Kempe Lecturer Dr. Jaap Doek, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Title of Presentation: TBA

Assesfa Bequele, PhD (Ethiopia)
Title of presentation: Ideals without Illusions: Promoting Child Rights in the Context of Poverty
Dr Assefa Bequele is an Ethiopian national with considerable experience in university teaching (USA and Ethiopia) and a 27-year long service in the International Labour Organisation (Geneva, Asia and Africa). Devoted to the promotion of the rights and welfare of children, specifically the progressive elimination of child labour and the protection of working children, Dr. Bequele was responsible for the design and development of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), the world’s premier technical programme on child labour.

The presentation will deal with the inter-relationship between poverty and child abuse and deprivation and what could be done to promote and realise child rights in the context of poverty and underdevelopment.

Hedy Cleaver, PhD (UK)
Title of presentation: The Impact of Domestic Violence and Parental Substance Misuse on Children
Professor Hedy Cleaver is a chartered psychologist at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. Her research focuses on vulnerable children and their families, for example Assessing Risk in Child Protection, (1998); Children’s Needs- Parenting Capacity (1999); Fostering Family Contact (2000); Assessing Children’s Needs and Circumstances; The Impact of the Assessment Framework (2004); and Developing Information Sharing and Assessment Systems (2004).

This paper will explore how domestic violence and substance misuse effects parents’ capacity to meet the developmental needs of their child. It will use data from current research to discuss the impact of domestic violence and parental substance misuse on children’s health and development and explore adult and children’s service collaboration.

Howard Dubowitz, MD, MS (USA)
Title of presentation: Confronting Child Neglect: Concepts and Challenges
Howard Dubowitz, MD, MS is a professor of paediatrics at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. He has been a clinician, teacher, and researcher in the field of child maltreatment for over 20 years, and an advocate in the public policy arena. Dr. Dubowitz edited the first book dedicated to neglect: Neglected Children: Research, Practice and Policy.

This session will convey the importance of child neglect and offer a conceptual approach to defining the problem. This will be followed by consideration of the challenges involved, ending with suggested strategies for confronting child neglect.

Harendra de Silva, FRCP, FRCPCH, FSLCP, MSc (Sri Lanka)
Title of presentation: Child Protection Issues During Natural Disasters: Professionals’ Responsibilities
Professor Harendra de Silva is the Professor of Paediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine, Ragama, Sri Lanka. He was the Founder Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Child Protection and the National Child Protection Authority of Sri Lanka. Professor de Silva is an activist against all forms of Child Abuse including the recruitment of children in Armed Conflict. He has won many international awards including “Senior Ashoka Fellow” of the Ashoka Foundation, Washington DC.

This presentation will include information from both personal and professional experience drawn from the Tsunami relief effort and other efforts in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Phillip Noyes (UK)
Title of presentation: Turning Private Passion into Public Responsibility
Phillip Noyes is Director of Public Policy with the NSPCC. He is a qualified social worker and author of Study of Inquiry Reports 1980-1989, which was published by the Department of Health in 1991. He is the chair of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England and a leading member of the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance.

Drawing on recently completed research, this paper will explore how we can create public responsibility to prevent child abuse. Addressing all forms of child maltreatment, this paper will argue that we all have a role to play in stopping child abuse and will make practical recommendations for how each stakeholder can, together, create the necessary public responsibility.