On 30 March 2023, the Ministry of Education and Children of Iceland and the Council of Europe will host a high-level Conference “Investing in Children – the Key to Prosperity” in Reykjavik, Iceland. Organised under the Icelandic Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Conference will focus on the benefits of investing in children as the key to prosperity for nations and individuals alike.
Keynote speakers at the Conference will include Minister of Education and Children of Iceland, Ásmundur Einar Daðason, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Morten Kjærum, Head of the Raul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work, Ramesh Raghavan M.D., PhD., and Head of Advocacy and Campaigns, UNICEF, Benjamin Perks. The event will be moderated by the Head of the Children’s Rights Division and Council of Europe Coordinator for the Rights of the Child, Regína Jensdóttir.
The Conference will also feature input from specialists at the forefront of the implementation of the Prosperity Act in Iceland and will explore approaches towards the creation of a framework of analysis of the social cost of failing to support children's wellbeing and prosperity.
Representatives of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for the Rights of the Child (CDENF) will participate in the discussions following the CDENF plenary meeting in Reykjavik on 28-29 March 2023. The plenary meeting will review the implementation of the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2022-2027) focusing in particular on how to enhance reporting of violence against children, how to strengthen justice for children through the promotion of Barnahus model across Council of Europe member States and how to support children from Ukraine.
* In 2021 the Icelandic Parliament passed the Act on the Integration of Services in the Interest of Children’s Prosperity (the Prosperity Act). The Prosperity Act entered into force on 1 January 2022 with an implementation phase of three to five years.
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