Human Rights Watch documents human rights abuses in some 70 countries worldwide. In the last decade, it has produced over twenty reports on various forms of violence against children in all regions of the world. Its research on violence against children has covered police torture during police interrogation; capital punishment; police violence against street children; violence in schools, orphanages and detention facilities; and violence in the workplace. Jo is advocacy director of HRW’s Children’s Rights Division. She has been an active advocate on behalf of the UN Study since early 2000 and in 2001 authored a report summarizing HRW’s research on violence against children. She is the co-convener of the NGO Group on the CRC’s Subgroup on Children and Violence and the Child Rights Caucus for the UN Special Session on Children. She was also the founding chair of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.

Mary Beloff, Center of Legal and Social Studies on Childhood and Youth, Argentina

CELIJ was created in 1992 within the Institute of Comparative Studies on Criminal and Social Sciences to advocate for children’s rights in Argentina and other Latin American countries. Its main goal has been to advocate in favor of legal, institutional and policy reform concern children rights, child participation and juvenile justice. Mary is director of CELIJ and professor of children’s rights and juvenile justice at the University of Buenos Aires. She has been deeply involved in many of the legal and institutional reform process that have taken place over the last ten years in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and Dominican Republic. In 1994 she started to teach children’s rights and juvenile justice at the University of Buenos Aires—the first-ever courses in a Latin American law school curricula—and as a second step in 1999 she created the first Argentinean legal clinic on children’s rights to sensitize and train law students and to give legal assistance to poor young people involved in criminal and family cases.

Carol Lynn Bower, Resources Aimed at the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (RAPCAN), South Africa

RAPCAN, started in 1989 by the University of Cape Towns Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, focuses on child abuse prevention. It conducts training and awareness workshops, produces and disseminates resources, carries out legislative advocacy, and provides support for children entering the criminal justice system. Because South Africa has the highest rate of rape and rape homicide in the world, a particular focus is sexual crimes against children. Carol has over twenty years experience in advocacy, strategic planning and policy formulation with regard to violence against women and children.

Luke Dowdney, Viva Rio, Brazil

Viva Rio works directly with children and adolescents affected by or involved in crime or armed drug faction conflicts in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Luke is active in child rights advocacy at the national, regional and international level for the recognition of the participation of children as “combatants” in armed groups and territorial conflicts that exist outside of traditionally defined war zones, yet have comparable levels of armed violence and death statistics to civil conflicts. He is currently concluding a ten-month field research program investigating the role of children in drug faction conflicts in Rio de Janeiro. He has also conducted field research in partnership with the Brazilian National Movement of Street children on violence affecting children living and working on the street.

Joseph Gathia, Centre of Concern for Child Labour, India

The Centre of Concern for Child Labour, founded in 1984, is a non-profit action research organization focused on emerging child rights issues in an era of globalization. Joseph is the founder and director of the Centre and has published four books on child labour, child prostitution, trafficking and eight well-known research papers, including one on globalization, children and spirituality. He has served on the governing bodies of several NGOs and various national level civil society committees. He initiated the Child Labour Action Network in 1989, which now includes 200 NGOs. He has conducted studies on violence against children in rural areas of India, caste-based violence, and has worked on human rights curriculum related to violence against children for the National Human Rights Commission in India. His current focus is structural violence against children, especially the girl child is south Asian societies, as well as terror and children in the 21st century.

Dilyana Giteva, Human Rights Project, Bulgaria

The Human Rights Project in Bulgaria, established in 1992, monitors Roma rights in Bulgaria, provides legal defence for Roma victims of human rights violation, and advocates on behalf of the Roma community. Dilyana is the legal director and advisor for the Human Rights Project. She has conducted independent investigations of rights abuses against Roma children, including ethnically motivated violence, police brutality and discriminatory treatment, and reported such abuses to authorities, the media, and international human rights institutions. As a lawyer, she has assisted the legal defense in numerous such cases. She is a member of a national working group to elaborate an anti-discrimination act and is also involved in work to improve education for Roma children.

