One of the key speakers at COPE’s recent conference was Chiara Altafin of the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC, Venice). Ms Altafin is currently working with Manfred Nowak on the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, after Mr. Nowak was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Independent Expert on the Study.
COPE is contributing to the Global Study through work with the Child Rights Connect Working Group on Incarcerated Parents. The Global Study, which is conducted in close cooperation with various UN agencies (OHCHR, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNODC), NGOs, academia and other stakeholders, will explore the issues surrounding children living in places of detention with their parents, as well as children deprived of liberty within the administration of justice; children deprived of liberty for migration-related reasons; children deprived of liberty in institutions; children deprived of liberty in the context of armed conflict and children deprived of liberty on national security grounds. One of the main objectives of the Global Study is to document the number of children deprived of liberty (disaggregated by age, gender and nationality), as well as reasons invoked, root-causes, type and length of deprivation of liberty and places of detention. Chiara Altafin’s presentation was well received at the COPE conference and she has since agreed to write a piece on data collection, children of prisoners and the Global Study with Manfred Nowak for the next issue of COPE’s European Journal of Parental Imprisonment which will be focussing on data collection (developed thanks to the current EU operating grant).