Events

The Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation Project (ACRiSL) held its sixth network event at 17:00 – 17:45 UK time (GMT) on 3 December 2024. The event was on the topic of “The politics of settlement in Child Rights Strategic Litigation”.

The possibility of settlement arises in a significant amount of child rights strategic litigation, with settlement decision-making and outcomes providing a range of opportunities and challenges from a child rights perspective. Join us to explore these.

The event consisted of a public panel discussion in which we heard from a range of experts who have used settlements within child rights strategic litigation and explored the lessons that can be drawn from those experiences in terms of litigation strategy, exploring settlements with child clients and achieving lasting change.

Speakers included:

• Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC - Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers

• Karabo Ozah - Senior Attorney and Director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, ACRiSL Project and Ann Skelton - Professor of Law, UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, ACRiSL Project

• Andrea Rodgers - Deputy Director, U.S. Strategy, Our Children’s Trust

The public panel ran for 45 minutes and was followed by a private session for the Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation network members.

Speaker Biographies

Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC - Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers

Karabo Ozah - Senior attorney and Director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria

Karabo has led and contributed to the work of the Centre for Child Law, including litigation successes in the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeal and High Courts. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the South African Law Reform Commission’s Project 100D on care and contact with children and is a member of the Hague Expert Group on International Parentage and Surrogacy which is tasked with researching the possibility of a Hague treaty to regulate international parentage and surrogacy. Karabo is also a lecturer in the Department of Private Law at the University of Pretoria, where she lectures undergraduate and post-graduate courses in child law, social welfare law, education law, children’s rights in Africa as well as human rights.

Andrea Rodgers - Deputy Director, U.S. Strategy, Our Children's Trust

In her role with Our Children’s Trust, Andrea Rodgers represents youth to secure their rights to a livable climate and in holding governments accountable for their role in the climate crisis backed by the best available science. Her legal work extends across the United States and Canada including Juliana v. United States, Genesis v. US Environmental Protection Agency, Navahine v. Hawai’i Department of Transportation, La Rose v. His Majesty the King, and Held v. State of Montana. Andrea is the 2024 recipient of the Svitlana Kravchenko Environmental Rights Award from Land Air Water at the University of Oregon School of Law.

Ann Skelton - Professor of Law, UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria

Ann is currently a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and has chaired the expert committee that drafted the Abidjan Principles on States' obligations regarding public education and the regulation of private education. Ann been a human rights lawyer in South Africa for 25 years, specialising in children’s rights, where she was at the forefront of child law reform through the South African Law Reform Commission. She is an advocate who has played a leading role in landmark litigation, including education cases.

The Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation Project (ACRiSL) held its sixth network event at 16:00 – 17:30 UK time (GMT) on 28 March 2023. The event was on the topic of Exploring ‘Wins’ in Child Rights Strategic Litigation.

The event consisted of a panel discussion in which we heard from a range of experts who have worked on child rights strategic litigation in different national and legal contexts. They explored the following questions:

• What is a ‘win’ in child rights strategic litigation? How do we define it? How might our understanding of what constitutes a ‘win’ in a particular case change over the short, middle and long-term?

• What kinds of orders/remedies contribute to effective ‘wins’ in CRSL?

• How do we account for cases that lose in court but succeed in bringing about the desired legal or social change in practice?

The speakers focused on the opportunities and challenges they have experienced in terms of their work around ‘wins’ (and otherwise) in child rights strategic litigation. They highlighted some of the key issues and lessons that can be drawn from those experiences, both in terms of litigation strategy and advocacy more broadly.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A/discussion with event participants. Speakers included:

• Benoit van Keirsbilck – Director, Belgian Section of the Defence for Children / Member, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

• Neha Desai – Senior Director of Immigration, National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)

• Delphine Rodrik – Border Justice section, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

The Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation Project (ACRiSL), the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS), and the European Network for Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) held a webinar on ‘Putting Strategic Litigation into Action for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)' on 3 March 2023. This event marked the formal launch of the CYPCS' Children’s Rights Strategic Litigation Toolkit.

