Admission requirements
Master degree.
Course information
This core 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, this core course provides students thorough knowledge and understanding of the position of children’s rights in other areas of international law, including 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 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 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 court, UN institutions, such as the Security Council, and the African Union, the ILO, Council of Europe, European Union and the Organization of American States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
This course does not delve into the specific practice and jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child or the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, as those are the specific in depth subject areas to be studied in the course ‘Enforcement and Monitoring of Children’s Rights’.
The first part of this course is dedicated to providing an in-depth analysis of the foundations of children’s rights. The lectures focus on the emergence of children’s rights on the international arena, an outlook at the CRC, including a more detailed analysis of the four general principles set therein. Then students are invited to delve into a critical analysis of the rights of the child on the basis of existing schools of thought in the philosophy of law in this area, and the course includes a visit to UNICEF to further discuss the developments of children's rights and the role of international organizations 'on the ground'.
The second part of the course focuses on regional systems of protection for human rights. Students are expected to gain knowledge of regional human rights mechanisms as well as their impact on and potential for enhancing the rights of the child. Finally, in the last two weeks of the course students are immersed in three areas of international law (international criminal law, international labour law and children's rights and business principles) which have proven to be of particular importance for the rights of children.
All in all, by the end of the course students have a clear image of the rights of children at both global and regional level, as well as a critical perspective on the potential and limitations of the existing international legal mechanisms.
Course objectives
This course aims to provide in-depth and comparative knowledge about the international children’s rights framework that operates alongside or in tandem with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its treaty monitoring body, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The relationship between the other international and regional legal systems and their direct and indirect significance for the rights of children at the domestic level will be considered. This course invites students to reflect critically on the potential and limitations of the current institutions for the implementation of children’s rights at international, regional and domestic levels will be part of this course.
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, and an excursion (to UNICEF).
Examination method
Written exam: 70%
Oral assignment: 30%
Submission of written assignments via Brightspace.
Final grade and re-take information:
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.
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:
Ms. Rehana Dole, LLM
Email address: n.r.s.dole@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 2024 - 2025. Until these pages are fixed as per 1 September 2024 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 2024 may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.