Open Lecture with Rebecca Thorburn Stern. Migrant Children: A Rights-Based Perspective

A large part of the migrants in the world today are children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishes a comprehensive catalogue of rights for children, including children on the move. In the context of migration, however, the child-centred perspective of the Convention and its general principles of the best interest of the child and the child's right to be heard may be at risk of being overshadowed of the child's status as a migrant with all that that entails of rights limitations and restrictions. In this talk, Rebecca Thorburn Stern discusses what it means to apply a rights-based perspective on migrant children, children in forced migration in particular, and the consequences this might have, for example, in the assessment of the right to international protection.

About the lecturer

Rebecca Thorburn Stern is Professor of Public International Law at Uppsala University. Her research interests include human rights with a focus on children's rights, asylum and migration law and the relationship between national and international law.

Discussant

Dr. Kavot Zillén is Associate Professor in Public Law at Stockholm University and Deputy Director of the Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child. Her current research interests are concerned with children and the states responsibilities for social welfare with special focus on health and human rights.