Chair of the Policy Centre for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
“Hope For Children” CRC Policy Centre
The «Chair of the Policy Centre for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child» (UNCRC Policy Centre Chair) is a scientific project that aims to promote knowledge in the field of children’s rights among the academic community, through the development of policies and good practices, research, and the delivery of services to the community, namely through the organisation of specialised courses and the training of professionals.
The «Chair» is promoted by the HOPE FOR CHILDREN Policy Centre, a humanitarian institution based in Nicosia, Cyprus, whose mission focuses on the dissemination and protection of children’s rights. With this project, NOVA School of Law aims to continue its commitment to the promotion of human rights, welcoming the important incentive and responsibility of the award of this Chair.
This project aims to encourage cooperation and joint action between organisations and agencies around the world in the hope of more effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to ensure the full enjoyment of these rights.
This Chair was awarded to Professor Teresa Pizarro Beleza.
Activities
Several NOVA School of Law professors have collaborated in various academic and knowledge transfer initiatives related to this Chair, namely Ana Rita Gil, now Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, Miguel Azevedo Moura and Tiago Melo Cartaxo, now Professor at the University of Exeter (England).
Among the activities carried out, we highlight the meetings between various experts in this field, which Professor Ana Rita Gil coordinated, namely the project “Transnational Youth Forum on the Right to Education: Building a brighter future for the Children on the Move”, funded by the Erasmus Programme, 2018-2019, with a team of nine NOVA students investigating access to education for migrant children in Portugal. The results were presented at the Transnational Youth Forum in Cyprus and brought to the attention of the European Institutions as suggestions for improvements to integration regulations.
Also noteworthy were the three conferences on Children’s Rights in relation to Challenges and Threats, the Digital Environment and the Environment, and the 1st University Extension Course on Children’s Rights, organised by Professor Miguel Moura with the indispensable collaboration of Odete Severino Soares (GEPMTSSS), currently a PhD Candidate in Law at NOVA School of Law, who enjoyed great demand and academic success between September 2021 and January 2022.
As part of the Chair’s activities, our faculty’s commitment to promoting the study, research, teaching, and dissemination of children’s rights – including teaching and research in the academic and scientific field of ‘Children’s Law’ – will continue.
Action
- XXVI General Comment of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN, 2023)
Important recent news related to the theme of this Chairmanship is the publication of the XXVI General Comment of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (UN, 2023) on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of 22 August 2023, which deals with environmental issues, with special emphasis on climate change, the translation of which into Portuguese has already been done and the organisation of a public presentation session is being considered.
- Complaint lodged by a group of young Portuguese against 32 states before the ECHR
Also, in the field of this Chair, among many others, the news is being closely followed about the complaint lodged by a group of young Portuguese against 32 states before the ECHR, accusing them of violating the European Convention on Human Rights for their inaction in the face of the climate crisis, which, if not mitigated or resolved, will jeopardise their rights and their future.
- New General Comment (GC No. 27)
During its 95th session in January 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child decided to draft a new General Comment (GC No. 27) to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on “Children’s Right to Access to Justice and Effective Remedies”. While it is recognised that access to justice and effective remedies are essential for the protection and fulfilment of all human rights, the CRC does not contain an article specifically addressing this right to an effective remedy, even though it is explicitly referred to in six other major international human rights treaties.
The Committee sought input from all stakeholders to clarify the terms, approaches and actions that States should take to implement the right of all children to access to justice and effective remedies when their rights under the CRC are not respected. The deadline for responses ended on August 23, 2024.
NOVA School of Law, through the Chair of the Center for Policy on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, invited various Portuguese stakeholders to participate jointly in this exercise, contributing to the future GC No. 27, which will seek the access to justice in the context of relevant judicial and administrative proceedings to become more “child-friendly”.
We are now publishing the contribution (2,500 words) sent to the UN CRC Secretariat, as well as the Consultation Group that participated in it.
To read the contribution of NOVA School of Law, click here.
To see which Consultation Group participated, click here.
To see the CDC’s page on the process of drafting the new General Comment No. 27, click here.
Events
Conference "35 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Portugal"
22 September 2025
On 22 September, the Conference “35 anos da Convenção sobre os Direitos da Criança em Portugal” took place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The event aimed to celebrate and strengthen the commitment to Children’s Rights and was organised with the participation of several institutions, including the Instituto de Apoio à Criança (Institute for Child Support), UNICEF, the Nursing School of Lisbon, and the Portuguese Society of Paediatrics.
This conference brought together experts in education and health as well as a panel with children and young people. It was a moment of reflection and renewed commitment to the full realisation of the rights of all children.
NOVA School of Law was represented by Professor Teresa Pizarro Beleza and Professor Odete Severino Soares, acting respectively as moderator and speaker on the Panel “35 Years of the Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Portugal”.
Their intervention presented a reflection on some of the main observations addressed to Portugal by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child during its last review in September 2019, assessing the degree of compliance with Portugal’s obligations in implementing the Convention, as well as identifying—though not exhaustively—Portugal’s current and future priorities regarding children’s rights, the fulfilment of which will contribute to the realisation of those rights.
During the event, the book “Os Direitos da Criança em Contextos de Saúde em Portugal” (Children’s Rights in Healthcare Contexts in Portugal) was also presented. Conceived and developed by several authors from different fields, the work seeks to reflect reality in its multiple dimensions: the right to health, to information and participation, and to protection from all forms of violence, as well as rights in the context of contemporary challenges, such as the climate emergency, while giving voice to both the newborn and the adolescent.
Acknowledging the dynamic nature of rights, within a complex system of ongoing and emerging challenges, the conference reaffirmed the urgency of strengthening joint action and investment in childhood, placing children’s rights at the heart of public policies and the social agenda.
