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.

Prof. Olga Khazova, member of the UN CRC Committee (2013-2021), is currently affiliated with the Moscow School of Social & Economic Sciences and the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” (Moscow). Until 2018, for more than 30 years, Olga had been working at the Institute of State & Law within Russian Academy of Sciences. She holds Ph.D. from that Institute and LL.M. from Cornell University Law School (USA). The main field of her expertise is connected with international family law and child law. Apart from teaching, Olga serves as a consultant on matters related to children’s rights and family law, including human reproduction issues. Olga is the author of Marriage and Divorce in Western Family Law, as well as of numerous scholarly articles published in Russia and abroad. She is a Vice-President of the International Society of Family Law (ISFL).

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.

Karabo Ozah is the Director at the Centre for Child and a Lecturer in the Department of Private Law of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. The Centre for Child Law is an organisation that protects and promotes children’s rights through research, advocacy and strategic litigation.  Karabo has contributed to the work of the Centre, including litigation successes in the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Courts. Karabo holds an LLB; a Certificate in Advanced Labour Law;  LLM in Child Law (cum laude) and LLM (Constitutional and Administrative Law) from the University of Pretoria. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the South African Law Reform Commission's Project 100D on Care of and Contact with Children (incorporating Family Dispute Resolution). Karabo is also a member of the Hague Expert Group on International Parentage and Surrogacy that is tasked with researching the possibility of a Hague treaty to regulate international parentage and surrogacy. Recently, Karabo chaired the Special Commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law focusing on Inter-country Adoptions in 2022.

Marilyn is Co-Director of the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice (ICFLPP), Principal Research Fellow at The Westminster Law School, London, and chairperson of the International Association of Child Law Researchers (IACLaR). She is widely acknowledged as a leading expert in the area of international child abduction and international children’s law, and publishes widely in her areas of expertise. Her current research focuses on the issue of Identity for Children and Young People; Domestic Violence and International Child Abduction; and Child-Friendly Resources relating to International Child Abduction. She holds a door tenancy at 4 Paper Buildings, a specialist Family Law set of barristers’ chambers in London, and qualified as a Family Mediator, trained to undertake direct consultation with children, cases involving international child abduction, and other international family disputes.

Nicola specialises in child and family law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She is the Director of the Children’s Issues Centre, has been admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, and is a qualified mediator. She is Secretary of the International Association of Child Law Researchers (IACLaR). Nicola is a leading socio-legal researcher and has undertaken many studies with children, parents and professionals on family law and children’s rights issues including post-separation care arrangements, relocation, international child abduction, children’s views and participation, family dispute resolution, relationship property division and succession law. Her research findings have been invaluable in informing legislative, legal policy and professional practice developments within New Zealand and internationally.

Dr Katarina Trimmings is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Aberdeen and the Director of the Aberdeen Centre for Private International Law. Her research interests fall within the area of Private International Law of Family Law, in particular international parental child abduction and the interface between Private International Law and Assisted Reproductive Technologies. She has published extensively on the topics of parental child abduction and cross-border surrogacy and is one of the authors of the 15^th edition of Cheshire’s Private International Law (Oxford University Press, 2017).