‘The system is failing’, ‘the goals are only being achieved to a limited extent’, ‘we’re letting children down’. These are some of the newspaper headlines that followed the publication of a report by researchers from Leiden University in September. Commissioned by the Dutch Research and Documentation…

On 8 October, the Independent Expert, Prof. Manfred Nowak, leading the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty presented his report to the UN General Assembly. The presentation of the final report is set for 19 November 2019, at the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the…

On 30 April, Prime Minister Mark Rutte was presented with the manifesto of the NWO Youth Challenge, which contains advice for policymakers, scientists and administrators on the empowerment of youth in the time of coronavirus. The manifesto is based on research questions submitted to the science community…

The amici curiae brief was filed with the United States District Court for the Central District of California, on 28 January 2020.

Maria de Jong-de Kruijf was awarded a doctorate degree on 7 March for her research on children in secure residential youth care. The Dutch website for legal professionals, Mr. Online, interviewed her for their ‘lawyer of the week’ column.

Research conducted by the University of Leiden and the University of Curaçao found that the rights of undocumented children in Curaçao, mostly from Venezuela, are severely under threat, which does not trigger rigorous actions by the Curaçaoan and Dutch authorities.

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),…

Understanding others’ emotional behavior is essential for navigating daily social life. But how is such an understanding achieved? The eye-tracking study by Yung-Ting Tsou and colleagues shows that children with hearing loss adopt a unique visual strategy that makes uses of explicit visual information…

Recently, Ingrid Leijten’s book Core Socio-Economic Rights and the European Court of Human Rights was published with Cambridge University Press. The monograph was published in the series Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policy (edited by Laurence Gormley and Jo Shaw) and deals with the protection…

The Department of Child Law collaborated on a study on missing children in the European Union for the European Commission. The outcomes of the study aim to help to improve the mechanisms involved when children are missing in EU Member States.

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How many children are waiting for help from youth services in the Netherlands at any given time? And exactly how long do they have to wait?

This dissertation examines whether a cochlear implant provides congenitally deaf born children with sufficient auditory input to acquire low salient and syntactically and semantically complex functional items such as personal pronouns compared to their hearing peers.

Melanie Fink, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Europa Institute of Leiden University, has published her book Frontex and Human Rights, Responsibility in 'Multi-Actor Situations' under the ECHR and EU Public Liability Law. This work is based on her doctoral dissertation, which she defended in December…

From 9 until 20 October 2017 Stephanie Rap has visited the Renmin University of China Law School in Beijing to teach a course titled Juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice: interdisciplinary perspectives. She was warmly welcomed by the vice-dean Prof. Yanan Shi and Ms. Lei Chen, head of the law school’s…

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.

Brenda M.S. da Silva and colleagues designed and validated the “Moral Emotions Questionnaire” (MEQ) for identifying three major moral emotions in preschoolers – allowing to separately measure guilt, shame and pride at the youngest ages.

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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.

Inaugural lecture

Stephanie Rap and Chrisje Sandelowsky-Bosman have contributed as authors to the online training manual for lawyers, that is developed as part of the training programme Advancing the Defence Rights of Children.

On 1 October 2019 the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial law hosted its 19th guest lecture starring Paul Sharma, managing director at Alvarez & Marsal and co-head of the European Financial Industry Regulatory Advisory Services practices.

This article discusses the degree of independence that is required for national human rights institutions to function successfully.

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

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…

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.

Leiden Law School and the Center for Constitutional Studies of the Mexican Supreme Court (CEC-SCJN) have signed a memorandum of understanding, to carry out joint activities in the field of constitutional law and children's rights.

The ‘empathic mind’ in children with Specific Language Impairments (SLI); what can children with SLI understand of other people’s minds and emotions?

How does having limited access to the social world affect Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) children’s emotional development? And in turn, how do impairments in emotional functioning affect social development and the development of psychopathology?

Why do children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulties with acquiring emotion regulation skills; and how is this related to their social impairments and comorbid psychopathology?

Dissertation

On October 20th, at 13:00-15:00 in Grotiuszaal (A051 KOG) the advanced International Children’s Rights program and the Leiden Institute of Immigration Law will co-organize a lecture by Ms. Margaret Tuite, the European Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child.

On 24 November 2022, Simone van der Hof delivered the annual Mulock Houwer Lecture. The title of the lecture was ‘Niet om de knikkers maar om het spel – Over de digitale versie van een vergeten kinderrecht’.

Development and validation of instruments that can measure different aspects of emotional competence in children with normal and atypical development, and in different cultures

This dissertation aims at enhancing our knowledge of whether a CI provides sufficient access to auditory speech input to acquire verbal morphology by comparing outcomes of CI children to those of their normal hearing peers and to those of children with specific language impaired (SLI).

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.

Reading emotions from others’ faces strengthens social relationships. But how is that for children with hearing loss? Can they learn to read faces just as easily as hearing children? The study by Yung-Ting Tsou and colleagues shows that daily

Growth and development affect the metabolism of drugs administered to neonates, infants, and children.

In the last five years the Dutch children’s ombudsman has developed into a full-fledged supervisory body monitoring compliance with children’s rights in the Netherlands. A fuller engagement with its statutory tasks, greater involvement of children and strengthening the autonomous position of the children’s…

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…

Adoptees in the Netherlands generally do not use more medication than their non-adopted peers.

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.

An integrated approach of physiological concepts, advanced statistical approaches and large clinical datasets.

The KNAW Early Career Award 2019 has been awarded to lecturer in children’s rights Stephanie Rap. She receives the award for her research into international children's rights.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to Stephanie Rap. This award offers promising young scientists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

From descriptive to physiological models that can predict oral absorption and elimination of CYP3A substrates across the pediatric age range.

On the occasion of the conferral of an honorary doctorate to children’s rights activist Graça Machel, a fund has been established that will enable two female students from South Africa to come and study in Leiden.

Contraband and forced recruitment: How rebels' exploitation of natural resources can increase their willingness to forcibly recruit children.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) by the UN General Assembly. How do countries implement this treaty and how does it relate to their own national legal system? PhD defence on 3 December 2019.

This longitudinal study is focused on neurodevelopmental problems in young children with XXY, XXX and XYY, aged 1 to 6 years.