Leiden University and UNICEF Netherlands renew collaboration

On Wednesday, August 24, 2016, Leiden University and UNICEF Netherlands extended the successful collaboration for the next five years. During this period, there will be cooperation on an international children's rights expertise center around the UNICEF Chair in Children's Rights.

This expertise center will focus on fundamental and applied children's rights research and education for students and professionals. The proposed center will make connections between law and other scientific disciplines, nationally and internationally, with law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as a starting point.

'To make children's rights truly meaningful, scientific research and children's rights education for students and professionals are of the utmost importance. We want to continue working on this in the coming years, together with UNICEF Netherlands," says Professor Ton Liefaard . Jan Bouke Wijbrandi, director of UNICEF Netherlands, adds: 'The collaboration deepens and broadens knowledge about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is vital for the realization of children's rights in practice, and therefore has a positive impact on the rights and well-being of children – the mission of UNICEF'.

Five years ago, UNICEF Netherlands and the Faculty of Law of Leiden University started an initial five-year collaboration. During this collaboration, the UNICEF Chair in Children's Rights and the part-time chair in Children's Rights in the Developing World were created, the Master in Youth Law and the Master in Advanced Studies in International Children's Rights were launched, and scientific research into the rights of the child has resulted in Dutch and international publications. The annual Summer School Frontiers of Children's Rights has also been realized.