Global Campus of Human Rights

Child rights strategic litigation (CRSL) - defined as litigation that seeks to bring about legal and social change in terms of children’s enjoyment of their rights – is a pressing topic in advocacy and academic circles. Given its increased deployment as a tool for advancing children’s rights by a range of different actors, it is vital to engage effectively with the challenges and opportunities presented by CRSL.

Focused on the development, implementation, impact assessment and critique of CRSL from a child rights perspective, this project will contribute directly to strengthening the capacity of such litigation to deliver on children’s rights globally. It will do so by expanding academic engagement with CRSL, while bringing a number of key CRSL cases before judicial and quasi-judicial bodies.

The project seeks to effect concrete change via a practical methodology where academia and activism meet in the service of children’s rights. As such, the project entails a continuous exchange between research and practice directed towards concrete real-world impact.

For more information, please visit the project website.

Project Contact: Aoife Nolan, University of Nottingham

E-mail: aoife.Nolan@nottingham.ac.uk

Children and their right to liberty were the subject of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty (GS). Children were also involved in the Study to make sure that their voices were heard. The GS team has recently completed a child-friendly summary and an executive summary of the GS as part of the Follow-Up Initiation Process. Within this framework, the goal of this project is to create a high-quality animated video for children aged 14-18 year in English, Spanish, French and Arabic (four of the widest spoken languages). Such a multilingual, educational movie will not only ensure that a wider children population is reached, but also that children actually spend time in watching an educational product that best suit their age and learning style, therefore improving learning and retention.

In addition, also adult audiences with no or very limited knowledge on the issue of children deprived of liberty will benefit from such a cartoon. The animated video will mainly target schools and educational institutions via the many GC and RLF networks and partners across the globe.

Project Contacts: Angela Melchiorre, GCHQ, angela.melchiorre@gchumanrights.org - Manuela Pegoraro, GCHQ, manuela.pegoraro@gchumanrights.org

This training initiative is jointly developed by the Global Campus of Human Rights and a UK educational not-for-profit organisation called Picture People whose mandate focuses on empowering marginalised and vulnerable people to effectively use media and emerging technologies to expose abuses, affect social change and engage communities.

This year’s 15th edition will focus on children’s rights by offering specific training days on making films with and about children. The project pitches students will develop during the course of the programme will also largely include children’s rights topic such as:

• access to digital technologies
• protection of children of victims of femicide
• the development of a toolkit for school to raise awareness about the rights of refugee children

For more information, please visit the project website.

Project Contact: Alberta Rocca, GCHQ

E-mail: alberta.rocca@gchumanrights.org

In line with the focus on postgraduate education of the Global Campus of Human Rights, this project aims to establish a cross-regional Global Campus PhD scholarship programme focused on children’s rights.

The programme intends to contribute to mainstreaming children’s rights across the Global Campus network by investing in the theoretical and practical research of PhD candidates. In this way, the Global Campus seeks to enable candidates to have future impact on the enhancement and protection of children’s rights as academics, educators, human rights experts and practitioners working in the field.

The scholarship programme is only open to Global Campus Alumni in any region of the GC network. The key criteria of the selection process are as follows:

• The research has to be done in the area of children’s rights
• The candidate needs to enrol in one of the partner universities of the Global Campus
• The candidate must fulfil all admission and course criteria of the host university (i.e. where the candidate is enrolled)
• The selected candidates must carry out research in at least two additional regions other than the one where the candidate is enrolled
• The PhD must be completed in 3-4 years

Project Contact: Reina-Marie Loader, GCHQ

E-mail: reinamarie.loader@gchumanrights.org

The focus of the 2020 Global Classroom is on mapping global trends in children’s deprivation of liberty by looking at the use of detention of children in different settings and in the various regions, as well as identifying key challenges. Given its online nature, the Global Classroom is structured in four phases:

• Phase 1: Each of the seven Global Campus regions work on regional thematic research papers (to be published in the GCHRJ).
• Phase 2: Students are divided into inter-regional working groups to discuss and debate the research papers each region produced.
• Phase 3: The live event will take place from 7-9 September, when students from each region and inter-regional working group will present their findings and recommendations. As part of this online event, a high-level panel (with Manfred Nowak, Najat Maalla M´Jid, Felipe Morales González, Karabo Ozah and Benoit Van Keirsbilck) will share their experiences working for and with children deprived of liberty. Students will be given the opportunity to ask them questions based on the respective research they have done on the Global Study.
• Phase 4: Each region is given the opportunity to involve students in the organisation of regional events so as to discuss their findings with local authorities, experts, stakeholders and general audiences.

