The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Offices convened the Advancing Child Rights in MENA – Stakeholder Engagement Workshop in Amman, Jordan, from 9 to 11 September 2025.
The workshop gathered National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), child rights experts, representatives from UNICEF and OHCHR, and advocates for children and youth across the region. It provided a platform for coordination, knowledge-sharing, and strategic planning to strengthen child rights advocacy and protection in MENA.
Lebanon’s Contribution: A Model for Anchoring Child Rights in Governance
Lebanon took center stage on 11 September during Session 13: Child and Youth Participation as a Legal Obligation and Key to Successful Implementation of NHRIs’ Child Rights Mandate (10:45–11:30 a.m.).
Bassam Al Kantar, Commissioner of International Relations at Lebanon’s National Human Rights Commission including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (NHRC-CPT), delivered an online presentation titled:
“Revisiting the Child Rights Advocacy Mandate of NHRIs: With Reference to the Experience of Lebanon’s NHRC-CPT.”
Al Kantar underscored that child rights advocacy by NHRIs must extend beyond case-handling to influence policy, drive systemic reform, and oversee governance. He showcased Lebanon’s NHRC-CPT as a custodian of children’s rights even in fragile contexts, combining institutional enablers, leadership, networks, processes, and data to build a governance system where no child is left behind.
Key highlights of Lebanon’s NHRC-CPT work included:
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Establishing a Grievance Committee for Child Victims to ensure direct access to remedies.
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Linking monitoring of juvenile detention and education rights with national strategies, such as the 2020–2027 Strategic Plan for the Protection of Women and Children.
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Championing child-friendly procedures, including helplines, complaint boxes, and safeguards in detention monitoring.
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Integrating child rights data into detention monitoring and UN treaty body reporting, addressing persistent SDG data gaps.
Call to Action
Al Kantar concluded with recommendations to institutionalize child rights mandates within NHRIs, ensure high-level political leadership, embed child-friendly procedures, close data gaps, and adopt a comprehensive National Plan of Action for Children with NHRC-CPT as an independent watchdog.
The Amman workshop reaffirmed that meaningful child and youth participation is not optional, but a legal obligation central to achieving sustainable child rights governance in the region.
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