A further step towards ensuring a specialised and accessible legal system for children

"The relevance of the subject and its intimate relationship with the mission and objectives of Comillas, make the university community and, in particular, the Faculty of Law and its Chair in Children's Rights feel particularly concerned and identified with the objectives pursued by the congress", the Rector recalled. He added: "The Chair is strongly committed to the promotion and implementation of the LOPIVI, a pioneering law in its field, and to this end has been working with the various public administrations and civil society organisations to promote the necessary changes to ensure a specialised and accessible justice system for children, both in the field of judicial and administrative procedures.

The Minister of Youth and Childhood acknowledged that Spain is proud to host this congress. "It is essential to share visions and good practices among professionals who work on these issues on a daily basis. Only in this way can we be effective and eradicate violence against children," she said. "A justice system that can respond to the needs of children is crucial. It is also very important to address it in an intersectional way because violence against children affects all social strata and is not always addressed legally," she said.

For his part, the Minister for Legal Affairs of the Mexican Embassy stressed the global nature of this problem. "We must be able to ensure that children have the right to justice, especially in crisis situations such as the current ones, which include migratory crises or armed conflicts.

Representatives of the different civil society organisations that are part of the Global Justice with Children Initiative (promoter of the World Congresses) and of the National Advisory Committee then took the floor to briefly introduce the contents of the congress. Moderated by Cédric Foussard, coordinator of the Global Justice with Children Initiative, representatives of Terre des hommes Lausanne, Penal Reform International, UNICEF Spain, Plataforma de Infancia and Tierra de Hombres Spain, as well as a young representative of the Children and Youth Advisory Committee of the World Congress took part.

Finally, the Minister for Legal Affairs of the Mexican Embassy handed over the recommendations of the previous World Congress to the Spanish Minister for Children and Youth.

A global initiative

After the successful World Congresses in Lima (2009), Geneva (2015), Paris (2018) and Mexico (2021), the next World Congress on Justice with Children is scheduled for 2-4 June 2025 and will be held at Comillas Pontifical University with the joint coordination of the Comillas ICADE Chair in Children's Rights.

These congresses are spaces for interaction and participation of policy makers, representatives of civil society and children themselves, with the aim of promoting fair and adequate justice for children around the world, promoting meetings between professionals to exchange good practices, fostering scientific cooperation, formulating policy recommendations and raising awareness of child-centred justice and supporting the implementation of international laws and standards related to the rights of children and adolescents and effectively contributing to the achievement of SDG 16.2 and 16.3, working towards effective justice for all children.