Is internationally recognised as a leading expert in human rights. Notably she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2014 – 2020) and was the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe (2002 – 2012). Throughout her mandates, she has been focusing her attention on the fight against discrimination and violence, on the rights of the most vulnerable groups in society, in particular, children. In her role as President of Child Identity Protection, she will bring with her decades of experience and determination in tackling sensitive issues connected to children’s identity rights, such as those arising from illegal adoption practices, commercial surrogacy arrangements and other questionable commercial practices.

Is a Geneva-based international consultant on child protection policies. He founded the NGO Defence for Children International in 1979 and coordinated the inputs of the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child throughout the drafting of that treaty. Following six years leading work on child protection issues at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre, he has focused mainly on enhancing policy and practice for safeguarding the human rights of children affected by intercountry adoption and alternative care. In 2017, the University of Strathclyde awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work.

Is a human rights advocate with 20 years’ experience of working on children’s rights, starting her career as a children’s lawyer in Australia. As the Executive Director she brings with her leadership, project management and research skills to ensure that children’s identity rights are better protected worldwide. She has provided technical support, mostly on behalf of UNICEF, through evaluation missions in over 20 countries focusing on alternative care, adoption, and surrogacy. With many years of further experience and a family background from Australia, the Philippines, and Switzerland, she understands the importance of children having access to their origins.

Petra De Sutter was sworn in on the 1st October 2020 as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Enterprises, Civil Service, Telecommunication and Post under Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. She has six years of political experience, as well as a long career as a gynecologist and fertility expert. She entered politics in 2014, as a member of the Flemish green party Groen, motivated by the desire to combat the use of harmful substances in everyday environments.

In the Belgian Senate and the Council of Europe, De Sutter championed women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, and tackled bio-ethical questions, including surrogacy and commercial egg donation. She is committed to a socially equitable Europe, and to improving the rights and protections of refugees and the LGBTQI+ community.

In 2019, De Sutter was elected to the European Parliament as the leading candidate for her party Groen. She was a member in the Committee on the Environment and Public Health, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and was the first Green Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

As Minister responsible for Public Enterprises, Civil Service, Telecommunication and Post De Sutter will focus on the challenges of digitalisation and sustainability. Therefore, an efficient and well-functioning public administration is essential. As Deputy Prime Minister, De Sutter mainstreams the green agenda within wider government policy. And she helps build a society that is social, inclusive and progressive. Her knowledge of her portfolio and her integrity mean she is respected and trusted across party lines.

Kirsten Di Martino, Senior Child Protection Advisor, UNICEF Headquarters

Kirsten has over 25 years of experience in human rights, child rights and child protection programme leadership and management, including over 20 years of experience with UNICEF in Kosovo, Moldova, China, Lao PDR and Germany where she led UNICEF’s Refugee and Migrant Response from 2016-2018. Since 2018 she is the global lead for Child Protection Systems Strengthening, including social welfare and justice systems, in UNICEF Headquarters. Kirsten has extensive experience in child protection, including policy and legislative reform, successfully leading, and supporting reforms at the national level to better protect children, including on prevention and response to violence against children, justice for children, trafficking, migration, social welfare/social work, care reform/alternative care and birth registration. Prior to UNICEF, Kirsten worked with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, Defense for Children International, and the International Social Service. She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law.

Philip Jaffé is a Full Professor at the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies (CCRS). In 2018, Switzerland proposed his candidacy for membership to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and he was elected in New York by the States Parties.

Philip studied psychology and specialized in clinical psychology at the University of Fribourg and the University of Geneva (Diplôme, 1983). He was fortunate to receive a Young Researcher grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and completed his doctoral studies at Yeshiva University (Doctor of Psychology, 1988) in New York, USA.

Following a postdoc internship at Harvard University (McLean Hospital), he trained as a forensic psychologist and worked for several years in the maximum security criminal justice mental health system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA. Since returning to Switzerland in the early 90s, he has taught clinical psychology and legal psychology at the University of Geneva and developed a private practice as a licensed psychotherapist and as a court-appointed expert (www.jaffe.ch). He co-founded and presided during the first decade the Swiss Society of Legal Psychology (www.sspl.ch).

His academic and professional interests are wide-ranging and eclectic, with a focus on child protection, in particular relating to child maltreatment, as well as children’s participation in the justice system.

Tanja E. J. Kleinsorge studied Slavic Studies, History, Political Science and Law in Germany. She graduated with a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University (Washington DC) with the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence and a Certificate in Russian Area Studies. She has since gained an additional Master of Arts in History, Law and Political Science. She started her career with the Council of Europe (CoE) in 1993, working for the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). After serving on several Committees in a variety of fields, she currently heads the Secretariat of the Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development Committee.

