5th World Congress on Justice With Children 2025
In June 2025, we were delighted to join over 750 colleagues and friends in Madrid, Spain - alongside 6,000+ participants tuning in globally through satellite events - united by a shared commitment to child-centred justice.
Here’s our Inspiring Children’s Futures highlights from the 5th World Congress on Justice With Children.
High-Level Ministerial Roundtable
At the High-Level Ministerial Roundtable on Advancing Child-Centred Justice, hosted by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, with the Global Initiative on Justice With Children and Inspiring Children’s Futures as lead and representative of the Working Group on SDG16+ Justice for Children, we heard powerful commitments from Ministers of Justice and international organisations. A key takeaway: our collective impatience to accelerate progress toward child-centred justice - and the forging of new and renewed partnerships to share innovations, challenges, and lessons learned to drive urgent action.
Plenary Session: UNCRC General Comment No. 27
Prof. Jennifer Davidson, IICF Executive Director, chaired a compelling plenary on General Comment No. 27 on children’s rights to access justice and effective remedies. Insights from Benoît Van Keirsbilck, Prof. Ann Skelton, Anuar Quesille, Nimisha Srivastava & Prathit Singh encouraged us all to be both committed and imaginative when it comes to realising access to justice and effective remedies with and for children, and to embrace a shift in our mindsets in how we understand child-centred justice - moving away from courts and retrospective mechanisms, to build a culture where access to justice means the full realisation of all children's human rights, in children's everyday interactions, close to home, in their communities and safe spaces.
Workshops
Further workshops on 'Building Responsive Justice Systems for Children and Young People - Whole-of-Government Solutions' and 'Reconstructing Multilateralism - The Role of Academia in Sustainable Capacity Building for Children’s Rights' together reinforced a clear message heard throughout the World Congress: collaboration, new and unlikely partnerships, and multi-sector approaches are essential to turning commitments into lasting change.
More from the Justice for Children Initiative…
“Responding to children’s distinct needs, and realising their full range of rights and opportunities, is the basis to achieving peaceful, just and inclusive societies for all.”
Picture: ©Tdh/Joakim Löb