Admission requirements
Masters Degree
Description
This course focuses on an advanced understanding of emerging jurisprudence on economic, social and cultural rights, specifically as they pertain to children. It will review the theoretical and historical foundations of socio-economic rights as human rights, highlight their significance for children and their wellbeing, and identify the relevance of the various international legal frameworks to domestic implementation and the fulfilment of children’s rights.
The course will review not only the contents, standards and means of enforcing social, economic and cultural rights, but also explore in particular the positive state obligations in respect to their fulfilment. Since the terrain of economic, social and cultural rights is fairly extensive, the course will hone in on the right to health, the right to have access to social security and an adequate standard of living (poverty alleviation and children’s rights), and the right to education (including early childhood education). Cultural rights will also receive attention.
Central themes that form part of the core understanding of this course include the concepts of progressive realisation of rights, minimum core content, the justiciability of social, economic and cultural rights at the international, regional and domestic level, the meaning of “reasonableness” in the context of socio-economic rights implementation, available budgetary resources, retrogressive measures and international cooperation.
The fourth or final week of the course will be a litigation workshop focussing on selected cases in the domain of economic social and cultural rights, drawing from jurisprudence of domestic courts and international treaty bodies.
Course objectives
After the course the student will be able to:
assess the linkages between different treaty bodies and other international organisations and their approaches to children’s economic, social and cultural rights;
interpret the theoretical concepts which have emerged in the jurisprudence on economic social and cultural rights;
engage with concepts such as reasonableness, retrogressive measures, available budgetary resources, the 4 ‘A’ scheme relevant to the right to education, and the respective roles of states and families in fulfilling children’s claims to social economic and cultural rights;
dissect jurisprudence from selected domestic cases and findings of international treaty bodies in order to apply theoretical concepts to practical examples emanating from litigation;
identify how social and economic rights claims intersect with economic considerations;
assess litigation strategies that can be pursued in the context of social and economic rights.
Mode of Instruction
5 weeks of (guest)lectures and seminars, including 1 workshop.
Assessment method
Oral presentation (students work in pairs): 40%
Written take home exam: 60%
The final grade for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
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.
Brightspace
The course manual, including the reading list, will be published on Brightspace.
Submission of written assignments via Brightspace.
Course materials
A list of all study materials will be published on Brightspace. Unless otherwise indicated, all study materials are available via the online catalogue or as a paper copy in the Leiden Law Library.
Contact
Coordinator of the course:
Dr. Katrien Klep
Telephone number: 0031-71 527 1325
Email address: k.f.m.klep@law.leidenuniv.nl
Programme Officer:
Ms. Esther Uiterweerd
Telephone number: 0031- 71 527 4644
E-mail: childrensrights@law.leidenuniv.nl
Disclaimer:
Currently these pages are being updated to reflect the courses for 2022 - 2023. Until these pages are fixed as per 1 September 2022 no rights can be claimed from the information which is currently contained within.
Should there be any future changes of the Covid 19 virus 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 2022 may only be done with the approval and consent of the Faculty Board and Programme Director.