The Toolkit has been designed to ensure that the CYPCS uses its powers in a way that is consistent with the Commissioner’s role to promote and safeguard children’s rights, and in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It was authored by Shauneen Lambe and Aoife Nolan, drawing on the research of the ACRiSL project. The work was carried out with the support of an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account grant.

This event used the Toolkit as a starting point for a broader discussion of the potential of NHRIs to carry out work on strategic litigation focused on advancing children’s rights. It brought in expert speakers working on this issue from a range of different perspectives. The presentations were followed by a Q&A/discussion with event participants.

The event was chaired by Bruce Adamson - Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. Speakers included:

• Salvör Nordal – Chairperson, ENOC / Ombudsman for Children, Iceland

• Professor Aoife Nolan - Co-Director, Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham / ACRiSL project

• Shauneen Lambe - Director at Impact law for Social Justice / ACRISL project

• Nick Hobbs - Head of Advice and Investigations, office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

The Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation Project (ACRiSL) held the event ‘Child Rights-based Argumentation in Climate Justice Litigation’ on 19 January 2023.

The aim of the event was to enable litigators and academics to share ideas about particular challenges arising in relation to legal argumentation in child rights climate justice cases, with these ideas being addressed in short research briefs by academic experts to be produced under the auspices of the ACRiSL project over the coming months in order to support litigation of these issues in future cases.

The event focused on two challenges: (1) the relationship between children’s rights and future generations, and (2) age/birth cohort discrimination. An hour was devoted to each topic, with the discussion being kicked off by presentations from two litigators followed by inputs from academics and by a general discussion. In order to facilitate open exchange, the event was held under the Chatham House Rule.

The Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation Project (ACRiSL) held its fifth network event on 12 December 2022 at 15:00 – 16:30 UK time (GMT). It was on the topic of Opportunities for UNCRC-based argumentation in Child Rights Strategic Litigation.

The event consisted of two parts. The first part (50 mins) was a public panel discussion in which we heard from a range of experts who have worked on child rights strategic litigation in different national and legal contexts. The speakers focused on the opportunities and challenges they have experienced in terms of bringing legal argumentation based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Children before national courts. They highlighted some key issues and lessons that can be drawn from those experiences, both in terms of litigation strategy and advocacy more broadly.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A/discussion with event participants. Speakers included:

• Steve Broach – Barrister at 39 Essex Chambers

• Emily Kinama - Litigation and Research Counsel at Katiba Institute, Nairobi, Kenya

• Enakshi Ganguly - Human rights activist and Co-founder of HAQ: Centre for Child Rights

Network members joined the second part of the event. This was a 40-minute private, closed session where we discussed opportunities and challenges faced by CRSL practitioners with regard to using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in legal argumentation before courts. The aim was to share experience and discuss strategies in this regard.

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

On 27 September 2022, ACRiSL held its fourth network event and launch of its research report on ‘Advancing Child Rights-Consistent Strategic Litigation Practice.’

By clarifying what child rights-consistent CRSL practice looks like and identifying examples of good practice and areas for development, the report aims to support litigators and others involved in CRSL in putting children’s rights at the heart of their practice. The report draws on in-depth interviews with CRSL practitioners and people with lived experience of CRSL as children across a wide range of global regions. It is also informed by the work of the project’s Child and Youth Advisory Group.

The event consisted of a panel where speakers presented key findings and recommendations from the report, focusing on four key areas:

1. the scoping, planning and design of CRSL;

2. the operationalisation of CRSL;

3. follow-up to CRSL, including implementation

4. extra-legal advocacy (political advocacy and other campaigning, media and communications work).

Speakers included:

• Aoife Nolan - Professor of International Human Rights Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre at the University of Nottingham / Vice-president, European Committee of Social Rights

• Ann Skelton - Professor of Law, UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria/Member / UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

• Karabo Ozah - Senior attorney and Director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria

• Manfred Nowak, Secretary General of the Global Campus of Human Rights and Professor of Human Rights at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, who provided an overview of the Global Campus of Human Rights-Right Livelihood cooperation, under whose auspices the ACRiSL project falls.

The presentations were followed by a Q&A/discussion with event participants.

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

On 5 April 2022, ACRiSL held its third network event on the topic of Engaging with Children and Young People in Child Rights Strategic Litigation (CRSL).

