On 3 December 2019, Meda Couzens defended her thesis 'The application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child by national courts'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. T. Liefaard and Prof. J.J. Sloth-Nielsen.

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.

The book 'The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' is the result of the international academic conference – ’25 Years CRC’ – which was held in November 2014 in Leiden on the occasion of the 25th birthday of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Large numbers of children all over the world face significant health risks, such as infectious and chronic diseases, malnutrition, injuries and the consequences of natural disasters, protracted armed conflicts and poverty.

The drafting of a handbook that serves as the first guide to European law in the area of children's rights, taking into account the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as well as the decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights…

The Department of Child Law is a knowledge centre dedicated to academic research and education for both students and professionals in the field of child law and children's rights.

Parental divorce or separation is for many children an adverse experience in itself. Particularly the transitional period just before and after the separation between parents, during which parents and children have to adapt to the disruptions in family life is stressful. Previous studies showed that…

The programme group Parenting, Child Care and Development studies how parents and other educators affect children's development, well-being and health. The emphasis is on the child's social, emotional and cognitive development and prevention of problems in these areas.

The judge as a problem-solver in domestic violence cases involving child victims.

Central elements in the research activities of all programme group members are: attachment, sensitive caregiving, and prevention and intervention.

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…

The book 'The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' is the result of the international academic conference – ’25 Years CRC’ – which was held in November 2014 in Leiden on the occasion of the 25th birthday of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In the specialisation Child and Adolescent Psychology , part of the Master in Psychology, you develop practical skills in assessing and managing developmental psychopathology.

Researchers of the department of Child Law have submitted an advice to the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations, which monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, on 7 January 2019.

The position of child victims, globally and in Liberia and their right to physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration covered by art. 39 CRC.

On Thursday the 3rd of March 2016, Professor Bruning welcomed a delegation from the government of the Republic of Kosovo, within the framework of the Matra-project ‘Protecting Children in Kosovo: from Policy to Practice’.

Y.N. (Yannick) van den Brink (LL.M, MA) will be appointed Assistant Professor at the Child Law Department of the Leiden Law School as of 1 August 2016.

Almost three years after receiving her honorary doctorate, Dr Graça Machel returned to Leiden University. Over the course of two days she spoke with students, researchers, and other interested persons, about human rights – particularly those of women and children – in a world in which these are continually…

This research evaluates the Youth Act. It will provide an overview of how the transition takes place, whether the transformation process develops in the right direction and whether the legal safeguards are functioning properly.

Mark Klaassen and Peter Rodrigues have published a journal article on the role of the best interests of the child in EU family reunification law in the European Journal of Migration and Law. They conclude that even though the Court of Justice of the European Union has often referred to the best interests…

Peter Rodrigues contributed a chapter 'Human Rights and the Best Interests of the Child in European Family Reunification Law' in the book by Bergamini E., Ragni C. (Eds.), Fundamental Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Transnational Families.

On October 20th, the advanced International Children’s Rights master program and the Leiden Institute of Immigration Law co-organized a public lecture and Q&A session with Ms. Margaret Tuite, the European Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child.

Stephanie Rap and Yannick van den Brink, both assistant professor at the Department of Child Law, presented their research at the 11th EU Forum on the rights of the child: Children deprived of their liberty and alternatives to detention, which took place in Brussels from 6 to 8 November 2017.

Child maltreatment is a common problem in Vietnam. All forms of child maltreatment – emotional and physical – have a negative emotional effect on the child. In some cases, the child’s physical health and memory are also affected. These are the conclusions of PhD candidate Nhu Kieu Tran. Her PhD ceremony…

To what extent does the Law Ombudsperson for Children achieve its goals as intended by the legislator when introducing the law?

On Wednesday 12 December 2018, the department of Child Law, on the initiative of dr. Yannick van den Brink, dr. Stephanie Rap en prof. dr. Ton Liefaard), organized an expert meeting on ‘Equality, children’s rights and digital technologies’. The objective of the meeting was an in-depth exchange of ideas…

PhD Candidate Sabine K. Witting has published an article ‘Regulating bodies: child sexuality in the digital era’ in the Critical Quarterly for Legislation and Law, Vol. 1 2019.

Mr. Ade Jaya Suryani defended his thesis on 28 January 2021

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.

The main aim of this project is to reveal and unravel the invisible histories of the UN, transcending the dominant Western perspective to recover the historical agency of Global South actors. The research will investigate how the UN has both facilitated and limited their role in shaping global order…

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 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 Tragedy Of The Stupid Nation retraces three decades of political instability during which the people of the Central African Republic suffered from several waves of violence that led to the breakdown of the social cohesion between the different communities (first along ethnic, then along religious…

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.

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.

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.

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

The Leiden Children's Rights Observatory is an open access online database of case commentaries, written by international experts on children’s rights, referring to the decisions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on…

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

Zeynep Sarlak defended her thesis on 25 August 2020

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.

The Department of Child Law offers organisations consultancy expertise in the field of national and international child law and children's rights.

The Department of Child Law focuses in its education on the legal position of the child in national and international law.

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On 18 September 2019, Huw Llewellyn defended his thesis 'An Institutional Perspective on the United Nations Criminal Tribunals: Governance, Independence and Impartiality'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. N.M. Blokker and Prof. L.J. van den Herik.

The Children’s Rights Monitor provides a thematic overview of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Netherlands.

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…

Recently the Department of Child Law of Leiden Law School (Leiden University) launched the Leiden Children’s Rights Observatory.

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This article studies the securitization of immigration in the United States of America (U.S.), through the analysis of the National Security Strategies (NSS) published between 2002 and 2017, using a two-layered analytical framework that combines securitization theory and agenda setting theory.