Reaching beyond patriarchal boundaries

Johann Jacob Bachofen, who argued that before patriarchy there was matriarchy, should not just be criticized for his ideas. He should be valued as a very brave legal scholar who dared to study mythology – a field beyond his own discipline.

Wim Bonis • March 23, 2016

The Jungle and the Right to Family Unification

A UK Tribunal has ruled that four asylum seekers from ‘the Jungle’ of Calais have to be reunited with their family members in the UK while awaiting an asylum decision.

Mark Klaassen • February 10, 2016

Making space for animals and their rights

Most people, including legal scholars, still have a strong species bias. Yet there are significant developments and new insights which give good reason to expand our conception of rights beyond the human world, to include (other) animals.

Wim Bonis • February 03, 2016 • 2 comments

Living in a world of give and take

We tend to respond to the taking away behaviour of terrorists and criminals in general by taking away even more from them, and focus as a result on what we do not want in our world. Yet it is important to shift our focus to what we actually do want.

Wim Bonis • December 11, 2015 • 2 comments

Abraham Keita: ‘I want to be a light for children in the darkness’

The Child Law Department has produced a KidsRights Report on justice for child victims of violence, to support the 2015 International Children’s Peace Prize. This year the International Children’s Peace Prize is awarded to Abraham Keita (17, Liberia)

Apollonia Bolscher • November 12, 2015

HL Hart in South Sudan: the war-torn secondary rule of recognition

To what extent does an authoritarian regime still need to justify its course by reference to law? Hart’s classic distinction between primary& secondary legal rules offers a useful tool for analyzing politico-legal contestations in (post-)conflict societies

Bruno Braak • November 06, 2015

Family reunification for refugees is a human right

The failure of the Dublin system seems to have led to a race to the bottom among Member States in reception conditions for refugees, to the detriment of human rights protection.

Mark Klaassen • November 03, 2015

Sharing responsibility in times of crisis: Challenges at Europe's external borders

In the wake of the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, the dysfunctionality of European immigration & asylum policy is more evident than ever. Europe’s responses jeopardise its cherished border-free area & its self-image as a beacon of civilisation.

Melanie Fink • October 19, 2015

Respecting the Rights of Mother Earth

While various problems threaten us these days, we might forget that the worldwide ecological issue remains. It is only by taking the Rights of Mother Earth seriously that this problem can be structurally solved.

Wim Bonis • October 14, 2015

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