The first part of the event entailed a public panel discussion in which the speakers – children and young people and adults – outlined a range of different experiences in terms of engaging with children and young people in CRSL.

Speakers included:

• Jack McLean (Equity Generation Lawyers) and Bella Burgemeister, youth litigant in Sharma v Minister for the Environment, who spoke about their litigation before the Australian courts focused on coal mine licensing.

• Make It 16 Aotearoa, who spoke about their litigation in the New Zealand Courts which seeks a declaration that preventing 16 and 17 year-olds from voting is a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights.

• Chrisann Jarrett (We Belong) and Shauneen Lambe (Impact Law for Social Justice / ACRiSL) who spoke about their work around R (on the application of Tigere) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which sought access to student loans for students with limited or discretionary leave to remain in the UK.

Network members then joined a closed session which focused on the sharing of knowledge, practice and experiences in terms of working with children and young people in CRSL drawn from Europe, Australasia, Africa and Asia.

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), as part of the ACRiSL project, hosted on January 18 and 19, 2022 a closed international online workshop “Climate Justice in the Global South: Potentials and Visions for Child Rights Strategic Litigation”. It brought together about 20 litigators, NGO representatives and academics, and included youth activists. The goal of the workshop was to advance and strategize on the potentials of child rights strategic litigation regarding climate justice issues as they unfold in the Global South, to foster new perspectives, and open new paths for transnational collaborative lawyering regarding Global South litigation. The participants engaged on different angles: the relevance and challenges of child rights strategic litigation to climate justice in the Global South; youth participation to legal efforts and their empowerment; and visions for future legal interventions. ECCHR was keen for the workshop to bring about a genuine exchange of lessons learned, critical approaches to law and to litigation experiences, and a discussion on future possibilities and the potentials of transnational collaborative lawyering.

On 7 December 2021, ACRiSL held its second network event on the topic of Overcoming the Challenge of standing in Child Rights Strategic Litigation– Mechanisms and Strategies.

The first part of the event consisted of a public panel discussion in which the speakers outlined some key issues and lessons drawn from their experience with the challenge of standing in the context of child rights strategic litigation decisions, both at the national and international level. Speakers included:

• Karolina Babicka, Legal Adviser, International Commission of Jurists, European and Central Asia Programme – speaking on standing issues in the context of CRSL before the European Social Charter collective complaints mechanism.

• Karabo Ozah, Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa / ACRiSL – speaking on overcoming CRSL-related standing obstacles before the South African courts, including in the ground-breaking decision of Centre for Child Law v Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development (2009).

• Edmund Amarkwei Foley, Director of Programs, Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, the Gambia – speaking on tackling standing challenges in the context of CRSL before the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice.

• Francisco Rodríguez, Coordinador del programa Derechos Sociales de la Niñez (Coordinator of the Social Rights of the Child Programme), Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina – speaking on using collective actions to enforce children’s rights in Argentina.

During the second part of the event, network members from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas joined a closed session where standing-related obstacles to CRLSL, as well as strategies that have been (or might be) used to overcome these challenges, were discussed. The discussion brought different practical examples to the table, contributing to knowledge exchange about past, current and planned litigation.

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.

The event opened with a short presentation by Ann Skelton, Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, who will talk about recent trends under the Optional Protocol to a Communications Procedure. This was followed by a 40 minute public panel discussion in which speakers talked about a number of recent high-profile child rights strategic litigation decisions and some of the lessons – both legal and extra-legal – that can be drawn from those cases.

Speakers included:

• Lea Nesheim, Deputy Chair, Natur og Ungdom (Young Friends of the Earth Norway), Norway – speaking on litigation and advocacy focused on preventing the Norwegian government from issuing exploratory Arctic drilling permits.

• Leo Ratledge, Child Rights International Network (CRIN) – speaking on ‘Key Elements of Child Rights Strategic Litigation’ .

• Noncedo Madubedube, General Secretary, Equal Education, South Africa – speaking on ‘Litigating for Access to the National School Nutrition Programme during the Covid-19 Pandemic’.

The panel was chaired by Karabo Ozah, Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa / ACRiSL.

Follow this link to watch the video recording of the event.