Research Resources

The Law and Development Research Group organised the Legal Clinic under the Master of Laws (LL.M.) at the University of Antwerp. This was done in collaboration with the International Peace Information Service Antwerp​

Students produced a working paper as a result of this research that focused on prohibitions to arms transfers based on Article 6(2) of the Arms Trade Treaty. Article 6(2) prohibits any transfers that would violate a State’s relevant international obligations under international agreements to which it is a party. However, which legal instruments or norms qualify as relevant for this purpose remains unclear. The research therefore sought to clarify which international obligations fall under Article 6(2). 

This first paper interprets Article 6(2) to determine whether human rights obligations are relevant for the purposes of Article 6(2). Moreover, it asks whether arms transfers can violate human rights law in international agreements, leading to a prohibition on transfers under Article 6(2).

The second policy paper poses similar research questions regarding the relevant obligations under the Charter of the United Nations.

Researchers of the Law and Development Group have updated the legal brief "Breaches of obligations arising from peremptory norms of general international law and consequences for institutional cooperation with universities in Israel" from August 2024 (old version). 

The purpose of the brief is to "set out recommendations to the University of Antwerp with respect to peremptory norms of international law, also referred to as jus cogens, particularly in light of the proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) including the recent Advisory Opinion of the ICJ in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (19 July 2024) and the ongoing genocide case (Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel))". The brief is written in the authors' personal capacity.

Read the full, updated brief here.

It was with shock and dismay that we learned yesterday - on January 6th - that the Israeli armed forces had invaded the campus of Birzeit University in the West Bank of Palestine. There were 41 casualties, some shot with live ammunition. 11 people had to be taken to hospital. This is not the first time that the Palestinian education system has been the target of attacks. During the last two years, a ‘scholasticide’ or ‘educide’ has been carried out in Gaza, where students have no more universities or schools to go to. On 12 December 2025, another attack took place, which Birzeit University itself describes as the twenty-fifth since 2002. They also expect these attacks to increase in the coming months.

At the time of the raid, 8,000 students were on campus, many of them attending classes. Our fellow researchers and lecturers were in their offices or standing in front of their classes. They informed us that they were not injured, but that this had caused trauma and fear.

While Israeli intelligence allegedly pointed to a “gathering in support of terrorism” on campus, it in fact concerned a solidarity action for Palestinian prisoners and the screening of a film about Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli Armed Forces in Gaza on January 29th, 2024, while waiting, after her family members had been killed, for emergency services, who were initially prevented from reaching her, and later themselves killed by Israeli soldiers.

The mere rumour, or even existence, of plans to protest cannot justify military action on the campus of an educational institution. Students have a right to freedom of expression and a right to protest, just like all members of society. A university campus is pre-eminently a place for free and critical expression of opinion, even more so in the context of an illegal occupation.

Birzeit is a renowned university, not only one of the best in Palestine and the region, but also known and appreciated internationally. A university is a place of dialogue and learning, and an institution that puts the right to education and critical thinking into practice. Birzeit University, in its own statement following the violence of yesterday, says that

education will remain an act of anti-colonial resistance, and that the University will continue to be a space for knowledge and freedom, despite all attempts at repression and aggression.

They also call explicitly for our solidarity.

Education should not be so difficult that it becomes an ‘act of resistance’. Education is a fundamental right and a pillar of any society.

As the Law and Development Research Group, we have a collaborative project with the Muwatin Institute at Birzeit University that has been ongoing for more than three years. The Belgian development and cooperation agency, ENABEL, funds this project. The research project focuses on the human rights of young people - including higher education students - in an emancipatory sense. Our research focuses on the struggle for freedom of Palestinian youth and on respect for their rights (both political and social) in the context of an illegal occupation that has been challenging the most basic conditions of human dignity.

At the same time, at the initiative of the Working Group on Global Engagement, the University of Antwerp is raising money to fund scholarship students in Birzeit through the Koen De Feyter Fund, an initiative that strengthens the close connections between our University, Flanders, and Birzeit. Flemish and Belgian institutions and political actors cannot stand by and watch as education, students and staff in Birzeit and throughout Palestine become a military target. This is contrary to international law, and also to the principles promoted by Belgium and Belgian universities through humanitarian interventions, development aid, and research and teaching collaboration.

We therefore urge the Flemish Minister of Education to:

●      Publicly condemn the violence against Palestinian students by the Israeli army and the ongoing ‘scholasticide’. Our support and cooperation are not there to be shot at.

●      Require the Flemish Universities to stop cooperating (including within the framework of European cooperation agreements) with Israeli universities and any other public or private actor that is aiding and abetting the illegal occupation or the genocide of the Palestinians. Israeli universities maintain strong ties with the Israeli army, and their complicity also makes Flemish universities and Flanders complicit in the violation of international law, human rights and in scholasticide. We must stop being hypocritical and uphold international law.

●      Urge the European Commission to desist from Israel’s participation in the Horizon funding scheme.

We urge the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs to:

●      Publicly condemn the violence against Palestinian students by the Israeli army and the ongoing ‘scholasticide’. Our support and cooperation are not there to be shot at.

●      Require all Belgian public institutions to stop cooperating with Israeli institutions that aid and abet the illegal occupation or genocide of the Palestinians. We must stop being hypocritical and uphold international law.

●      Denounce the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of the violation of Art. 2 on the respect of human rights and international law.

We urge all Belgian and Flemish authorities to:

·       Develop clear and meaningful mechanisms to support students from Gaza whose educational institutions have been destroyed, including receiving these students and providing scholarships and tuition fee exemptions.

·       Issue clear public statements condemning raids on campuses and affirming the right to education.

·       Create and expand dedicated budget lines within Belgian development and humanitarian cooperation for Palestinian higher education.

·       Strengthen long-term cooperation agreements between Belgian and Palestinian universities, including research projects, scholarships, and mobility schemes for staff and students.

·       Organise regular high-level and parliamentary visits, with participation of Belgian academic representatives, to universities such as Birzeit to signal political backing and deterrence against future attacks.

·       Support independent monitoring and documentation of violations against Palestinian higher education institutions. These findings must inform Belgium’s positions in the EU, the UN and other multilateral fora, and be integrated into a broader Belgian strategy on academic freedom and human rights in the context of occupation, apartheid and genocide.

The Law and Development Encyclopedia, published by Edward Elgar, provides an overview of key terms and debates in law and development. Its entries cover six broad areas: the Sustainable Development Goals, foundational concepts, relevant actors, economic law, environmental law, and governance and human rights.

The Law and Development Research Network is a joint initiative. Koen De Feyter, Gamze Erdem Türkelli, and Stéphanie De Moerloose edit it, with support from an international team of associate editors and editorial assistant Alberto Pecoraro.

A second edition of the Encyclopedia is in the works. Stay tuned!