Deborah Quilgars at the International Summit on the Legal Needs of Street Youth
Posted on 22 June 2015
Deborah Quilgars spoke at the recent International Summit on the Legal Needs of Street Children, convened by the American Bar Association and the law firm Baker & McKenzie. It was the first ever summit on this topic and attracted an impresive number of experts from around the globe. The summit, held over two days, looked at the issue from several perspectives:
- Human Needs
- Child Welfare
- Cross border issues
- Education and employment
- Criminalization
Deborah spoke in the Human Needs session which looked at how a state can fairly treat youth as rights-bearing individuals with legal identity and citizenship. Citizenship that facilitaties their access to basic legal needs such as family care and support, protection from harm, housing, healthcare, propert and business rights.
The summit is the foundation event for a global initiative aimed at fostering greater collaboration to secure better outcomes for street connected children and youth.