Melanie Gow, World Vision International, Australia

World Vision has worked to prevent and protect children from violence and to assist in their recovery from violence for over fifty years. It has focused on children in armed conflict, child labor, orphans, girl children, children with disabilities, sexually exploited children, abused and neglected children and children living and working on the street. Melanie is WVI’s senior advisor on child rights and convenes WVI’s global Child Rights Network. She has authored a number of publications related to violence against children, co-convened the Children and Violence Caucus around the UN Special Session on Children, and co-convenes the NGO Group for the CRC’s Subgroup on Children and Violence. She also convenes the NGO Group’s subgroup against the sexual exploitation of children, and was instrumental in organizing the Yokohama Congress against sexual exploitation.

Stuart Hart, International School Psychology Association (ISPA) and the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), United States

ISPA (Copenhagen, Denmark), an international association of school psychologists and national school psychology associations, works to improve the effectiveness of education in fostering the full and healthy development of all children and to promote advances in children’s rights. IICRD (University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) promotes peace, dignity and respect for children through innovative education, research, technical assistance and partnerships to achieve realization of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Stuart, a psychologist, is past-president of ISPA, chairperson of ISPA’s Children’s Rights Committee, deputy director of IICRD, and professor emeritus and founding director of the Office for the Study of the Psychological Rights of the Child (School of Education, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis). Children’s rights and psychological/emotional maltreatment of children have been his specialty concentrations for over 20 years. He has organized conferences and conference programs, directed/conducted research, published and presented nationally and internationally on related topics.

Séverine Jacomy, World Organization Against Torture/OMCT

The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) fights against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, summary executions and forced disappearances. It coordinates a network – SOS Torture – of 260 national, regional and international organizations in 85 countries. It conducts urgent campaigns, often on behalf of children, provides special assistance to child victims or torture, conducts trainings on the rights of the child, and submits reports to the various UN human rights mechanisms. Séverine Jacomy is the manager of the Children’s Rights Programme at OMCT. She has also worked for the International Catholic Child Bureau on issues relating to children with disabilities, juvenile justice reform and sexual exploitation and abuse of children in Russia, the Baltic States, and several countries in Eastern Europe.

Elizabeth Jareg, Save the Children, Norway

The International Save the Children Alliance includes 30 national Save the Children offices and carries out programme work in more than 120 countries. Elizabeth is a child psychiatrist with long experience and expertise working with traumatized children, child abuse, children affected by armed conflict and violence, child soldiers and their rehabilitation, HIV/AIDS affected children, child development, and the effects of institutionalization on children and alternative care models. She has worked in many countries in Asia and Africa, and has been involved in programme development, policy development, advocacy at national and international levels, as well as working directly with children. She was also on the advisory board for the Machel Study and made substantive contributions to the study.

Dr. Hasson Qasem Khan, Yemen Psychological Association, Yemen

The Yemen Psychological Association is a leading professional organization in Yemen’s National NGO Coalition to Child Rights Care. Dr. Qasem Khan is a member of the advisory committee to the executive board of the Coalition, and in 1995 and 1998, presented the NGO alternative report on children’s rights in Yemen to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on behalf of the Coalition.. He is chief of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Aden University, past Regional Vice-President of the World Federation for Mental health, and the Regional Facilitator of the Focal Point Program on Violence and Sexual Exploitation of Children. He has organized numerous conferences and workshops related to child rights and child mental health, and has conducted studies of school violence in Yemen, juvenile justice, abuses against children in detention, and teenage anxiety and depression. He has also developed a research project on sexual abuse of children in Yemen for the UN anti-slavery fund in Geneva.

Ellen Mouravieff-Apostol, International Federation of Social Workers, Switzerland

International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) represents close to 500,000 social workers grouped within national member organizations in 78 countries. The Federation has published a professional training manual to acquaint social workers with the CRC and has worked in particular on sexual exploitation of children. Ellen has been active in child issues and child rights for over 20 years, and served as former Deputy Secretary General of the IFSW for 17 years. She was a member of the NGO drafting group for the CRC, and served as the Deputy President and President of the NGO Committee on UNICEF from 1991 to 1997. She is the current representative of the IFSW to the UN and other international bodies in Geneva.

