Enjoy free online access to all plenary sessions livestreamed from Madrid and session replay after the event when you register – everyone is welcome to join!
Register for the 5th World Congress on Justice with Children
*All sessions listed below will be conducted in English.
First Contact: The real rights of children in contact with police
Tuesday, 3 June 2025 | 10:15 am - 11:15 am CET
Organized by: Baker McKenzie
Type: Panel Discussion
Speakers:
- Daniella Mandel, Baker McKenzie (Moderator)
- Stan Gilmour, Oxon Advisory
- Vicky Kemp, University of Nottingham
- Chris Tirrell, Google
- Brian Blalock, Youth Law Center
- Stephen Case, Loughborough University
Too often, vulnerable populations of children live in communities where they are overpoliced and, as a result, become more engaged with the criminal justice system than is good for them, for their communities and for our commitment to access to justice for all. To start to address these challenges, volunteers have been evaluating the laws in effect when a young person encounters law enforcement to help them better understand their opportunities and obligations. The result is a global resource called Real Rights that will be launched during this panel in a robust discussion with law enforcement experts, child rights experts and volunteers who made Real Rights come to life.
Child justice is everyone's concern: Public and private sectors working together
Tuesday, 3 June 2025 | 11:45 am - 12:45 pm CET
Organized by: Baker McKenzie
Type: Panel Discussion
Speakers:
- Jaclyn Pampel, Baker McKenzie (Moderator)
- Agnieszka Purves, Google
- María Elena Sanz Arcas, Iberdrola
- Natalie Turget-Thomson, Street Rights
Great things can happen when you combine professionals from different perspectives. Sometimes, new and innovative solutions can come from uniting public interest professionals with members of the private bar and business community in pro bono service to the missions of the public interest organizations that can guide them. Sometimes, we are better together. This panel will examine great examples of how professionals can come together across the public and private bar to make unique and creative contributions to advance child rights. We will discuss examples being launched during the World Congress like the “I Am Here” Identification and Vital Documents project, the Laws and Lawyering project, and the Fulfilling Our Potential project focused on kids turning 18 and making adult decision for the first time on their own.
Disaster reduction in detention in climate change
Tuesday, 3 June 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm CET
Organized by: Baker McKenzie
Type: Research Workshop
Speakers:
- Natalie Dunne, Baker McKenzie (Moderator)
- Luis Casals, Baker McKenzie
- Itziar Nacenta, Iberdrola
- Marine Braun, Child rights expert
- Olivia Rope, Penal Reform International
International standards govern when and whether children can ever be placed in detention. If children are cared for by the state, these norms and standards certainly require the highest level of care and safety for those children if and when they are taken from their caretakers and families and placed in any kind of detention. As we look at the many parts of the globe threatened by a warming planet and climate change, the facilities where we detain and care for children are no exception. This panel will examine a recent project crafted with volunteers from the legal department of Iberdrola and Baker McKenzie which will launch at the Congress – an examination of the effect of climate on detention centers in different counties in different parts of the world. The report will be released at the panel and shared around the globe to try to shine on a light on conditions where children are not being cared for in the way we owe them if we respect their safety, their potential and their human rights.
Advancing Child-Centered Justice Through OPIC: Ensuring Access to Remedies, Policy Reform and State Accountability
Wednesday, 4 June 2025 | 9:00 am - 10:00 am CET
Organized by: Leiden University
Type: Panel Discussion
Speakers:
- Angela Vigil, Baker McKenzie
- Ann Skelton, Leiden University
- Luis Pedernera, Leiden University
- Ton Lieefard, Leiden University
- Laura Marchetti, Leiden University
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child oversees the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most ratified human rights instrument in the world. In recent years, the Committee adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention that allows children to bring challenges before the committee to show that the human rights secured in the Convention are being violated. This panel will explore the power and potential of the Optional Protocol and how it could go far to realizing the rights of children so sacredly secured in the Convention and protected worldwide.
Youth Experiential Learning Labs – PPRO Child Justice Simulation
Wednesday, 4 June 2025 | 10:30 am -11:30 am CET
Organized by: Youth Experiential Learning Labs (YExLS)
Type: Dynamic and learning-by-doing session
Speakers:
- Angela Vigil, Baker McKenzie
- Brian Blalock, Youth Law Center
Together with leaders from the Youth Law Center, the Youth Experiential Learning Labs (YExLS) gives participants an experience of what it is like to ‘walk in the shoes’ of a young person navigating the systems that are supposed to serve youth, on their own. The experience leads to reflections by participants about how youth can be resilient through the system, how systems should be improved to better serve them and why the child rights community needs to embrace a youth-centered approach to examining and improving systems for children and youth.
