With roadworks to widen the A1 motorway near Deventer (province of Overijssel, the Netherlands) now complete, a substantial dispute has arisen between the Municipality of Deventer and the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat, RWS). The municipality is demanding…

After the episode of TV programme 'Collegetour' featuring Dutch Minister of Finance Sigrid Kaag, more attention is (rightly) being paid to threats made to politicians. Jeroen ten Voorde, Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, answered pressing questions about this topic on Dutch news programme '…

Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law

Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law, together with Greek independent researcher Apostolis Fotiadis, investigated the European Commission’s enforcement powers in relation to fundamental rights compliance at Europe’s external borders. The study was commissioned and funded by the Greens Group of the…

Nine talented Leiden University researchers have been awarded a Vidi subsidy by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Faculty of Governance and Global affairs is represented by Alexandre Afonso from the Institute of Public Administration and his Vidi- subsidy win for his research…

Students and staff members at the Faculty Campus The Hague are cordially invited by the JASON Institute to join a group discussion with the Dutch EMP Mr. Hans van Baalen and Lithuanian MEP Mr. Petras Auštrevičius, together with Mr. Bart Hogeveen from institute Clingendael as the moderator, at the Lithuanian…

It has happened more and more frequently in recent weeks: large groups of Moldovans who come to the Netherlands hoping to get asylum here. This means that Moldovans are currently the largest group of asylum seekers in the Netherlands after Syrians. It is unclear what caused this sudden influx.

After the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, Switzerland is worried about what this will mean for its relationship with the European Union.

The book on Turkey. A Modern History written by Professor Erik-Jan Zürcher, Professor of Turkish Studies, is now available in nine different languages. Arabic and Polish versions have now been published.

Leiden researchers Max van Duijn (Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science) and Vasilika Kosta (Leiden Law School, Europa Institute) will join The Young Academy (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) KNAW)).

Dutch right-wing political party Forum for Democracy has repeatedly demonstrated that it has no lower limit when it comes to morals. Should the courts in the Netherlands protect democracy by banning parties like Forum? Several legal experts from Leiden University commented on this question in newspaper…

According to a recent court ruling, the reception of asylum applicants in the Netherlands is not in line with European requirements. The Dutch Government must take measures to amend the situation. What are the problems concerning the reception of asylum applicants and how realistic are the court’s d…

On Friday 26 August 2022, the Dutch cabinet presented its new asylum agreement. According to Assistant Professor Mark Klaassen, the new agreement is barely legal.

Residents of Bonaire believe the Dutch government should do more to combat climate change on their island. On their behalf, Greenpeace is taking the Dutch State to court. External PhD candidate Sjoerd Lopik discussed the case on Dutch Radio 1.

There are certainly ten airlines who do not carry out an identity check in the Schengen area upon check-in.

Governments are increasingly cracking down on tech companies like X, Telegram and Clearview that flout the law, with a fine, ban or criminal prosecution. In practice, however, this has little effect. A tougher stance is needed, argues Bart Custers, Professor of Law and Data Science at eLaw – Center…

On 21 April 2021, Armin Cuyvers lectured students and staff of the University of Nairobi on EU law and comparative regional integration.

On 23 June 2022, Kristof Gombeer succesfully defended his dissertation entitled ‘Relations of Duty in an Age of Rights: A study of the supply side of human rights in the context of maritime migration’.

Adv. LL.M. Students visit the International Criminal Court

Early November, Professor of European Law Jorrit Rijpma contributed to Europol's Virtual Foresight Exercise to address the future impact on serious and organised crime in the EU. Human trafficking, smuggling and other forms of organised cross border crime fall within the competence of Europol.

Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor at eLaw – Center for Law and Digital Technologies, has been appointed Co-Rapporteur for a new joint project of the European Law Institute (ELI) and the American Law Institute (ALI): 'Principles for the Governance of Biometrics'. The project aims to formulate…

New volume in the Jus Post Bellum series

In the confrontational ‘House of Misconceptions’, visitors put themselves in another person’s shoes and have to justify their existence. The performance is the result of a unique collaboration between the Liquid Society art collective and Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude and her st…

On 6 March 2018, the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection, Mr. Dekker, responded to the Ph.D. dissertation ‘Voorlopige hechtenis in het Nederlandse jeugdstrafrecht’ (‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’) in a Letter to Parliament.