An experienced leader, with a background in both the not-for-profit and the commercial worlds, Pia has represented organisations at a CEO level in a range of contexts. In her work in the not-for-profit sector, Pia has focused on the areas of health, education and child protection, with a particular interest in government systems strengthening and child rights. She has worked with VSO, the Tropical Health and Education Trust and Save the Children. Working for the private sector for well over a decade (BP and Oxford Policy Management), Pia also understands the for-profit world. Pia’s most recent role before joining the Consortium for Street Children was as Chief Business Delivery Officer at Crown Agents, a not-for-profit international development company. Pia is on the Board of the Great Britain China Centre.

Deneisha Moss is the Programme Lead for ISI Children’s Programme where she holds responsibility for coordinating activities and implementing initiatives that focus on addressing childhood statelessness. She also supports other ISI programmes including the Discrimination Programme, Deprivation of Nationality and Capacity Building and Resource Development. Deneisha is based out of the Tilburg Office. Prior to joining ISI, Deneisha spent more than 12 years in the humanitarian sector where she worked with the UN Refugee Agency predominantly in Southeast Asia and the Americas. There, she specialised in refugee protection, with an emphasis on child protection and statelessness. Deneisha is a non-practising Barrister, admitted to the Bar of England and Wales (2002), The Bahamas (2002), Turks and Caicos Islands (2006). She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in England, and a Master of Laws in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the University of Lund in Sweden.

Is a professor of child psychiatry and public mental health at Vilnius University, Lithuania. Since 2018 he is a director of the Human rights monitoring institute – an NGO based in Lithuania. Among positions he held, Dainius Pūras was a President of Lithuanian Psychiatric Association and Dean of Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. Dainius Pūras was a member of the UN Committee on the rights of the child (2007-2011) and a UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health (2014-2020).

Sabine Rakotomalala works in the Violence Prevention Unit, within the Department for the Social Determinants of Health at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. Her responsibilities include bring together key partners from different sectors around the prevention of violence against children; providing technical support to countries in their efforts to scale up violence prevention initiatives; and conducting advocacy with policy makes and donors for the field of violence prevention. With an academic background in Child Psychology, she has over two decades of professional experience in the fields of child protection and psychosocial support in both humanitarian and development settings. She has worked with Terre des hommes, UNICEF and the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and led key initiatives such as the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Network, the development of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and the development and implementation of the INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children technical package.

Monika Sandvik started her new function as Senior Statelessness Coordinator/Head of Section with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in February 2022. She worked previously with UNICEF Kenya as Chief of Child Protection prior to which she worked with (UNHCR)as Senior Protection Adviser (Children) for East Africa/Great Lakes and Senior Protection Officer (Children) heading the global UNHCR Child Protection team. She has worked for the last 20 + years in the field of protection and humanitarian affairs. She has also worked with UNOCHA and with the Department of Peacekeeping Affairs/UN Mission in Sudan, as well as Save the Children. She has lived and worked in Sudan, Kenya, Switzerland, DRC, Sri Lanka and Thailand. She has an LL.M from Columbia University and an MA Pol. Sc from Abo Akademi University, Finland. She also has a certification as a Registered Nurse and Community Worker.

Has over 15 years of experience in alternative care and adoption. She has experience working in the context of legislative, political, institutional and practical reform in these areas. In Guatemala, she contributed to the implementation of new national legislation on adoption and alternative care and international standards, provided training, and developed standard operating procedures. Likewise, she has provided training and technical support in the reforms of these systems across the globe. In the last decade, she has been a consultant for various UNICEF offices, International Social Service, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, as well as the Latin American Foster Care Network.

Professor Raul Pangalangan specializes in Public International Law and Constitutional Law. In 2022, he was appointed as Chairperson for the ILO Commission of Inquiry on Myanmar. From 2015 – 2021 , he was elected Judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Hague, The Netherlands. He has served as President of the Trial Division and was Presiding Judge in the very first ICC case on the war crime of attacking cultural and religious heritage. He sits in a case involving alleged child soldiers and forced marriages. He has also sat ad hoc in Appeals Chambers on murder, rape, and sexual slavery as war crimes or as crimes against humanity. He is currently a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. Professor Pangalangan received his A.B. cum laude (1978) and LL.B. (1983) from the University of the Philippines, and his LL.M. (1986) and S.J.D. (1990) from the Harvard Law School, where he won the Laylin Prize for best paper in public international law for his LL.M. thesis and the Sumner Prize for best thesis on issues relating to international peace for his S.J.D. dissertation. He received the Diploma of The Hague Academy of International Law in 1987.