Najat M’jid, BAYTI, Morocco

BAYTI is an NGO working with street children, children at work, and sexually abused children. The organization has developed Morocco's first street children program with a focus on social reintegration. Najat is president of BAYTI. She is also a pediatrician and director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child Hospital in Casablanca and the regional factilitator on sexual exploitation of children in the Middle East and North African region. She served on the Moroccan Consultative Council of Human Rights and the national commission for the rights of children. She has organized conferences and conducted trainings on sexual exploitation, trafficking, violence, and excluded youth and their reintegration. She is an international consultant and has worked with UNICEF and numerous other groups on children’s rights, including issues relating to street children, child labour, children in conflict with the law, clandestine migration, sexual exploitation, and child victims of violence.

Virginia Murillo Herrera, Defense for Children International, Costa Rica

DCI Costa Rica conducts programs in Violencia Sexual (commercial and other forms of sexual violence); Violencia Juvenil, with three programs on juvenile justice, gangs and alternative sanctions; Violencia Escolar; and Violencia Estructural, which is a monitoring program on the implementation of the CRC. Since 1996, DCI Costa Rica has participated in a subregional initiative (including Mexico, Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic) called the Subregional Campaign on Violence Against Children: Educacion con Ternura (Education with Tenderness), and has developed a program to promote positive forms of discipline. Virginia is the coordinator of the national coalition on children’s rights in Costa Rica, executive president of DCI Costa Rica and a member of the international executive council for CDI International. She is Vice President of the National Council of Children and Youth Rights in Costa Rica, a consultant to the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour-ILO in Costa Rica, and was technical coordinator for a child labor programme in Central America, Belize, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Peter Newell, Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment of Children, Children’s Rights Alliance for England, EPOCH- End Physical Punishment of Children, United Kingdom

Launched in April 2001, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children aims to speed the end of corporal punishment of children across the world. Peter is joint coordinator of the Global Initiative, and has worked as an advocate for children for over thirty years. He is co-founder and coordinator of the campaign EPOCH-End Physical Punishment of Children. He co-authored UNICEF’s implementation handbook for the CRC and has written books, handbooks and articles on children’s rights and in particular the right to protection from all forms of violence. He is adviser to the European Network of Ombudspeople for Children, was a member of the advisory panel to the Goldstone Commission on Children and Violence in South Africa, and serves on the executive committees of several organizations related to children, violence and disability in the UK.

Millie Odhiambo, Child Rights Advisory Documentation and Legal Center (CRADLE), Kenya

The CRADLE promotes and protects the rights of the child and fights violence against children through provision of legal aid, community outreach, research, documentation and law reform. It also undertakes impact litigation to reform discriminatory laws. Millie, executive director of CRADLE, is a lawyer with a masters degree in public service law. She has worked for over ten years to protect women’s and children’s rights in East and Southern Africa. She is a former chair of the Coalition on Violence against Women, works with the National Judicial Education Project under the auspices of ICJ and UNDP, and has advised WHO on women’s rights and health. In the area of violence against children, she has focused on honor killings, FGM and sexual abuse, and early and forced marriage.

Anastasia Pinto, Centre for Organization Research and Education/World Coalition for Indigenous Children and Youth, India

CORE is an indigenous peoples’ rights organization working on the CRC and its optional protocols since 1994 and the participation of indigenous children and youth since 1987. CORE’s work includes working with children who have experienced torture and abuse, sexually abused and commercially exploited children, and children in long-duration low intensity armed conflict. CORE also addresses the vulnerability of indigenous children to violence and abuse. CORE is the secretariat for the India National Coalition on Children and Armed Conflict and the World Coalition on Indigenous Children and Youth. Anna is the director for indigenous children and gender for CORE and has worked on the rights of indigenous children for the past fifteen years. She is the regional facilitator for indigenous children for the NGO Group for the CRC/Focal Point on sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, and has worked with numerous other international networks related to violence against children and indigenous children.

Elizabeth Protacio-de Castro, Program on Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights, Center for Integrative and Development Studies, University of the Philippines, Philippines.