Hoe kijken Nederlandse bedrijven naar online prijsdiscriminatie? Kimia Heidary, Bart Custers, Helen Pluut en Jean-Pierre van der Rest schreven hier een artikel over.

On 12 October, Melanie Fink and Jorrit Rijpma presented at the Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights in Warsaw, on the issue of responsibility under EU and international law.

According to Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has systematically been dismantling the rule of law in Hungary since 2010. In a final attempt to do something about this, the EU wants to make payment of subsidies dependent on respect for the rule of law.

The euro crisis of 2010 has shown that the Eurozone lacks economic cohesion and that EU fiscal integration is needed for a stable euro. But can this integration exist without clashing with the national constitutional interests of the Member States? Frederik Behre looked into this matter in his PhD-thesis…

In a lawsuit concerning the upcoming Dutch elections, the Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals) is claiming that everyone should be able to cast a postal vote. Is it a form of discrimination that everyone above the age of 70 is allowed to cast their vote by post, but people who are younger and…

On 28 and 29 June researchers from across the EU came together at Leiden Law School for the first MOSE Young Researcher Workshop.

On 22 March 2016, Prof. Carsten Stahn spoke on prosecuting Human Trafficking as a Crime Against Humanity at a Conference on International Criminal Justice, hosted by the Collaborative Innovation Center of Judicial Civilization of Zhejing University in Hangzhou, China.

In October, the Provincial Executive in Friesland reprimanded four civil servants who had signed an incendiary letter asking the government to adopt a more active climate policy. Wim Voermans, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, feels that the Executive made a mistake.

On the 1 June 2021, Professor Eric De Brabandere and Dr Daniel Peat of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School launched the Leiden Investment Treaty Arbitration Database.

The Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV) has issued an opinion on possibilities for reform within the European Union (EU) in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the EU budget, and protecting the rule of law.

The Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) and the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) want to use private DNA databases for genealogical research in criminal investigations. The method could be used in serious criminal cases that have stalled and it is already being used in investigations abroad. Whether…

‘From formal equality to transformative equality: the road to “other law” according to Holtmaat?’

Engagement between Asia and Europe is increasing. If these continents want to build a lasting relationship, they need to understand each other better in the economic, socio-cultural, historical and legal arena. Researchers from Leiden have already contributed to the body of knowledge on past and present…

Subproject of

How are night spaces imagined, produced, experienced and narrated by migrant communities in Europe? This research project considers this question in eight European cities: Aarhus, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cork, Galway, Lisbon, London, Rotterdam. Authorities have historically wrestled with the issue of night-time…

The lecture series 'Humanity in the Automated State' examines how AI and automated systems are transforming government and public administration and what it means to be human within these digitised institutions.

Issues such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources or social inequality are too complex to be addressed from a single scientific discipline or by a single country. Leiden University has the expertise to bring the resolution of these enormous problems a small step closer.

The Urban Studies bachelor’s programme is based on two learning trajectories. One trajectory focuses on in-depth knowledge of urban issues; the other develops your methodological, academic and professional skills.

Supermarkets collect valuable information about their consumers from loyalty cards. Gerrit-Jan Zwenne, Professor of Law and Digital Technologies, tells online science magazine Quest: 'Consumers underestimate the value their data holds for supermarkets.'

Four men have been sentenced to 25 years in jail for murdering a female relative. Jeroen ten Voorde, Professor of Criminal and Criminal Procedural Law, spoke to ‘Trouw’ newspaper about the court ruling: ‘They're all considered perpetrators under criminal law.’

In two moving articles, Dutch newspaper Trouw has reported on the lengthy detention of Abu Zubaydah in Guantánamo Bay. Zubaydah was tortured over a period of many years. Helen Duffy, Professor of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, and also Zubaydah’s lawyer, recently booked a major victory…

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?