Maud is internationally recognised as a leading expert in human rights. Notably, she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (2014 – 2020) and was the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe (2002 – 2012). Throughout her mandates, she has been focusing her attention on the fight against discrimination and violence, on the rights of the most vulnerable groups in society, in particular, children. She spearheaded three key Council of Europe Conventions. In her role as President of Child Identity Protection, she has brought with her decades of experience and determination in tackling sensitive issues connected to children’s identity rights, such as those arising from illegal adoption practices, commercial surrogacy arrangements and other questionable commercial practices.

Luis was an independent member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child between 2017 and 2025, serving as Chair from 2019 to 2021 and Vice-Chair from 2023 to 2025. He was also the Chair of the Meeting of Chairpersons of Human Rights Treaty Bodies in 2020-2021 and Focal Point of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for threats and reprisals against child rights defenders during the period 2023-2025. He is a member of several boards of directors of non-governmental organisations, a member of the Academic Committee of the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Juvenile Justice at the University of Geneva and the Institut de droit de l’Enfant, has been a guest lecturer at universities and academic events in different regions of the world, and is the author of numerous articles. Finally, he is an advisor on children’s rights issues for public and private entities, UN agencies, national human rights institutions and children’s ombudspersons in different regions.

Lawyer (University of Buenos Aires, UBA), PhD in Human Rights (University of Valencia) and Master’s degree in International Migration (European University of Madrid). He has twice served as independent expert on the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW) (2014–2017 and 2022–2025), serving as its Vice-Chair in 2016–2017 and 2024–2025. He was the driving force behind and coordinator of the working group of the CMW and the Committee on the Rights of the Child responsible for Joint General Comments No. 3–4 (CMW) and No. 22–23 (CRC) on children’s rights in the context of migration (2017). He is the Director of the Specialisation in Migration and Asylum from a Human Rights Perspective at the National University of Lanús (UNLa), the Coordinator of the Migration and Asylum Programme at the Institute of Justice and Human Rights at the same university, as well as a lecturer in Migration and Human Rights across various degree programmes and a visiting lecturer on various degree programmes at universities in different countries across the Americas and Europe.

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Irene holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Chile, a Master’s degree in Family Counselling from the University of Santiago de Compostela and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires. Since 2003, she has specialised in intervention, research and international consultancy in areas relating to children, the protection of rights, alternative care and adoption. She is currently a Senior Researcher with the GRISIJ group (Intervenciones Socioeducativas en la Infancia y la Juventud / Socio-educational Interventions in Childhood and Youth) and a lecturer in the Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education (Métodos de Investigación y Diagnóstico en Educación, MIDE) at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

Kirsten has over 25 years of experience in human rights, child rights and child protection programme leadership and management, including over 20 years of experience with UNICEF in Kosovo, Moldova, China, Lao PDR and Germany where she led UNICEF’s Refugee and Migrant Response from 2016-2018. Prior to her current position, she was the global lead for Child Protection Systems Strengthening, including social welfare and justice systems, in UNICEF Headquarters. Kirsten has extensive experience in child protection, including policy and legislative reform, successfully leading, and supporting reforms at the national level to better protect children, including on prevention and response to violence against children, justice for children, trafficking, migration, social welfare/social work, care reform/alternative care and birth registration. Prior to UNICEF, Kirsten worked with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Commission, Defense for Children International, and the International Social Service. She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Human Rights Law.

Christina has 20 years of experience in alternative care and adoption. She has experience working in the context of legislative, political, institutional and practical reform in these areas. In Guatemala, she contributed to the implementation of new national legislation on adoption and alternative care and international standards, provided training, and developed standard operating procedures. Likewise, she has provided training and technical support in the reforms of these systems in Cyprus, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Moldova, Panama and Romania. In the last decade, she has been a consultant for various UNICEF offices, International Social Service, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, as well as the Latin American Foster Care Network.