Children's Rights
Children's rights have always been a core focus of the Global Campus's education, training, and advocacy initiatives. Since establishing a long-term partnership with Right Livelihood in 2019, these efforts have been significantly strengthened, reflecting a shared commitment to advancing children’s rights globally.
A partnership to advance the rights of children
This collaboration with Right Livelihood aims to raise awareness and build expertise in child rights, while actively promoting meaningful child participation in issues that affect their lives. As a result, the Global Campus has expanded its child rights focus across various programmes, launching new research, training, and advocacy projects in partnership with regional hubs, international experts, and local organisations. Many of these projects are co-designed with young people, enhancing their roles as current and future child activists, and fostering connections between children and academia. Dedicated to promoting education, research, and advocacy in this field, the Global Campus strives to encourage global responsibility and create sustainable, positive change for children worldwide.
Read the vision statement for the cooperation of Right Livelihood and the Global Campus.
Child Participation and Leadership
Meaningful child participation means more than inviting children to share their views. At the Global Campus, we work to create opportunities for children to identify their own priorities, develop ideas and take action. Our Child Leadership Team (CLT) brings together children aged 12–17 across the regions of our network. The CLT grew from an international child-led conference on mental health in 2022, when participants decided to continue working together beyond the conference. Supported by the Global Campus and regional partners, CLT members develop their own projects and advocate for change in their communities and beyond, while helping us learn what meaningful participation can look like in practice.
Child-centred Justice
The UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, published in 2019 and led by Global Campus Secretary General Manfred Nowak, was a landmark initiative that laid the foundation for ongoing efforts to advance child-centred justice. The Global Campus follows up on progress on the Global Study’s recommendations, while also expanding its focus to address emerging priorities such as the role of digital technologies and AI in children’s access to justice. As an academic pillar and co-organizer of the World Congress on Justice with Children, the Global Campus contributes to global policy dialogue, collaborative research, and concrete action, promoting rights-based, inclusive justice systems for children worldwide.
Climate Justice and Child Rights
The climate crisis is also a children’s rights crisis. Children are among those most severely affected by climate change, with consequences that extend beyond their health and education to their safety, participation, development and future opportunities. The Global Campus promotes child-centred approaches to climate justice that recognise children not only as rights-holders, but also as active participants in shaping more sustainable and equitable futures. Through research, education and global collaboration, we contribute to amplifying children’s perspectives and advancing solutions that place their rights at the centre of climate action.
Artificial Intelligence and Child Rights
The Global Campus is implementing a range of projects exploring a human rights and child rights based approach to AI, examining the risks and opportunities AI presents for children and their rights.
We will post updates soon! In the meantime, read the concept note The AI Revolution and Its Implications for Human Rights by Łukasz Szoszkiewicz, Assistant Professor at Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland), GC Europe member university.
Featured Resources and Projects
From advancing child rights strategic litigation globally, to regionally-focused initiatives—such as addressing issues around children in migration in the Balkans and integrating development frameworks in Africa—the Global Campus has supported the implementation of a range of impactful projects worldwide. Together, these projects aim to advance research, advocacy, and practical solutions that empower children and address the complex challenges they face in diverse contexts, driving a global movement for children’s rights.
WHAT TO READ
WHAT TO WATCH
YouLead: A Youth-Created Advocacy Video Against Misinformation
Animated film on the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty
Global Campus Child Leadership Team in Armenia
Team
Barbara Strasser
Children’s Rights Manager
Barbara Strasser oversees the development and implementation of children’s rights projects under the Global Campus – Right Livelihood cooperation, in close coordination with Child Rights Specialists in the 8 regional hubs of the Global Campus.
John Paul P. A. Amah
Children’s Rights Officer
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Watch John Paul’s presentation video
Manu Krishan
Global Study Programme Manager
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Watch Manu’s presentation video
Dr. Chiara Altafin
GC Europe & Research Manager
Chiara Altafin leads various research-based activities and projects, with a primary focus on strengthening research, education, training, network-building, and advocacy for children’s rights.
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Watch Chiara’s presentation video
Rocío Comas
GC Latin America & the Caribbean
Rocío is responsible for integrating children’s rights into the activities of the LATMA programme. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany, as a DAAD fellow. Rocío holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a Master’s in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of San Martín (Cohort 2014-15).
Her Master’s thesis, Gender and the Best Interests of the Child in the Administration of Justice: Case Analysis in Argentina, was subsequently published. Rocío also worked as a human rights consultant for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Chile, focusing on the promotion and protection of rights through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism.
She has authored articles on migration, children’s rights, enforced disappearances, economic, social, and cultural rights, the UN Agenda 2030, and the right to food.
