Organisation Internationale de Droit du Développement

Highlighting Children's Rights at the World Bank

"The issue of justice for children is critical in this volatile region," IDLO's Dr. Faustina Pereira told participants to a Middle East and North Africa-themed gathering hosted by the World Bank. The IDLO-moderated event, held during the World Bank's Law, Justice and Development Week, focused on one of IDLO's growing areas of expertise: access to justice for children. Discussions centered on research jointly conducted by IDLO and UNICEF in Jordan, Sudan and Tunisia: it highlights regional challenges ranging from a lack of specialized juvenile justice structures to social norms which may prevent children from speaking out against abuse and injustice.

These challenges, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg of the United States said, "are compounded by the violence, the calamity, and the breakdown in law and order...". For his part, senior Egyptian diplomat Moushira Khattab deplored that, as she put it, "in our part of the world, human rights are perceived as a foreign notion". "The most important thing," Ambassador Khattab added as she echoed one of IDLO's long-standing principles, "is to adopt a human rights approach to sustainable development."

More on the IDLO-UNICEF research.