The Leiden Children's Rights Observatory is an international and open access database of case commentaries, written by international experts on children’s rights, referring to the decisions of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communication Procedure (CRC-OP3). This Protocol entered into force on 14 April 2014 and allows the Committee to receive communications alleging that a child's rights have been violated. The Leiden Children's Rights Observatory offers original analysis and critical reflections on legal developments and international standards in relation to the CRC-OP3.

Please note that the editorial board reserves the right not to publish contributions that do not conform with the below guidelines or which do not meet the required quality standards.

Author Guidelines Case Notes

Language

Case notes should be written in English (Great Britain). Spelling should be consistent throughout.

Length

The recommended length is 2000-2500 words. Please contact the managing editors, if there is a need to publish a longer case note.

Metadata

The title, subtitle, date of publication, date of adoption of views, source, CRC Provisions, CRC-OP3 Provisions, keywords, suggested citation and the author profile will be included by the managing editors.

Structure

It is recommended to use the following structure:

• Outline of the Substantive Issues
• Procedural Issues
• Findings
• Commentary
• Further Reading (optional, and ideally referring to open access/source materials through hyperlinks)

Please contact the managing editor, if there is a need to use other (clear) subheadings to structure the case note.

References – hyperlinks instead of footnotes

The Observatory is an open access, online platform. Authors are therefore strongly advised to use references in the form of hyperlinks to open sources. The use of footnotes should be avoided or limited to a maximum of five footnotes per case note. Key references (ideally open source materials) can be included under ‘further reading’. It is also encouraged to refer to other case notes published in the observatory, where relevant.

Editorial board

All case notes are published under the responsibility of the Observatory’s editorial board. The copyright of the case note lies with the author and the case note can be published elsewhere with reference to the Observatory, using the suggested citation.