Rotondwa Mashige
GC Africa
Rotondwa is the Acting Manager of the Children’s Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. She has over 9 years of experience within the legal field, in academia, practice and international organisation and has worked at various organisations where she has been involved in various human rights cases, worked on the implementation of child protection policies, and various work around advocacy of children’s rights. Rotondwa is passionate about children’s rights and the protection thereof and this is evident from the work that she does.
Rotondwa holds an LLB from the University of Venda and an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria and is currently pursuing her LLD at the University of Pretoria.
Nejira Pasic
GC South East Europe
Collaborating closely with the ERMA programme, Nejira is responsible for integrating children’s rights projects and activities into its framework. A dedicated children’s rights activist, she has worked through local labour unions and NGOs to combat illegal child labour, educate youth about human and workers’ rights, and promote child participation.
An alumna of the ERMA programme, Nejira is currently pursuing a PhD in Political Economy at the University of Buckingham, focusing on labour migration. In addition, she teaches Research Methods and Thesis Writing at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology.
Her primary research interests include labour migration, children’s rights, and political economy.
Mariam Muradyan
GC Caucasus
Mariam is in charge of coordinating the children’s rights activities in the Caucasus region based at the Center for European Studies in Yerevan State University (Armenia). Part of these activities include the follow up on the Global Study recommendations and implementation of grant projects on children’s rights.
Mariam’s background is in social work and for several years she worked as a child protection coordinator at World Vision Armenia (2010-2015). She also worked with the Ministry of Healthcare and Global Fund (HIV/AIDs and TB), the Ombudsman Office of Artsakh and in local CSOs in Armenia in the field of human rights, with a special focus on children’s rights.
Mariam is an alumna of the Master’s programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in the Caucasus (2012-2014) and an alumna of College of Europe, Natolin (MA) in 2016-2017. She holds a bachelor degree in philology and social work.
Mst Umme Habiba Fahmina Karim (PhD)
GC Asia-Pacific
Fahmina is a community-based child protection specialist. She is a human rights academics and activist on children’s rights with specific focus on migration with over fifteen years of experience. She led socio-legal research projects focusing on rights mapping of children on the move (forced migration and labor migration) through reviewing domestic legal framework of various countries; projects on research ethics and academic research with and for children.
Fahmina has hands-on field experience working directly with displaced children while serving with United Nations, INGOs and NGOs and academia in varies countries in Asia. She also has programming experience of implementing child rights projects, monitoring and coordinating local NGOs and Civil Society Organizations. Fahmina has specialized training on Best Intertest Assessment (BIA) and Best Interest Determination (BID), gender-based violence and protection need assessment for children in migration. She has received profession training on counseling and interviewing children in distresses. She had served as trainer in various child protection projects.
Fahmina holds a PhD in Human Rights and Peace Studies and also serves as a Lecturer at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, Mahidol University Thailand.
Karlygach Nurmanbetova
GC Central Asia
Karlygach works as a specialist for the MA Programme in Human Rights and Sustainability and is responsible for assisting in the coordination of children’s rights activities in the Central Asian region. She is based at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Her experience working with children began during her student years at the American University of Central Asia, where she participated in the organization and implementation of educational and recreational activities for children from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds. Later, while working at the American Councils for International Education as a FLEX Programme Alumni Coordinator, she initiated and participated in various impactful projects.
Karlygach is an alumna of the Master’s Programme in Public Policy at the Central European University in Budapest. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in International Comparative Politics. Her primary research interests include children’s access to education, women’s rights (particularly women’s empowerment and gender-based violence), and good governance.
Nazgul Cholponbaeva
GC Central Asia
Nazgul is a Child Rights Regional Officer at Global Campus Central Asia, based at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where she joined in 2026. She brings nearly 20 years of experience in child protection, having worked across UN and development organisation projects, including government-led reform initiatives in child protection, advocacy, social welfare, and social work in Kyrgyzstan, the United States, Ukraine, and Bangladesh.
Nazgul holds her Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University (New York, USA) with a concentration in Social Policy and International Social Work.
Sara Makki
GC Arab World
As the Child Rights Projects Coordinator based in Beirut, Sara is responsible for integrating children’s rights into the GC Arab World (ArMA) programme by coordinating cross-regional initiatives and developing both educational and research components.
She brings several years of experience working with NGOs and INGOs, including World Vision Lebanon, Management Systems International, and USAID, with a focus on child protection, education, livelihoods, and emergency response. Her work has involved supporting child-led initiatives, delivering capacity-building programs, advancing education in emergencies, ensuring M&E quality control, and leading field interventions during crises such as the Beirut port explosion.
Sara holds a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Management and is an active trainer with the Lebanese Red Cross, working on youth empowerment, the prevention of risky behaviours, and projects related to International Humanitarian Law (IHL).