

From 2 to 17 January, Leiden University co-organised an interdisciplinary course on children’s rights, that took place at the Centre for Studies on Justice and Society at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

The Dutch cabinet faces a challenging task. On 1 December, they are expected to present a plan for the accommodation of child asylum seekers at locations where there are adequate arrangements in place for education, healthcare and indoor and outdoor play facilities. Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor…

On 19 September 2019, Lynette Janssen defended her thesis 'EU Bank Resolution Framework: A comparative study on the relation with national private law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof.mr. W.A.K. Rank and prof. M. Haentjens.

What role do parent-child interactions play in the development, maintenance and treatment of depression in young people?

The procedures for admitting minor asylum seekers from Camp Moria on Lesbos to the Netherlands are in breach of children’s rights according to Ton Liefaard, Professor of Children’s Rights and Peter Rodrigues, Professor of Immigration Law.

This book presents the results of a research about the Islamic courts of Cianjur in West Java, and Bulukumba in South Sulawesi and the role they play in local divorce practices.

Leiden researchers have developed an app that doctors can use to more easily determine the right dosage of medication for corona patients. At the moment, doctors are prescribing many existing kinds of medication to patients. Using the app, they can determine a safe and effective dosage.

For ‘Voor de Ommekeer-TV’, an online television network created by leading Dutch journalists and thinkers to stimulate in-depth journalism and debate, Armin Cuyvers was the studio guest of journalist Paul van Liempt for an hour-long interview on the EU and the many challenges it faces, including Brexit,…

Across cultures, parents help their children master the social and linguistic codes needed in adult life. Recent research on language socialization found important cross-cultural differences, pointing out the need for more diversity for a full understanding of this process. Deaf communities form…

On early October, the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights released its October Newsletter to its friends and partner networks.

As a lawyer, how can you contribute to ensuring that the best interests of the child play a greater role in immigration law? That question was the topic of asylum lawyer Bart Toemen's guest lecture in the course ‘Kind en migratie’ (child and migration), given in the master’s programme ‘Jeugdrecht’ (Child…

Leiden's city centre, bathed in autumn sunshine and teeming with visitors. On 14 October, several thousands of students and their parents came to visit the University's Open Day. We spoke to a number of students at the information fair in the Pieterskerk; each of them had their own questions, doubts…