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This virtual conference will take a deep look at the rights of children, and ways to improve the lives of children and communities.

Children may be our national treasure, but they aren’t always a national priority. The USA was once a world leader in promoting children’s human rights and well-being. Today, children are our main group of citizens most likely to experience poverty, housing insecurity, and hunger; issues about their health, education, bullying, safety, exposure to violence, use of social media, rising rates of suicide, and mental illness are concerns in every community and home. We can do something about this if we focus on how to protect their human rights – rights to which all people are entitled.  

This virtual conference will bring together leaders from different professional areas of life, younger and older, to discuss what children’s human rights are, how they are being implemented, why they are important, and what we can do to improve children’s lives.

Register for the Virtual Conference

Registration is free!

Read a full description of each presentation.

Caroline Adophson               

Children’s Right to Health

David Alexander                    

Understanding how we understand children and childhood

Jetta Bernier                          

Enough Abuse Campaign

Ralph Chan                             

How Education Investments Impact Youth Opportunities

Jack Dalton                            

Empowering Children Through Education and Encouraging Action

Nolan Davis                           

Using Your Voice to Make a Change for Racial Justice

Shannon Desilets                  

Children's Right to Love and Be Loved

Peter DiGenarro                    

The Fretless Base: The Arts, Human Rights Education, and a Return to Possibilities

City of Salem Mayor Kimberly Driscoll '89                          

Welcome to Salem, a Child Rights Community

Mark Engman            

The Importance of Child Rights

Marty Fox

Sports, Youth and Their Rights

Danielle Goldberg          

The Child Friendly Communities Initiative

Rebecca Hains           

Politics of Children’s Toys and Media

Hamilton-Wenham Human Rights Coalition, with Olivia Soolman, Neve Sheckells, Mariana Kaulbach, Maya Beach      

Developing Movements for Local Change

Elizabeth Handsley                

Media, Law, and Children’s Rights

Theresa Harris           

Children’s human rights and the right to science

Kristin Henning                      

Race, Trauma, and the Criminalization of Adolescence in America

Tanya Herring                       

A Conversation About Children, Youth, and Criminal Justice

David Hogg                           

An Interview With A School Shooting Survivor and Social Change Advocate

Human Rights Watch Student Task Force    

Human Rights and the Climate Crisis Virtual Town Hall

Meg Gardinier                       

The Important Contributions of the United States Historically in the Creation of Children’s Human Rights: Where are we now

Generation Citizen                

What we do and why it is important

Elizabeth Gershoff                 

Corporal Punishment and Children's Rights

Christine James-Brown         

Child Poverty in the USA

Melissa Juchniewicz              

The right to read the word and the world

Nazneen Khan           

COVID-19 and Children’s Human Rights

Emily Perl Kingsley                

Rights of Children with Disabilities to Be Seen, Heard, and Respected

Ema Sofia Leitao                    

Freedom of speech for young people

Lina Lenberg                          

Child Voices For Human Rights: Teaching Human Rights Through Classroom Activities

Wendy Lesko                         

Minors Matter! Movement towards Intergenerational Collaboration

Bruce Lesley                          

Childism in the USA: What it is and why it matters

Scarlett Lewis                       

Choose Love Movement

State Senator Joan Lovely '06                         

How To Create A Children’s Commission

Anika Manzoor                      

Teen Activism: An Untapped Force for Social Change

Ellen Marrus            

Children’s Human Rights And the Law      

Quixada Moore-Vissing       

Civic Engagement Includes Children and Youth

Jose Noronha Rodrigues       

Child Rights in Portugal

Kristi Rudelius-Palmer           

Children and Youth Rights Training in Action

Alison Sabean            

We Are More Than You Think

Leah Salloway           

The right to a self-determined future for children with disabilities

Graça Santos                         

Children’s Human Rights to Education: Intergenerationality, older adults, and participation in the community

Senator Jeanne Shaheen       

Welcome to the Importance of Children’s Human Rights

Audrey Smolkin                     

Children and Trauma: What communities can do to help them

Michele Solloway                  

Trauma’s impact on children’s minds and bodies

Sarah Sugatt                          

Why therapy is important for children and the child within us

Melissa Threadgill                 

Children and Trauma: What communities can do to help them      

Kay Tisdall                             

Learning from Scotland: The journey to incorporating the UNCRC

Jonathan Todres                    

Making Children’s Rights Widely Known

State Representative Paul Tucker '87                  

Welcome and Importance of Child Rights

Yvonne Vissing                      

Welcome and Contextualizing Children’s Human Rights

Katherine Walts                    

Children’s Human Rights

Jane Williams            

What We Can Learn About Universal Children’s Rights in Wales

Starsky Wilson                       

The Importance of Participation in Public Policy for Child Well-Being

Joseph Wright           

Reimagining Children's Rights in the United States Context

Heidi Young (With Ariel Hayes, Erin George-Kelly, and Kadyja Harris)

Addressing Youth Homelessness with Youth Leadership

Pinar Zubaroglu-Ionnaides    

The Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Impacts Around the World