GMC Coordinator speaks at Universitat de Barcelona Seminar on Child Rights

Barcelona, 25 March 2011 - Following the presentation of the 2010 Committee on the Rights of the Child’s report and under the title Current Challenges in Human Rights: Child and Adolescent Rights called into question, the law faculty of the Universitat de Barcelona held a special seminar on the challenges child rights face today.

The seminar, which took place from March 21st to 23rd, was organised by the Asociación para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Infancia y la Adolescencia (ADDIA) and the Universitat de Barcelona and for three days hosted round tables and conferences of national and international experts as well as local children’s councils.

The event was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Carlos Villagrasa, President of ADDIA, and Mr. José Machaín, Interinstitutional and Academic Coordinator of the V World Congress on Child and Adolescent Rights in Argentina.  Among the speakers were Dr. Manfred Liebel, from the European Network of Masters in Children's Rights (ENMCR), Dr. Simon Hoffman from Swansea University or Dr. Rosa Martins from Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal). The Executive Coordinator of the GMC, Miquel de Paladella, was invited to speak on the evolution of child and adolescent rights in the light of the 2010 Committee on the Rights of the Child’s report. Focusing on Spain, he pointed to four key areas where child rights are most challenged today, namely, investment in society’s poorest, the states’ commitment to children, innovation and children left behind.