What is HiiL?
HiiL was born out of the recognition that globalisation and internationalisation are affecting societies profoundly and have far-reaching consequences for how national legal systems function. In today’s world, national legal systems can no longer be described as ‘autonomous’. The world increasingly faces problems which transcend national borders and cannot be resolved by national laws alone. They require international solutions. At the same time, the national level remains the most basic level at which the law operates. How can the movement towards the international and the fact that the law must work at the local level be reconciled?
HiiL encourages, initiates, facilitates, and funds research on these issues and takes an active part in the international debate.
When launched in 2005, HiiL received a grant for setting up the institute of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). For the years 2010 en 2011 HiiL is awarded base funding of the Dutch Ministries of Education, Culture and Science, Justice, Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation, and the Interior and Kingdom Relations.
