Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM)

The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) is a research institute of the School of Law. With its research program Human Rights in a World of Conflict and Diversity,  SIM participates in the research programme Focus and Mass in the focus area Conflicts and Human Rights.

SIM staff participates in the regular academic programmes of the School of Law, both in the bachelor and master programme. SIM participates in the master European law and is, together with Criminal Law, responsible for the master International Human Rights and Criminal Justice.

SIM has ample expertise in organising and direction courses on the theory and practice of the international law of human rights and its domestic application for various target groups. SIM co-organises courses in cooperation with human rights departments of other universities, for example the International Human Rights Academy and within the framework of the School of Human Rights Research, the Summer Course.

Furthermore SIM publishes the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights and SIM specials.

SIM’s documentation centre has built up a unique collection of documents and case-law concerning an extensive range of human rights issues. The collection comprises, inter alia, academic publications, documents from intergovernmental organizations, and documents from non-governmental organizations. In addition, the SIM collection includes (hand)books, bibliographies, reference books and periodicals. In February 2013 this collection is relocated to UBU Binnenstad (Drift 27). Several databases make the collection accessible. Other databases contain international jurisprudence, international instruments, and general comments/concluding observations. The databases are online accessible on the SIM Documentation site.

A list of recent changes to the SIM-website and the SIM-databases is also available.