Project Contact: Manu Krishan, GCHQ working from Vienna

E-mail: manu.krishan@gchumanrights.org

Children’s participation in matters that affect their life is one of the four general principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Climate change and a degraded environment have a demonstrated detrimental effect on children’s lives. While various initiatives around the globe focus on protecting children from such effect, far less attention is devoted to recognising that children have a right to participate in decisions about how to deal with the impact of environmental crisis – i.e. how to deal with their future.

Placed at the intersection of Child Participation, Human Rights and the Environment, this Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will be a truly unique educational and advocacy tool that is not available elsewhere. Through free and open access to current knowledge and debates on critical issues and practical options for rights-based youth activism on climate change, it will reach a worldwide audience to inform those who are still unaware, encourage those who are curious to know more, support those who are already acting, and ultimately boost effective change.

Project Contacts: Angela Melchiorre, GCHQ, angela.melchiorre@gchumanrights.org - Manuela Pegoraro, GCHQ, manuela.pegoraro@gchumanrights.org

Considering the success of the 2019 Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Children Deprived of Liberty: Learning from the UN Global Study (GS) and the current efforts to ensure implementation of the GS recommendations at the state and regional level, an updated release of the MOOC will be welcomed by both children’s rights professionals across the globe and crucial to support the above-mentioned efforts.

The goal of this follow-up MOOC is to integrate the unique knowledge contained in the GS with practical information on the regional implementation of the GS recommendations, plans of action and further initiatives by different stakeholders/actors (IOs, States, NHRIs, NPMs, NGOs…).

The topic area remains ‘Children Deprived of Liberty’ and is enriched by course materials (videos, readings, etc.) and activities (quizzes, discussions, etc.) developed with the GS Team, experts and GC/RLF children’s officers.

This MOOC targets current GC students and alumni, existing and new GC MOOCs’ subscribers, GS partners, the RLF network and the Right Livelihood College, anyone interested in children’s rights and civil society at large.

Project Contacts: Angela Melchiorre, GCHQ, angela.melchiorre@gchumanrights.org - Manuela Pegoraro, GCHQ, manuela.pegoraro@gchumanrights.org

Migration-related detention is prohibited under Article 37(b) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This Toolkit aims at contributing to the implementation of the recommendations of the Global Study on children’s migration-related by focusing on the different types of non-custodial measures that can be applied and by taking into account the different realities of children in the context of migration. The main objectives of the Toolkit are:

• Support key stakeholders by providing systematic guidance on how to implement the recommendations of the Global Study. These stakeholders can then create plans with States on the basis of this Toolkit.
• Re-activate and maintain the involved network of experts, partners and supporters of the Global Study, as well as other experts working in the field of children deprived of their liberty in the context of migration; as an example, the connection and cooperation with IOM and UNHCR as part of the Interagency Taskforce.
• Support children deprived of liberty in the context of migration by identifying non-custodial measures and other good practices as an alternative to their deprivation of liberty.

Project Contact: Elisa Klein Díaz, GCHQ working from Vienna

E-mail: elisa.klein-diaz@gchumanrights.org

The Global Study was published in 2019 and reprinted in 2020. The Global Study Team has created an Executive Summary of 68 pages in order to provide a well-focused document outlining the key messages and recommendations of the 800-page long Global Study. In order to make this document a real tool for relevant stakeholders in all world regions, the Global Campus of Human Rights will partner up with all regional child rights officers to identify students/graduates of the regional master programs to translate the Executive Summary in all UN languages:

• French
• Spanish
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Russian

The translated versions of the Executive Summary will facilitate further Global Study related research and/or advocacy projects and support the dissemination and implementation of the Global Study recommendations.

Project Contact: Georges Younes, GCHQ working from Vienna

E-mail: georges.younes@univie.ac.at

A new website for the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty will be created to showcase the development of all the activities related to the Global Study.

his new working tool aims at optimising communication and promotion, facilitating contacts and networking and providing user-oriented services. Thanks to the digital tools provided to the users, the platform will be the focal point of all UNGS activities. 

Project Contacts: Nicola Tonon, GCHQ, nicola.tonon@gchumanrights.org - Samuele Schiavon, Babel Studio, samuele@babelstudio.it

The Venice School is an annual programe of the Global Campus devoted to strengthening the work of human rights defenders both generally and in relation to campaigns for gender equality, protection against all forms of gender-based violence, and safeguarding children’s rights.

The children’s rights thematic stream of the School has been designed to explore possibilities for engaging children as human rights defenders, raising awareness of human rights for future generations, operationalising children’s rights to participation in all matters concerning them, and generally strengthening the protection of the rights of the child.

The 2021 edition will take place in April 2021 and will be advertised to the public. Sakharov Fellows, EED sponsored participants and the Russian Master’s students from the PFUR consortium will also be enrolled as participants.

For more information, please visit the project website.

Project Contact: Alberta Rocca, GCHQ

E-mail: alberta.rocca@gchumanrights.org