The right to protest for children and young people: Setting an agenda for human rights cities

In recent years, children and young people have increasingly been involved in protests – on issues such as climate change, education, citizenship, the impact of war, or even on the right to sing. This public lecture will include some interesting histories of child protestors, demonstrating that this is not a new phenomenon. The lecture will explain the rights to freedom of association and assembly which are protected by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and will propose an agenda for human rights cities to enable children and young people to safely exercise their right to peaceful protest.

Ann Skelton is a Professor of Law and holds the Chair on Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World at the University of Leiden, where she is programme director of the Advanced Masters in International Children’s Rights. She also holds the UNESCO Chair in Education Law at the University of Pretoria. Ann has appeared as counsel in numerous landmark child rights cases in the South African Constitutional Court. She was a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2017 to 2025, and was Chairperson from May 2023 to Feb 2025.