How to stop exploiting and destroying landscapes Dutch minister Kamp has again decided in favour of gas exploitation, whilst Europe was hit by unprecedented heavy rainfall, leading to immense destruction. The link between these issues is our ongoing disrespect for the landscape. What can we do? Wim Bonis • June 29, 2016 • 5 comments
Leiden Advocacy Project on Plastic: law students at The Ocean Cleanup About 8 million tons of plastic enters the ocean every year: plastic waste is a serious and increasing environmental problem. If nothing is done, it will ruin the marine environment in the very near future. Time for action! Esther Kentin • June 28, 2016 • 1 comment
The Ongoing Search for the Promised Land Before we start criminalising economic migrants as fortune seekers, we should realise that Western culture itself has spread the idea of fortune seeking across the globe. We are all in the same boat, but perhaps we have been searching in the wrong place. Wim Bonis • May 18, 2016
The Future of EU Asylum Law With the ink of the latest recasts barely dry, the Commission is already pushing for new reforms of EU asylum law. The goal: a unified European asylum policy. Mark Klaassen • April 22, 2016
There is light at the end of the economic tunnel New kinds of businesses, part of a so-called ‘purpose economy’, are taking root everywhere. Their success is improving the well-being of people, their community and the planet. Perhaps surprisingly, they can also help to heal and prevent crime. Wim Bonis • April 20, 2016 • 5 comments
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
