On 20 November, the Caucasus University Child Rights Center, in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), hosted the Third International Conference on “Children’s Rights in the Justice System – Challenges and Perspectives.”

The conference was opened by Jesper Møller, UNICEF Representative in Georgia. Welcome addresses were delivered by Svetislav Panović, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia; Charles Schmitz, Prosecutor and Representative of the U.S. Department of Justice in Georgia; and Ursina Weidkun, a juvenile court judge from Switzerland, international expert on children’s rights, member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates (AIMJF), and Doctor of Law.

The event brought together multidisciplinary presentations focused on the protection of children’s rights across criminal, civil, and administrative justice systems.

In addition to Georgian professionals, the conference featured distinguished international speakers, including Renate Winter, juvenile court judge and former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; Rein Odink, juvenile court judge at the Amsterdam Court; Anneke Voltes, Deputy Chair of the Rotterdam Court, juvenile court judge, lecturer at Avans University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), and expert in restorative justice; Pavlo Parkhomenko, judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, lecturer at the Ukrainian School of Advocacy and the National School of Judges of Ukraine, Council of Europe expert, and Doctor of Law; Fatma Kosadiya, judge at the Paris Court of Appeal and expert on children’s rights; among others.