Promotor: Prof.dr. W.Th.F. den Hollander, Co-promotor: R. Fernandez

Following ASEAN Customs Transit System pilots in Cambodia, Lao, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) system has now been formally launched for general use.

At an extraordinary summit held in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, the ECOWAS states have decided to impose a string of economic, financial and diplomatic measures against Mali.

The ASEAN community formed by Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and The Pacific Alliance formed by Chile, Colombia, México and Perú adopted the ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Work Plan (2021-2025) back in 2021.

Customs officials from ASEAN and Australia have agreed to jointly combat the illicit tobacco trade through further collaboration. This agreement involves a joint Task Force operation, the first of its kind conducted by ASEAN with a Dialogue Partner.

The report aims to establish baseline information on the Sustainable Development Goals’ indicators currently being tracked and measured within the region, at both a national and regional level. Additionally, the report summarises key findings from this data. Finally, the report also presents ways to…

On 23 November 2023, the Caribbean Forum, a subgroup of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, joined forces with the EU to launch the Food Security Programme in Guyana. The implementation of this project started in December 2023 and is expected to last for four years.

China is conducting joint military exercises this week with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In doing so, it is seeking to strengthen military ties with the ASEAN Member States amidst growing US presence in the region.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) published different statements regarding the Summits of the Asia-Europe Meetings (ASEM).

In November, Somalia was the latest country to join the East African Community (EAC). This follows the Democratic Republic of Congo's accession to the regional intergovernmental organisation in March.

The CARICOM-MERCOSUR Chamber has confirmed its participation at the ‘Trade Beyond COVID-19: Building Resilience’, a public seminar organized by the World Trade Organization.

At the 66th Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government held in Abuja, Nigeria, on 15 December 2024, a landmark decision was made to establish the Special Tribunal for The Gambia.’ (Press release by the Ministry of Justice of The Gambia)

A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) arrived in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, on 23 February for five days. 'We need to discuss the immediate situation with all parties, but above all we need to address the root causes of the crisis,' explained Abdel-Fatau Musah, Ecowas…

What has European integration meant for the role and powers of Heads of State? And what should it mean, both at the EU and at the national level?

CompaRe’s third virtual PhD roundtable was held on 29 March 2023. In attendance were the head of the centre, staff and PhD candidates. The roundtable focused on brainstorming a wide range of questions around the research process.

On 29 January, the military administration in Myanmar sent a representative to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat, marking the first time that a representative from Myanmar has attended a high-level ASEAN meeting in over two years.

Leaders of the ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand have signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement.

This thesis investigates the application of deep learning techniques in image analysis across various domains, focusing on four main themes: feature extraction, classification, segmentation, and integration, demonstrating the transformative potential of these technologies.

On 30 October 2020, Armin Cuyvers was invited to give the inaugural lecture of the European Legal Studies Centre of the Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta.

In the last weeks, ASEAN published different Statements about the human rights situation in Myanmar and the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

On November 22 in Arusha, Tanzania, the Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EASC) endorsed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as its seventh Partner State. This meeting, chaired by Kenya’s EAC Affairs and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed, represents one of the…

On November 22 in Arusha, Tanzania, the Council of Ministers of the East African Community (EASC) endorsed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as its seventh Partner State.

Leiden University’s Van Vollenhoven Institute has cooperated for nearly three years in the SLEEI project with Indonesian partners. Next week SLEEI will present its main results on 28 March, including a course development handbook, and several teaching guides written by local law lecturers trained in…

What should a confederal constitution for the EAC look like? What are the legal challenges for making the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) work? And what insights can be drawn in this context from the successes and failures in the EU?

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

Following a series of diplomatic catastrophes and human rights violations in the country, Nicaragua has left the Organization of American States (OAS) on 19 November 2023. Unlike Brexit, where the decision to leave the EU was based on the famous 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum,…

The African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and the European Union have maintained a longstanding partnership known as the ACP-EU Partnership.

In the Netherlands approximately 130 out of 700 secondary schools offer a bilingual stream. However, research about CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is limited. With her dissertation Evelyn van Kampen (PhD student at ICLON) wants to contribute to the understanding of the nature and range…

PhD defence

Lecture, Symposium

Conference

Dr. Moritz Jesse, associate professor for European Law gave two presentations at the annual conference of the Council for European Studies, which took place in the city of Chicago, end of March 2018.

Today, 13 May 2024, Leiden University’s Executive Board is publishing the advice of the committee that investigated reports of unacceptable behaviour and breaches of academic integrity. These reports were about a professor from the university and their partner (a former member of the university staf…

PhD defence

Ben Van Rompuy, assistant professor of EU competition law, was an invited expert at the 23th Latin American and Caribbean Competition Forum (LACCF) organised in Quito, Ecuador on 28-29 September 2023.

Conference

The European Elections are approaching and we get to take a trip to our local polling station. But the turnout in the Netherlands is likely to be low and who exactly do we get to vote for? Rik de Ruiter, Associate Professor at the Institute of Public Administration, explains the two political dilemmas…

PhD defence

PhD defence