As a student in Security Studies you are a socially engaged critical thinker eager to study real-life security cases in an academic setting. You focus not just on the broad context of these issues but also on the role of government, institutions and media. Want to know more? Sign up for one of our Open…

The university aims to expose all students to sustainability topics and issues that are relevant to their field during their time studying here. Students are educated to become academic professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute to the sustainability transition.

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 10 June 2021, Merinda Stewart defended her thesis 'Freedom of Overflight: A Study of Coastal State Jurisdiction in International Airspace'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P.M.J. Mendes de Leon en Prof. J.J. Rijpma.

The project 'Policing the high seas: maritime law-enforcement in a multi-actor environment' aims to identify the gaps in the legal framework for EU activities in the maritime security domain, and specifically in the areas of combating piracy, human smuggling or trafficking and drug trafficking.

On this page you will find all information about the Bachelor of Security Studies that you need as a first-year student.

On 20 November, Special Professor of United Nations Studies in Peace and Justice, Alanna O'Malley, presented her research agenda for the next 3 years. An ambitious agenda full of projects to gain more insight into the origin and functioning of the UN.

This book explores the spiritual potential of faith, mysticism and transcendence in answer to the dangers of a mythologised state and the sacro-sanctification of (liberal) democracy and its rule of law.

Criminology and Security Policy is a challenging Dutch-taught master's programme at the renowned Leiden Law School of Leiden University. This programme – with its multidisciplinary perspective - focuses on the security issues in society and the development of effective and legitimate policy in order…

Four videos tell the story of the history of Leiden University. The films were premiered on 2 November during the Leiden Film Festival.

“Transitional justice” is a field of practice, policy and study that focuses on the ways that societies respond to legacies of large-scale atrocities though tribunals, truth commissions, reparations, and other mechanisms.

In Sri Lanka, a prominent Singhalese Buddhist monk publicly proclaims that it is not a sin to kill Tamils. In Japan, the family register kept in a Buddhist temple and specifying the outcaste status of a lineage is provided to private detectives investigating the marriageability of a young woman. Throughout…

Since the late 1990s Leiden University has been located in two cities: Leiden and The Hague. Leiden is where the University was founded and still forms its heart, with six of the seven faculties being housed there. The faculty of Governance and Global Affairs is located in The Hague and most of the…

What opportunities and threats 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?

Tom Buitelaar is an Assistant Professor in the War, Peace & Justice programme of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. This paper discusses four important challenges to the involvement of UN peace operations in international criminal justice: its effects on host state relations, peace and justice…

On 5 May we celebrate freedom, a basic human right that should not be taken for granted. We asked international students and staff what it means to them.

On 12 mei 2020, Darryl Robinson defended 'Exploring Justice in Extreme Cases: Criminal Law Theory and International Criminal Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. C. Stahn.

‘Praesidium Libertatis is a daily responsibility.’ These were the words of Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker on 8 February during the 443rd Dies Natalis of Leiden University. The University needs to pay continuous attention to open debate if it wants to remain a bastion of freedom.

The AI research in the area of peace, justice and security at each of the three universities in Zuid-Holland complements the AI research being performed by the other two. Three researchers explain. Part one in a series of five about themes that the three universities’ AI research covers.

Home to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, The Hague is the perfect backdrop to explore conceptions of justice in our global society. Questions of human rights, peace, security and the environment present legal and policy challenges for governmental and non-governmental…

Promotores: Prof. dr. G.R. (Geert) de Snoo, Dr. E. (Ester) van der Voet

From 23-25 April 2014, a conference will be held on the topic of Buddhism and Social Justice. This conference confronts the common perception of Buddhism as intrinsically a tradition of peace and justice, and explores the various ways in which historically Buddhist societies of Asia have shaped, transmitted,…

Promotores: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck, Prof.dr. M.R.V. Chaudron, Co-Promotor: M.T.M. Emmerich

The Just Peace festival is coming up shortly. From 21 to 24 September we will be celebrating peace in The Hague with some inspiring HagueTalks, the Peace in the Park festival and the annual Peace Run.

The AI research in the area of peace, justice and security at each of the three universities in Zuid-Holland complements the AI research being performed by the other two. Three researchers explain. Part one in a series of five about themes that the three universities’ AI research covers.

From 2-4 November Jorrit Rijpma taught the students of the Master in European Law at the European Public Law Institute in Athens.

Professor Jan Willem Erisman is happy with the freedom at our University. But frameworks are needed, he believes. That is why he makes a proposal for such a framework from the perspective of his own profession. In fact, he makes a proposal for a wonderful ambition for Leiden University.

On 6 September 2018 Jacqueline Vel of the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society organised a master class on ‘Access to Justice’ at the invitation of the Wira Wacana Christian University in Waingapu, Sumba, Indonesia.

Can suffering be positive? Currently dominant discourses, primarily voiced through human rights activism and humanitarianism, maintain the opposite: suffering, mentally and physically, has to be avoided and where it exists, it has to be reduced.

Within the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, research is organised in seven main research groups:

This specialisation offers a structured, intensive curriculum balancing substantive and skills-oriented courses, plus a research thesis.

For most of the past ten years, Europe has been in a state of ‘crisis’. The bank crisis mutated seamlessly via the Euro crisis to the present migrant crisis. Whereas previously the general assumption was that even closer cooperation within the European Union was a foregone conclusion, the EU is now…

Tom Buitelaar is an Assistant Professor in the War, Peace & Justice program of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. This paper suggests a number of important avenues for states, the UN, and the ICC to improve the likelihood that the ICC receives assistance from UN peace operations.

Islamic State may be losing ground rapidly, but Syrian President Assad's position is gaining strength. His torture chambers and the battlefield are scenes of countless criminal acts. Will these crimes ever come to trial, at the International Criminal Court, for example?

Which key factors contribute to effective land justice pathways for the protection of people’s land rights and prevention of conflict?

Prof. Ton Liefaard has been appointed as member of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles.

Several studies into the prevalence of child abuse in the Netherlands were conducted on behalf of the Ministries of Security and Justice and of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Samson Committee and the WODC.

Since the late 1990s, Leiden University has been located in two cities: Leiden and The Hague. Leiden Law School is also involved in teaching and research at Campus The Hague.

Members of LUCIR contribute to various education programmes in the sphere of international relations, exchanging expertise with both bachelor’s and master’s students.

On Wednesday 24 January 2018 Margaret Kuiper defended her doctoral thesis ‘Het woord en de daad’ (The word and the deed). Her supervisors are Professor E.R. Muller and Professor T.A.H. Doreleijers. Co-supervisor is Dr J.A. van Wilsem.

The consequences of social tendencies for the legislation and institutions in the fields of social security, the labor market policy and pension reform are examined in this multdisciplinary research program..