Dr. Kosta held a presentation on her research ‘The EU Fundamental Right to ‘Freedom of the Arts and Sciences’: Exploring the Limits on the Commercialisation of Academia’ at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich on 25 May 2020.

In June of this year, LL.M student Matthijs de Meer visited the East African Court of Justice for an internship.

Mariana Gkliati was invited by the Lawyers Without Borders Student Division of Aberdeen University to participate in their Annual Human Rights Conference dedicated to refugee protection.

Ymre Schuurmans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, has been appointed Chair of the Dutch Legal Aid Board’s Advisory Council following permission from the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection.

Martin Richardson, who graduated in 1997 from what was then the Leiden LLM Programme in European Community Law (now: Leiden Adv LLM European and International Business Law, EIBL), has recently been appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, meaning that he is now a judge of the highest…

Ten underage boys are due to appear before a juvenile court. They are accused of luring and attacking nine men whom they believed were paedophiles. Last October, one attack cost a 73-year-old former teacher from Arnhem his life.

Esmée Driessen presented and defended her preliminary report ‘De dienstbare overheid bij het faciliteren van burgerinitiatieven’ (service-minded government and facilitating citizens’ initiatives) during the Young VAR (Young Administrative Law Association) on Friday 18 November.

It is not possible for juvenile courts to properly assess whether it is necessary to place a child in care. This is evident from a fact sheet that has been prepared by legal scholars from Leiden University, commissioned by the Dutch House of Representatives and others.

De online cursis begint op maandag 12 november en de inschrijving is nu geopend.

De VN-Veiligheidsraad kwam maandag 5 januari bijeen over de Amerikaanse militaire actie tegen Venezuela, waarbij de Venezolaanse leider Nicolás Maduro gevangen werd genomen en overgebracht naar de VS. Hoogleraar internationaal recht, Larissa van den Herik, zegt voor de NOS geen veroordeling van de VS…

On 1 March Armin Cuvyers was interviewed on BNR national radio on Brexit, the Draft Withdrawal Agreement of the Commission and the key Brexit speech by Theresa May planned for 2 March.

Hoogleraar Encyclopedie van de Rechtwetenschap Bastiaan Rijpkema roept met een opiniestuk in NRC op tot een weerbare democratie in 2025: ‘Democratisch ethos vraagt meer dan een gloedvol betoog.’

Esteban Szmulewicz, a PhD candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, spoke at the annual Salzburg Global Weekend, organised by the Salzburg Global Seminar with the theme 'Democracy on the Front Lines'. Key speakers included Nobel Peace Laureate the Ukrainian Civil Rights defender…

The Dutch childcare allowance affair has exposed the failings of the democratic constitutional state. Early in 2021, the government therefore pledged to establish a new public administration culture. There’s still a long way to go to achieve this.

On 14 April 2016, Professor Carsten Stahn, Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in The Hague, and Ambassador Bernd Borchardt, Founding Director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, signed a new partnership agreement on research cooperation and joint…

Paul van der Heijden, professor emeritus International Labour Law, was recently appointed by the British Minister for Trade as an independent arbitrator under the dispute settlement provisions of the United Kingdom’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan.

The Salzburg Global Seminar is an independent non-profit organisation founded in 1947 with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to shape a better world. It has had multiple programmes over time. Esteban Szmuleiwicz participated as a Fellow on the programme titled Health and Economic Well-being:…

On 17 November 2023, Dr Mark Klaassen participated in a seminar commemorating the 20th anniversary of the EU Family Reunification Directive. The event, initiated by Dr Karen Geertsema and Professor Tineke Strik, was hosted by the Centre for Migration Law at Radboud University in Nijmegen.

As part of the events to mark the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization, the Department of Labour Law of Leiden University has organized a film evening together with Kijkhuis cinema in Leiden.

On 16 December 2023, the Swiss federal government published information on the next steps in its relationship with the EU.

On 8 December 2022, the day that Croatia was given the green light to fully join the Schengen area, the faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb organised the UNESCO Chair Conference on Schengen and external borders. Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law was invited to address the legal and political…

Ukrainian President Zelensky has indicated on several occasions that he wants to be part of the European Union. According to Caroline van der Plas, Dutch MP for the BoerBurgerBeweging party, this is not possible. Any country that wants to join the EU must go through the standard procedure. No except…

Ukrainian refugees are being allowed to work in the Netherlands straight away. So Why do other refugees sometimes have to wait years before they can work?

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which is carrying out the investigation into the MH17 disaster has identified four suspects who have been brought in connection with bringing down the aircraft. The four are to be prosecuted and as a result have been placed on international wanted lists.

