Luis Pedernera is a renowned international expert in children's rights, with an extensive career within the United Nations system. He was a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for two consecutive terms (2017–2025), and its Chairperson between 2019 and 2021, becoming the first Latin American and Spanish-speaking official to hold that position. During his presidency, the Committee adopted important normative instruments, including General Comment No. 24 on juvenile justice, No. 25 on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment, and the Implementation Guidelines for the Optional Protocol on the sale and sexual exploitation of children. He subsequently served as Vice-Chairperson of the Committee (2023–2025). He also chaired the Meeting of Chairpersons of UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (2020–2021), and was the focal point for the protection of children's rights defenders under the San José Guidelines (2023–2025).
IJJO Interviews
Grace Agcaoili is UNICEF’s Global technical lead on Justice for Children based in the New York Headquarters. In this capacity, she provided technical advice to regions and countries on their legal reform and justice for children issues and led the development of global technical guidance on justice for children.
Julia Sloth-Nielsen has been involved in children’s rights reforms for more than 30 years. In her native South Africa, she worked to reform child justice law for more than a decade, as a member of the project team that developed the Child Justice Act 75 of 2008. She has also worked on juvenile justice reform in Mozambique, Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. She drafted the 2011 Kampala Guidelines on Action for Children in the Justice Systems in Africa, which was adopted by the African Committee of Experts as a guiding tool for the consideration of State Part reports under the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child. She also drafted the African Child Policy Forum/DCI publication ‘Spotlighting the Invisible: Access to Justice for Children in Africa.’ She is currently working on various assignments linked to the ‘Reimagine Justice’ agenda supported by UNICEF.
Fiona Dyer is the Director of the Children & Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), based at the University of Strathclyde. As Director, Fiona leads CYCJ towards its ambition of ensuring that Scotland’s approach to children and young people in conflict with the law is rights-respecting, contributing to better outcomes for children, young people and communities. This involves supporting professionals from all disciplines who work with children and young people on the cusp of or involved in offending by promoting best practice based on up-to-date evidence and research.
Kimmo Kumlander is the CEO of the Finnish NGO Silta-Valmennusyhdistys, which works in the area of Tampere, and also a founder and a CEO of nationwide NGO Valo-Valmennusyhdistys. Both organisations work with vulnerable groups of people, including young people involved with the justice system, with a commitment to make them more visible in society and to give them opportunities to make their voices heard at every level of decision-making.
Prior to this work, Kumlander worked at Humak University of Applied Sciences, as a member of the rectorate responsible for the RDI work and international relations of the university. He has published many articles on topics related to rehabilitation, desistance, vulnerable young people and social entrepreneurship, among others.