New SNSF Project: Trajectories
Professor Karl Hanson has been granted support by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for an interdisciplinary research project entitled “Translations, travels and trajectories of children’s rights between Europe and Africa: A sociolegal study of juvenile justice and child protection regulations between Belgium and the Congo (1885 – 2025)”.
This project aims to investigate the transformations and changes of children’s rights regulations that have been travelling over a period of more than 100 years between Belgium and the Congo, two countries whose histories have been entangled through their position as a colonising and as a colonised country. It builds upon previously undertaken conceptual work aiming to capture the interrelations between legal arrangements, social practices and discourses on children’s rights.
During their travels of the 20th century, national and international norms pertaining to child protection and juvenile justice have been object of critique, both at the time of their elaboration and adoption as well as during the decades that followed their application. The research mobilises and further develops three related concepts: “translations”, “travels” and “trajectories” of children’s rights and child protection and juvenile justice regulations.
The project will employ a range of research methods stemming from empirical socio-legal and historical-comparative studies: doctrinal research methods, in-depth analysis of documentary and archival sources, interviews and case study analysis.
21 nov. 2025