Stockholm university

New lecture series dedicated to HM Queen Silvia

Stockholm University's first Lecture on Child Law and Children's Rights in honour of HM Queen Silvia took place on 21 November 2022, featuring the internationally recognised-expert in children's rights, Marta Santos Pais.

Picture of the mixer table where the technicians are recording the lecture
The lecture took place in Aula Magna, Stockholm University, but could also be followed live online. Marta Santos Pais (on the right) gave the longer speech. Photo: Anna Allergren

In a Stockholm covered in a fresh thick layer snow, the Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child at Stockholm University held its first lecture in the new series on Children's Law and Children's Rights, established in honour of HM Queen Silvia at the initiative of Stockholm University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Astrid Söderbergh Widding. Marta Santos Pais was the keynote speaker, addressing that “Human Rights start with Childrens Rights”. Professor Rebecca Thorburn Stern and Dr. Aoife Daly also spoke on the overall theme of “Children's Right in times of crises.”

This series on Children’s Law and Children’s Rights, given in recognition of Her Majesty Queen Silvia's invaluable contribution to the promotion of children’s rights, provides lectures held every two years by eminent scholars in the field of children’s rights, with the Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child organizing the lectures. The Centre provides an interdisciplinary research platform at Stockholm University that brings together researchers focused on issues relating to child law and children's rights from different scientific perspectives, both nationally and internationally, and operates through a broad network of contacts with representatives of public authorities and organizations with an interest in children's rights issues.

A decade of research in child rights

The Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child, established in 2012, operates within the Department of Law at the Faculty of Law, Stockholm University. During her mandate as Vice Chancellor, the Centre has expanded in many ways, and in her opening address to the audience at the lecture, Professor Astrid Söderbergh Widding described the importance of the Centre in enabling research on children's rights which can benefit society;

– Therefore, let me also say how happy I am with the important work being done at the Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child, established in an early phase of my rectorate and which has grown and flourished since its start. My deep gratitude goes to Pernilla Leviner (the Centre's Director) and all the researchers connected to the Centre for the important work you are doing, which is an asset to the entire Stockholm University.

A never-ending agenda

Although the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child entered into force more than 30 years ago and is the most ratified international convention in the world, there is still much work to be done when it comes to respecting and realizing children's rights - as was confirmed in the lecture by Marta Santos Pais. Drawing on her role as a children's rights expert and international pioneer in the legal protection of children, she described examples of the many problems that children face and are particularly affected by, such as children living in war-zones and children who suffer from poverty and hunger;

– It is exactly in times of crises, when countries are ravaged by global pandemics, political instability, economic recessions and unpredictable climate changes, that the commitment to children’s rights matters the most. It is then more than ever, that children must be placed at the full front of all our policies, of all our concerns.  

Marta Santa Pais presented an overall picture of the developments, challenges and opportunities when it comes to the realization of children's rights. Highly engaging and despite the challenges described, she also gave hope in her lecture. Not only did she cite Greta Thunberg as an example of “no one is too small to make a difference” - she also took her cue from , and ended with, a quote from Astrid Lindgren’s famous speech when she received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1978; 

“I believe that we should start from the bottom. With the children.”

Watch the lecture online

The lecture on children's rights in honour of HM Queen Silvia is available on the Stockholm Centre for the Rights of the Child's website. In connection with the recording, transcripts of all the speakers' presentations will also be published, including the lecture by Associate Professor Kavot Zillén, which would have been given under the overall theme of children's rights in times of crisis. 

Watch the recorded lecture here