Latest blog articles

  • Although the delta variant is currently leading to a sharp increase in the number of positive Covid 19 tests, hospital admissions are fortunately still low. Let's hope it stays this way and that with the growing number of vaccinations we slowly move in the right direction with Covid 19 in Europe. If...

  • SMECC stands for School, Minimum standard, Education, Child-friendly policy and care-Continuum. Imagine SMECC as a flat drawing of a house. The regulatory backstop is the minimum standard in family litigation for competent parenthood – far on the horizon, however, a necessary fundament of human...

  • Recently, the usage of English as the main language of Maastricht University has been disapproved by some noisy intellectuals who are frequenting talkshows for the elderly. According to these gurus, Dutch universities should stick to the Dutch language, especially in case of studies such as...

  • The internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) relates to sensitive topics of public concern. Considering the ongoing debate in the Netherlands regarding the challenges related to the internationalisation of higher education, it is time to take a step back and remember the many benefits as...

  • Asylum seekers usually do not cross borders with a bag of documents. They have lost their personal belongings or have been confiscated by smugglers. Oral statements are therefore the only proof of origin. (Dutch only) 

  • The aim of this contribution is to assess what has been achieved since the adoption of the 1986 Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for the realisation of these human rights.

  • Refugee crisis and migration may obviously have a lot of different sources. The current refugee crisis in Europe is obviously strongly related to the war in Syria. However, quite often migration and hence a stream of refugees, can also be caused by natural disasters, even by climate change. Some...

  • On August 29, 2015, a group of European Ministers in Paris agreed to increase security on key international rail routes in response to the thwarted attack on a Thalys train that took place earlier in the month. Increasing various security measures in the aftermath of such an incident is perceived...

  • The 2015 Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX)   update highlights and confirms the shift towards a restrictive migration and integration policy in the Netherlands. Overall, the Netherlands dropped to the eleventh place in the MIPEX ranking, down from the fifth in 2010.