Admission requirements
Master degree.
Course information
This course engages in children’s rights as part of international human rights law, including the historical development of children’s rights, the position of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in relation to other UN human rights instruments and the relation between the CRC and regional human rights instruments such as the European Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child and the American Convention on Human Rights.
In addition, it provides students with thorough knowledge and understanding of the position of children’s rights in other areas of international law, including human rights law, international labour law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Particular attention will be devoted to the added value of other legal instruments compared to the CRC as well as to the role of international institutions for the interpretation and implementation of children’s rights, including, inter alia, treaty bodies, human rights courts, international criminal courts or UN institutions.
Course objectives
After this course the student will be able to:
scrutinize the main features of the UN and regional human rights systems, including the ways in which different human rights protection mechanisms co-exist, overlap and may influence each other;
assess the development of international children’s rights , its main features and ‘added value’;
assess the different workings of different human and children’s rights protection mechanisms at the UN and regional level, and its interaction with domestic protection mechanisms;
assess the strengths and weaknesses of the various UN and regional protection mechanisms for children within their political, social and legal setting.
Mode of instruction
Weekly (guest)lectures and seminars.
Examination method
Written exam: 70%
Oral assignment: 30%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average of all the course components. Students have access to a re-take if the grade point average of all the course components is below 6 (fail).
It will be up to the discretion of the relevant lecturer/examiner to decide on the form of the retake. The retake may consist of a written retake exam, oral retake exam or any other kind of assessment that is deemed appropriate.
The instructions for the assignments can be found on Brightspace, under ‘Assignments’.
Brightspace
The course manual, including the reading list, will be published on Brightspace.
Submission of written assignments via BrightSpace.
Course materials
The reading list for the course will be published in two parts of 5 weeks each. Any changes and/or additions will be communicated through Brightspace. In most cases the readings and legal instruments on the list contains a link to the reading or material. If this is not the case students must look it up in the Library or online themselves.
Contact
Coordinator of the course:
Dr. K.F.M. Klep and Rehana Dole, LLM
Telephone number: 0031 (0)-71 527 1325
Email address: k.f.m.klep@law.leidenuniv.nl
Programme Officer:
Ms. Esther Uiterweerd
Telephone number: 0031 (0)-71 527 4644
Email address: childrensrights@law.leidenuniv.nl
Disclaimer:
Currently these pages are being updated to reflect the courses for 2023 - 2024. Until these pages are fixed as per 1 September 2023 no rights can be claimed from the information which is currently contained within.
Should there be any future extenuating circumstances which may impinge our teaching and assessment, these could necessitate modification of the course descriptions after 1 September. This will only happen in the event of strict necessity and the interests of the students will be taken into account. Should there be a need for any change during the course, this will be informed to all students on a timely basis. Modifications after 1 September 2023 may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.