IJJO Interviews

Enakshi Ganguly Thukral is a human rights activist and child rights advocate, researcher and trainer for the past three decades, working on wide- ranging socio-legal issues such as development induced displacement, women in the unorganised sector, reproductive health, child labour, child trafficking, laws and policies governing women and children, education, violence against children and juvenile justice. Since co-founding HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, in 1998, she has been working in focused manner on children’s rights. Working on children and governance, and child protection, HAQ is actively engaged in monitoring government’s performance, public education and advocacy on children’s rights. It works as a resource and support base providing information, referral service, legal aid, strategic litigation, training and capacity building of all those working with children or on issues concerning them, and the children themselves. It was one of the organisations that had intervened in Supreme Court of India against the plea for lowering the age of juvenility. Enakshi has been part of drafting committees of laws, polices and plans of the government of India including the for the government’s Five Year Plans. She is the president of Society for Rural and Tribal Initiatives (SRUTI), Delhi, on the board of several organizations including the National Gender Centre of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, Government of India; member of the Editorial Board of “Children, Youth and Environments”- A Journal of Research, Policy and Applications, University of Colorado; the thematic group for the World Congress on Juvenile Justice, Geneva, January 2015. Enakshi has authored and co-authored a number of books, articles, manuals and handbooks on a wide range of issues; been invited as a technical expert on issues related to children, presented papers at various national and international meets, worked closely with the UN system. She has been awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in 2002 in recognition of HAQ’s work on children. In 2014 she received the IJJO's 'Juvenile Justice Without Borders' International Award in representation of a coalition of Indian NGOs, honored for their struggle against the non-respect of internationally accepted principles, in particular lowering the age at which children are deprived of liberty in India and the introduction of a waiver system for 16-18 year olds committing serious offences, and for its advocacy work against introducing the retributive justice approach in juvenile justice legislation.

Jeffrey A. Butts (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an adjunct member of the doctoral faculty in the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Previously, he was a research fellow with Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, director of the Program on Youth Justice at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, and senior research associate at the National Center for Juvenile Justice in Pittsburgh. Dr. Butts has managed more than $17 million of research projects and worked with policymakers and justice practitioners in 28 states. He has published two books, dozens of monographs and reports for government agencies and foundations, as well as articles in academic and peer-reviewed journals. He began his justice career as a drug and alcohol counselor with the juvenile court in Eugene, Oregon.

The Honourable Justice Muhammad Imman Ali was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, High Court Division in February 2001 and Appellate Division in February 2011. Previously, he had been Deputy Attorney General for Bangladesh from September 1998 to February 2001. His book, ‘Towards a Justice Delivery System for Children in Bangladesh’, was published by UNICEF in 2010. He has also written a chapter on the new Children Act 2013 in the book ‘Justice for Children in Bangladesh’ by Najrana Imaan, published by Save the Children.

Julie Zerlauth-Disic coordinates the UNICEF France ´Ville amie des enfants´ (A city that's a friend to the children) program. In particular, she establishes and develops relationships between the local authorities involved in the program. She also played a role in the creation of the UNICEF national opinion project in 2013: "Let´s listen to what the children have to say", a study on the social integration of young people, through the voices of young people. ‘Ville amie des enfants’ is a UNICEF international initiative which links cities together through their engagement with the improvement of young people's well-being. The program is one of action and asks the cities involved to present a detailed proposition of their plans and projects with the objective of improving the situation for young people in that area, primarily focusing on developments in security, health, education and the opinions of young people. The program started in France in 2002 with 12 participants and today has around 240. It allows the participants to benefit from a network of communication and training, and holds an annual conference whose aim is to encourage a dynamic exchange of good practices, ideas and projects.

In this interview, Pedro Calado talks in depth about the Choices Programme (Programa Escolhas), which promotes the social inclusion of children and youths of the most vulnerable communities in Portugal. Pedro Calado graduated in Geography from the University of Lisbon, with a specialisation in education, holding a Master's degree in Geography from the University of Lisbon/University of Sheffield, with a specialisation in "Exclusion, Society and Territory". In 2011 he took the INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Programme. Consultant and external evaluator in various organisations, such as the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, he is also a founder and volunteer in various organisations of the third sector. Mr. Calado is currently working as the High Commissioner for Migration, and the National Coordinator of the Choices Programme. He has been the Choices Programme delegate in the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN), and the award winner, in 2003, of the European Heinz Roethof Prize, conferred by the European Union. In December 2014 he collected on behalf of the Choices Programme the ‘Juvenile Justice without Borders’ International Award, given by the International Juvenile Justice Observatory.