The asylum seekers’ centres in Hengelo, Almelo and Schalkhaar caused little or no nuisance in recent years. There have been hardly any incidents, according to information received by Dutch regional TV channel RTV Oost. However, Maarten Offinga, Mayor of Hardenberg, sounded the alarm with the state secretary…

On 23 March 2023 Weidong Zhang defended his thesis in Leiden on achieving decent work in China. This research analyses to what extent China is achieving decent work based on a case study of decent working time. The word ‘achieving’ underlines that China is still in the process of securing this aim.…

On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, 10 December, a special guest lecture was given by Ms. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Representative on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

At the request of Dutch Parliament, Professor of European Law, Freya Baetens, wrote an expert case study on the EU-Canada Free Trade Agreement (CETA) and the EU-Indonesia Free Trade Agreement (CEPA-Indonesia). This factsheet offers parliamentarians clear, research-based insights into complex policy…

Friday 22 September marked the launch of the “Investment Support Programme for the LDCs” at the United Nations in New York.

Vasiliki Kosta held a fellowship at the Leuven Institute of Advanced Studies in autumn 2025, by invitation of the rector of the University of Leuven, on the occasion of the 600 years anniversary of KU Leuven

Presentations and report!

The Europa Institute organized, in collaboration with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, on the 3rd of May 2021, a Holocaust Survivor Talk.

The UN is highly critical of the Netherlands over the effect of its Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (WIA). Contrary to agreements, workers who are less than 35% incapacitated for work receive no benefits and the income of their partner is taken into account when they apply for welfare benefits.…

It is becoming increasingly common for large Dutch municipalities, including the Municipality of Amsterdam, to allow special enforcement officers to wear religious symbols such as the kippah and headscarf. Dutch Minister of Justice Dilan Yesilgöz and PVV party leader Geert Wilders are opposed to this…

Mass claims are increasingly common in the Netherlands. Branda Katan, Professor by special appointment in Corporate Law, spoke to news website NU.nl about the chances of their success: ‘A lot of time and money goes into these cases.’

The past decade, against the backdrop of a fragmented political landscape, has witnessed the greatest changes to the Netherlands since the aftermath of the Second World War. The labour market, the housing market, the energy market, the bank system, the pension system, the healthcare system, to name…

In the upcoming Dutch general elections, the focus of the party campaigns is on national issues. Luuk van Middelaar, Professor of Foundations and Practice of the European Union and its Institutions, argues in a column in Dutch newspaper NRC that foreign policy should also be on the agenda.

Geert Wilders zaait twijfel door de verkiezingsuitslag in twijfel te trekken, wat volgens critici herinnert aan de tactiek van Donald Trump. Hoogleraar staatsrecht, Wim Voermans, noemt het in het Nederlands Dagblad een ‘trumpiaans soort hetze.’

The United States has recently imposed sanctions on four more senior officials of the International Criminal Court, including Judge Prost, who is a Canadian national. Jens Iverson, assistant professor of international law, commented on this in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper.

The introduction of a compulsory coronavirus entry pass in the workplace is currently being considered behind the scenes. Dutch Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge spoke about this at the press conference on Tuesday 2 November. But such a measure is not without problems.

What happens if a Member State decides to withdraw from the European Union? The “Brexit Charts” aim to provide information on the withdrawal procedure under Art. 50 TEU, on the legal consequences of leaving the EU and on the future relationship of the withdrawing state with the European Union.

Dr Moritz Jesse (Associate Professor at the Department of European law) spoke at a symposium organised at Oxford Brooks University. The symposium, which took place in October 2022, dealt with the question in how far integration of economic immigrants can be facilitated by the Law and the application…

Queer youths seeking asylum in the Netherlands are not adequately protected. The system that assesses asylum claims lacks child-specific processes and often fails to notice these youths' suffering.

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is refusing to release documents on the safety of Schiphol Airport, despite a court ruling that they must be made public. The case has been running for four years and was brought by current affairs programme EenVandaag.

Roughly arrested and subjected to extreme isolation. Using his experience, expert Jason Bhugwandass spoke to 50 young people who have spent time on Zikos wards (‘very intense, short-term observation and stabilisation wards’). He concluded that they’re ‘mostly locked up’ and leave ‘even more traumatised’…

On 29 and 30 June, Ingrid Leijten participated in an international workshop held at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (IISJ) in Oñati, Spain.

In 1970, compulsory voting was abolished in the Netherlands. It wasn’t functioning at the time, and it was abolished for practical and ideological reasons, says Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, on a BNNVARA podcast.

Ilektra Antonaki has published her book ‘Capital, Market and the State - Reconciling Free Movement of Capital with Public Interest Objectives’. The book is based on her doctoral dissertation, which she defended cum laude in September 2019, at Leiden University.

Ever since the coronavirus crisis began, people have been arguing about the legal justification for measures. The problem: far-reaching measures such as an obligation to wear face masks, get tested, or school closures violate the Constitution. The Cabinet had the difficult task of weighing fundamental…

Beryl ter Haar is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland. The Law School is the oldest part of the university (founded in 1808), followed by the School of Medicine (founded one year later). The two schools became the heart of Warsaw University which was founded in 1816 by…