Leiden Law School celebrates 5 years of the Frontiers of Children’s Rights Summer School
On Wednesday 5 July 2017 the Child Law Department and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School hosted a festive drinks reception to celebrate 5 years of the Frontiers of Children's Rights Summer School, that has welcomed professionals, researchers and students from all over the world since its establishment in 2013.
During the event, the Dean of Leiden Law School, Prof. Joanne van der Leun, was presented with a gift: a booklet with impressions of the first five years of the summer school. In her speech, she reiterated her support for the programme and expressed her appreciation of the multi-layered and interdisciplinary programme which reflects this relatively new area of law.
The summer school ‘Frontiers of Children’s Rights’ has indeed developed into a high quality post-academic programme that offers knowledge of and insight in the meaning of international children’s rights in a wide array of specific contexts. Participants engage with renowned international experts, academics and global leaders in children’s rights in interactive seminars and workshops on themes like migration, juvenile justice, alternative care, climate change, international crises and conflict, digital technologies as well as business and children’s rights.
To make the summer school a success, the course coordinators collaborate with representatives from a number of institutions and organisations, including UNICEF, Defence for Children International, and the International Criminal Court.
The participants of the 5th edition thus visited the International Criminal Court for a discussion of the ICC Policy on Children with two experts of the Court, and they had the extraordinary possibility to discuss the effects of climate change on children with Mr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Chair of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Mr. Mezmur flew in from Cape Town just to meet with the participants in the summer school, and provided them with plenty of inspiration to continue their work on a common goal: to make the world a better and more just place for children, families and communities.