The Program on Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights (PST) works on childhood and child rights, torture prevention and rehabilitation, and violence against women. It carries out training, networking, documentation and publication, and policy-oriented, inter-disciplinary and participatory research. Elizabeth is the founder and convener of the PST and an associate professor of psychology at the University of the Philippines. She has carried out research and training on children in difficult circumstances throughout Asia. Her research includes work on the torture of children in situations of armed conflict, evolving definitions of child abuse, children in prostitution, working with abused children, and peace education in the schools. She has also consulted to numerous international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Rakesh Rajani, HakiElimu, Tanzania

HakiElimu promotes public participation in education governance and a child-centered, child-rights approach to schooling. The organization supports child participation and student associations to promote their rights and interests. Rakesh is executive director of HakiElimu. He is also co-founder and was the first executive director of the Kuleana Center for Children's Rights in Tanzania, which led a campaign against the use of corporal punishment and other forms of humiliation in schools. Rakesh has conducted research, written and done advocacy on issues of violence against children, child participation, education, and child labor. He has served as a resource person for the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and UNICEF. Recent publications include Adolescent Participation: A Strategic Approach (UNICEF, 2001), Situation Analysis of Children in Tanzania (Government of Tanzania/UNICEF, 2001) and The Political Participation of Children (editor, Harvard, 2000).

Desmond Runyan, MD, DrPH, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect

ISPCAN is a multidisciplinary global organization bringing together a cross section of professionals to work towards the prevention of child abuse, neglect and exploitation. The organization conducts education, published and journal, and holds prominent international conferences. Desmond is a paediatrician, clinical epidemiologist, and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina. For more than 25 years, he has conducted clinical epidemiological studies into child abuse. He designed and coordinates LONGSCAN (Longitudinal Studies in Child Abuse and Neglect) a national study supported by the US Children’s Bureau and the national Institutes of Health. As a faculty member with the International Clinical Epidemiology Network, he also helped found “WorldSAFE” (World Studies of Abuse and the Family Environment).

Washeila Sait, Disabled Children’s Action Group, South African Federal Council on Disability, South Africa

The Disabled Children's Action Group advocates for the equal rights of disabled children, including raising political and public awareness of disabled children and influencing legislation, policy and practice in relation to the CRC. Washeila is one of eight members who founded the Action Group in 1993 and has worked with other countries in Southern Africa to established similar initiatives. With the support of the South African Human Rights Commission, she conducted an investigation on the abuse of disabled children both in and out of institutional care. Currently her work within the secretariat of the South African Federal Council on Disability involves the coordination and facilitation of disability issues and inputs into South African policy and legislation, as well as issues relating to research that affects disability matters in South Africa and Southern Africa.

Dick Sobsey, Inclusion International, TASH (Formerly the Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities), The Canadian Association for Community Living, The JP Das Developmental Disabilities Centre at the University of Alberta, Canada

Inclusion International is a network of families, self-advocates and others that unites nearly 200 national member associations in 115 countries to work to better the lives of persons with intellectual disabilities. TASH advocates for the rights of people with disabilities. The Canadian Association for Community Living is an organization of people with disabilities, their families, and other community members working toward inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of their community. Dick is a professor in educational psychology and health ethics, and the director of the JP Das Developmental Disabilities Centre at the University of Alberta. He has worked with children with mental and physical disabilities since 1968 as a registered nurse, certified teacher, program coordinator, and researcher. Since 1986, his primary are of research has been violence against people with disabilities. He has published several books on this topic, including Violence and Abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities.

Liliana Ines Tojo, Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Brazil

CEJIL works to achieve the full implementation of international human rights norms in the member states of the OAS. It carries out an integrated program of legal defense, free legal consulting, education and training. A central component of its work is the defense of human rights before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. CEJIL is currently litigating several precedent setting cases to effectively recognize the special protections for children established in Article 19 of the CRC, including cases related to street children, conditions for children in detention, and the detention of children in adult prisons.

Marie Wernham, Consortium for Street Children, UK

The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) is a network of approximately 40 NGOs which work with street-living children, street-working children and children at risk of taking to life on the street around the world. Marie is the advocacy officer for CSC, in charge of devising, executing and disseminating information on advocacy projects and strategies on behalf of the network. She has authored various papers on street children and violence and in collaboration with local partners, is currently conducting a major research and advocacy project on street children and juvenile justice across six countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Romania, Philippines, Nicaragua and Pakistan).