Children's Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel
Voices from the UN Human Rights System
23 May 2024
This seminar brought together two leading UN experts to discuss the urgent and evolving child rights crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) was honoured to host Ann Skelton (Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) and Farida Shaheed (UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education) at this seminar. Both the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education have engaged extensively with the child rights issues raised by the Israel-Palestine conflict. This event provided a unique opportunity to get their perspectives on the challenges and potential solutions in terms of children’s rights.
The discussion was moderated by Aoife Nolan, Professor of International Human Rights Law and Director of the HRLC.
You can view a recording of the event here:
About the Speakers
Farida Shaheed - UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Farida, from Pakistan, was appointed Special Rapporteur on the right to education in 2022. She is the Executive Director of Pakistan’s leading gender justice organisation, Shirkat Gah - Women’s Resource Centre. She is also an independent expert/consultant to numerous UN, international and bi-lateral development agencies, the government of Pakistan, as well as civil society initiatives. She serves on multiple international and national advisory committees. Farida served as a member of Pakistan’s National Commission on the Status of Women, and as the first Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights from 2009 to 2015.
Ann Skelton - Chairperson, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Ann is Professor of Law and holds the Chair on Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World at the University of Leiden, and the UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria. She established the strategic litigation work at the Centre for Child Law, and has appeared as counsel in numerous landmark cases in the South African Constitutional Court.