UP professor to lead UN children’s rights committee
UNIVERSITY of Pretoria’s (UP’s) Professor Ann Skelton is set to promote children’s rights on the global stage after she was elected to chair the UN committee on the rights of the child.
Skelton’s new role will see her actively participating in holding states accountable for failures to protect the rights of children globally.
A renowned international children’s rights lawyer and professor at the university’s faculty of law, Skelton is passionate about fighting for children’s rights. Her new role involves leading the 18-member committee of independent global experts, cherishing a common goal to protect children around the world.
Skelton was initially appointed by South Africa to serve on this body before being voted in by the UN for her first term of office in May 2017. She was re-elected for a second term until February 2025.
Stepping into her new position, Skelton said in her acceptance speech: “Children’s rights are under threat in many parts of the world. Keeping states accountable for the failure to improve children’s lives and encouraging better efforts is the daily bread of the committee.
“I look forward to an energetic two years in which the committee will deepen its efforts to bring about the needed change on the ground.”
She pledged to collaborate with others who are committed to protecting children who cannot defend themselves.
Skelton – also a highly rated researcher with a B1 National Research Foundation rating – previously argued many landmark children’s rights cases in the Constitutional Court.
She is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and holds the Unesco chair in education law in Africa.
She is also a recipient of UP’s 2018 Exceptional Achievers award, the International Juvenile Justice Observancy’s Juvenile Justice Without Borders International Award – which recognises 20 years of work on juvenile justice – and an honorary world children’s prize, which was presented in 2012 by Queen Silvia of Sweden.
Skelton described the opportunity to lead the top global body on children’s rights as “exciting”.