A global conference in Uganda set to explore issues of children deprived of their liberty within the justice systems in Africa
7 NOVEMBER 2011 ADDIS ABABA : Together, the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), a leading advocate on policy and dialogue on children in Africa, and Defence for Children International (DCI), a non- governmental organisation that promotes and protects children’s rights on a global, regional and local level, hosted a major international conference on child justice in Kampala, Uganda on 7-8 November 2011.
Over 300 delegates from all over the African continent and the wider world attended the “Deprivation of Children’s Liberty as a Last Resort”, which was held at the Speke Resort and Conference Centre in Kampala, Uganda.
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Professor Kirsten Sandberg is a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
She is a Professor at the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo, specializing in Child Law.
She has served as Acting Justice in the Supreme Court of Norway.
Prior to her work as a University Professor, Prof. Sandberg served as a judge in a Norwegian county court.
She has cooperated extensively with NGOs and given a number of lectures on the Convention on the Rights of the Child to NGOs and other professionals.
Prof. Sandberg is currently participating in research cooperation between the Law Faculty in Oslo and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, on the Implementation of Treaties on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in China and Norway.
She is a member of the steering committee of KIS (Kunnskap I skolen – Knowledge in School), an interdisciplinary research area of the University of Oslo. Prof. Sandberg is also a member of the editorial board of the Norwegian Journal of family law, inheritance law and child protection law. She is a Deputy member of the Council of the Norwegian Centre for Child Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
She has co-authored a book entitled The Convention on the Rights of the Child – Children’s Rights in Norway (2008). Her doctoral thesis was on The question of returning children after foster placement (2003).
Advocate Bience Gawanas is currently the Commissioner of Social Affairs of the African Union Commission. Since her return from 12 years of exile in 1989, Advocate Gawanas has served in different capacities in Namibia including being a member of the Public Service Commission and the Ombudswoman. She has been a gender law lecturer at the University of Namibia, a Member and a Chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission as well as a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Namibia. She was a teacher in SWAPO’s exiles’ centres in Angola, Cuba and Zambia. Since 2003, she has been Commissioner for Social Affairs at the AUC.
Commissioner Gawanas has recently been honoured as one of the world’s top 100 most inspiring people delivering for women and girls, especially for her work in mobilizing Africa to support women’s health and equality.
The honour was bestowed by Women Deliver, a US based organisation that works globally to generate political commitment and financial investment for fulfilling Millennium Development Goal 5, i.e. to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health.