Spain begins the journey towards the next World Congress on Justice for Children in 2025: Establishment of the National Advisory Committee

In the context of the World Congress on Justice for Children, to be held in Madrid in 2025, in collaboration with Comillas University, under the theme "Preventing and responding to violence against children in justice: towards child-centered systems", the inaugural meeting of the National Advisory Committee of Spain was held on Monday, March 18, 2024, at the headquarters of UNICEF Spain.

The creation of the Committee was promoted by the Global Initiative on Justice With Children, the Tierra de hombres Spain Foundation and UNICEF Spain, with the aim of accompanying the path towards the World Congress, both with previous activities and in the proposal of strategies, speakers, and themes of the Congress, as well as contributing to the debate on the national agenda of justice and childhood.

The meeting was chaired by José María Vera, Executive Director of UNICEF; Rubén Pérez Correa, Spain Secretary of State for Youth and Childhood; Yann Colliou, Director of the Access to Justice Program at Terre des hommes Lausanne Foundation, and Rodrigo Hormazábal Lama, Head of the International Cooperation Department of Tierra de hombres Spain, and was attended by representatives of state agencies, academics, and civil society organizations working to improve the quality of justice systems to fully guarantee the rights of children, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda.

As part of the Committee, the following notable participants joined the meeting:

Ministerio de Juventud e Infancia

• Rubén Pérez Correa, Secretario de Estado de Juventud e Infancia.

Ministerio de Derechos Sociales, Consumo y Agenda 2030

• Paula Fernández-Wulff, Directora General de Agenda 2030.

Consejo General del Poder Judicial

• Jorge Jiménez Martín, Director de la Escuela Judicial.
• María Vilches Fernández, Letrada de Igualdad y Violencia de Género a acudir, en representación de la Presidenta del Observatorio

Ministerio de la Presidencia, Justicia y Relaciones con las Cortes 

• Yolanda García, Asesora de la Secretaría General para la Innovación y Calidad del Servicio Público de Justicia del Ministerio de la Presidencia, Justicia y Relaciones con las Cortes

Fiscalía General de Estado

• Rosa María Henar Hernando García, Fiscal Adscrita de Sala de Menores (participante sin representación).

Consejo General de la Abogacía Española

• María Giráldez, miembro de la Subsección de Menores.

Save the Children

• Carmela del Moral, Responsable de Políticas de Infancia.

Fundación Márgenes y Vínculos

• Celia Nevado, Directora Programas Infancia, Adolescencia y Violencia.

POI (Plataforma de Organizaciones de Infancia)

• Carles López Picó, Presidente.

Universidad Pontificia de Comillas 

• Isabel Lázaro, Directora de la Clínica Jurídica ICADE.

Universidad Internacional de Valencia

• Cristina López, Secretaria Académica.

UNICEF España

• Lara Contreras, Directora de Influencia, Programas y Alianzas. Cristina Junquera, Responsable de Influencia y Estudios.
• Amanda Martín Rivas, Especialista en Protección de Infancia.
• Almudena Olaguibel, Especialista en Protección de Infancia.

Terre des hommes Lausanne/Iniciativa Global sobre Justicia con la Niñez

• Yann Colliou, Director del Programa de Acceso a la Justicia.
• Marta Gil González, Subdirectora del Programa de Acceso a la Justicia.
• Laura Jacques, Coordinadora Regional de África Acceso a la Justicia.
• Cédric Foussard, Coordinador de Proyectos de la Iniciativa Global de Justicia con la Niñez.
• Mariana Pérez, Project Manager Iniciativa Global de Justicia con la Niñez.

Tierra de hombres España

• Rodrigo Hormazábal Lama, Responsable del Departamento de Cooperación Internacional.
• Marie Charlotte Bisson, Coordinadora de Protección de la Infancia.
• Tatiana Salem, Experta en Justicia del Departamento de Cooperación Internacional.

The presidency of this support body for the World Congress will be led by UNICEF Spain and the Technical Secretariat by the Tierra de hombres Spain Foundation.

During the meeting, Cédric Foussard, coordinator of the Global Initiative on Justice With Children, presented the trajectory of the World Congresses, which have been held periodically since 2009, and announced the major themes that will be addressed at the upcoming meeting to be held at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, between June 2 and 6, 2025:

1. Ending the detention of children;
2. Justice in times of crisis;
3. Digital justice;
4. Community empowerment;
5. Neuroscience and child justice

Subsequently, the participants expressed their willingness to participate in this Committee and outlined the topics of interest to work in that area, and it was agreed to progress towards a space for the participation of young people. The meeting was very productive, and it was agreed to advance in plenary meetings every two months.