29 October 2007

Commissioner for Children and Young People to give talk

The Law School at the University of Dundee is hosting a talk by Professor Kathleen Marshall, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People on Tuesday 30 October at 1pm in the Baxter Conference Suite, First floor, Tower Building. Professor Marshall’s talk is entitled - "Promoting Rights and Righting Wrongs? Different approaches to the development of law and policy."

Kathleen Marshall is Scotland’s first Commissioner for Children and Young People. She was appointed by the Queen in April 2004, after a selection process which included her being interviewed by two groups of children and young people. The appointment is until 2009, with the possibility of a further five-year period. The Commissioner’s role is to review law, policy and practice relating to the rights of children and young people. Her duties apply to all children and young people under 18, and all children and young people up to 21 who have been in care or looked after by a local authority, and are living in Scotland.

Before taking up her post as Commissioner, Professor Marshall worked as a child law consultant and from 1989-1994 she was the Director of The Scottish Child Law Centre. She is currently a visiting professor at the Glasgow Centre for the Child and Society at the University of Glasgow.

During her period of appointment Kathleen Marshall has not been afraid to address difficult or unpopular issues including the rights and treatment of children of failed asylum seekers; and she has been instrumental in challenging the UK government’s impoverished record of compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The talk is open to members of the public.

For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk