Ann Skelton
Professor Children's rights in a sustainable world
- Name
- Prof. A.M. Skelton
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 2727
- a.m.skelton@law.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-4320-8904
Ann Skelton is Professor of Law and holds the Chair: Children's Rights in a Sustainable World. She is the Programme Director of the Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in International Children’s Rights.
More information about Ann Skelton
Leiden Law Blog
Courses
Frontiers of Children's Rights Summer School
Professor Ann Skelton is an internationally renowned child rights expert. She is a Professor of Law at Leiden University, where she holds the Chair in Children's Rights in a Sustainable World. She is also currently a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and was appointed Chairperson in May 2023, for a two year term. Ann Skelton has worked as a children’s rights lawyer in South Africa for over 30 years. She played a leading role in child law reform through her involvement with the committees of the South African Law Reform Commission that drafted the Child Justice Act and the Children’s Act. Ann was the Director of the Centre for Child Law for ten years, where she initiated its strategic impact litigation work. She is currently also a Law Professor at the University of Pretoria, where she holds the UNESCO Chair: Education Law in Africa. She is an internationally recognised researcher and has published widely on children’s rights, education law and restorative justice. She is a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde, and receive an Honorary Doctorate from that University in June 2023. She was the first holder of the Rotating Honorary Chair: Enforcement of Children’s Rights at Leiden University. She is an advocate and has appeared as counsel in many landmark child law cases in the South African superior courts, including 12 cases in the Constitutional Court. Her awards include the Honorary Worlds’ Children’s Prize, presented by Queen Sylvia of Sweden (2012) and the Juvenile Justice Without Borders award presented by the International Observatory on Juvenile Justice (2017) and she is currently an International Ambassador for the British Society of Criminology. She was the chairperson of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty.
Professor Children's rights in a sustainable world
- Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid
- Instituut voor Privaatrecht
- Jeugdrecht en Gezondheidsrecht
- Skelton A.M. (2023), 20th Kilbrandon Lecture (University of Strathclyde, 8 December 2022): children of the beloved country - lives and legacies from Kilbrandon to Mandela, Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care: An international journal of group and family care experience 22(1): 1-15.
- Skelton A.M. (2023), The CRC perspective in the context of international child abduction and the 1980 Hague Convention. In: Freeman M. & Taylor N. (Eds.), Research Handbook on international child abduction: the 1980 Hague Convention. Research Handbooks in Family Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 279-297.
- Binford W., Bochenek M.G., Cernadas P.C., Day E., Field S., Hamilton M., Liefaard T., Mezmur B., Mulatu F., Skelton A., Sloth-Nielsen J., Stuart J., Loon H. van & Verhellen J. (2023), Report on enforcing the rights of children in migration, Laws 12(5): 85.
- Skelton A.M. (2023), Child rights jurisprudence without borders: developments in extraterritorial jurisdiction, De Jure Law Journal 56: 606-624.
- Skelton A.M., Singh P. & Cornelius S. (2022), Protection of young athletes. In: Nafziger J. & Gauthier R. (Eds.), Handbook on international sports law. Research Handbooks in International Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 403-421.
- Skelton A. (2022), Children. In: Binder C., Nowak M., Hofbauer J.A. & Janig P. (Eds.), Elgar encyclopedia of human rights. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 244-248.
- Skelton A. (2022), Children being civilly disobedient: peaceful assembly and international children’s rights. In: Viljoen F., Fombad C., Tladi D., Skelton A. & Killander M. (Eds.), A life interrupted: essays in honour of the lives and legacies of Christof Heyns. Pretoria: Pretoria University Law Press. 347-363.
- Nolan A., Skelton A. & Ozah K. (2022), Advancing child rights-consistent strategic litigation practice. Nottingham: Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation (ACRiSL) project.
- Schmidt E.P. & Skelton A. (2022), A developmental perspective on children who commit serious violent offences: from science to standards. In: Lynch N., Brink Y. van den & Forde L. (Eds.), Responses to serious offending by children: principles, practice and global perspectives. Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice. Oxford/New York: Routledge. 55-65.
- Nolan A. & Skelton A.M. (2022), ‘Turning the Rights Lens Inwards’: the case for child rights-consistent strategic litigation practice, Human Rights Law Review 22(4): ngac026.
- Skelton A. & Batley M. (2021), A comparative review of the incorporation of African traditional justice processes in restorative child justice systems in Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini. In: Gavrielides T. (Ed.), Comparative restorative justice. Cham: Springer. 245-264.
- Skelton A.M. (2021), Incorporating the CRC in South Africa. In: Kilkelly U., Lundy L. & Bronach B. (Eds.), Incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into National Law. Cambridge: Intersentia. 147-176.
- Kangaude G.D., Bhana D. & Skelton A.M. (2020), Childhood sexuality in Africa: a child rights perspective, African Human Rights Law Journal 20(2): 688-712.
- Skelton A. (2019), A hiding to something: reduction of violence against children in South Africa’s justice system. In: O’Brien W. & Foussard C. (Eds.), Violence against children in the criminal justice system: global perspectives on prevention. Routledge Frontiers of Criminal Justice. Abingdon: Routledge. 145-163.
- Skelton A.M. (2019), Separation of children from parents in situations of migrancy: avoidable trauma, South African Journal of Psychology 49(1): 3-6.
- Skelton A.M. (2019), International children’s rights law: complaints and remedies. In: Kilkelly U. & Liefaard T. (Eds.), International human rights of children. International Human Rights. Singapore: Springer. 65-91.
- Skelton A.M. (2019), Human rights and restorative justice. In: Gavrielides T. (Ed.), Routledge International Handbook of Restorative Justice. Routledge Handbooks. London-New York: Routledge. 32-42.
- Skelton A. & Mezmur B.D.. PHRG 3(3): 275-305.
- Skelton A. (2019), Too much of a good thing?: best interests of the child in South African jurisprudence, De Jure Law Journal 52(1): 557-579.
- Veriava F. & Skelton A.M. (2019), The right to basic education: a comparative study of the United States, India and Brazil, South African Journal on Human Rights 35(1): 1-24.
- Skelton A. (2019), Children’s rights: social change through the application of hard and soft international law. In: Bradlow D. & Hunter D. (Eds.), Advocating social change through International Law: exploring the choice between hard and soft international law. Leiden: Brill. 55-83.
- Skelton A. (2018), Children’s rights. In: Brickhill J. (Ed.), Public interest litigation in South Africa. Claremont: Juta.
- Skelton A. (2018), Child justice in South Africa: application of international instruments in the Constitutional Court, International Journal of Children's Rights 26(3): 391-422.
- Kangaude G.D. & Skelton A.M. (2018), (De)criminalizing adolescent sex: a rights-based assessment of age of consent laws in Eastern and Southern Africa, SAGE Open 8(4): .
- Skelton A.M. & Kamga S.D. (2017), Broken promises: constitutional litigation for free primary education in Swaziland, Journal of African Law 61(3): 419-442.
- Skelton A.M. (2017), Strategic impact litigation: equal access to quality education. New York: Open Society Foundations.
- Skelton A. (2016), Balancing autonomy and protection in children’s rights: a South African account, Temple Law Review 88(4): 887-904.
- van der Merwe A. & Skelton A.M. (2015), Victims' mitigating views in sentencing decisions: a comparative analysis, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 35(2): 355-372.
- Skelton A.M. (2014), South Africa. In: Liefaard T. & Doek J.E. (Eds.), Litigating the rights of the child: the UN convention on the rights of the child in domestic and international jurisprudence. Dordrecht: Springer. 13-30.
- Skelton A. (2014), Leveraging funds for school infrastructure: the South African 'mud schools' case study, International Journal of Educational Development 39: 59-63.
- Skelton A.M. (2010), Girls' socio-economic rights in South Africa, South African Journal on Human Rights 26(1): 141-163.
- Skelton A.M. (2008), Restorative justice in child justice systems in Africa. In: Sloth-Nielsen J. (Ed.), Children's rights in Africa: a legal perspective. London: Routledge. 129-145.
- Skelton A.M. (2002), Restorative justice as a framework for juvenile justice reform: a South African perspective, British Journal of Criminology 42(3): 496-513.
- Skelton A.M. & Potgieter H. (2002), Juvenile Justice in South Africa. In: Winterdyk J.A. (Ed.), Juvenile justice systems: international perspectives. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press. 477-502.
- Skelton A. & Frank C. (2001), Conferencing in South Africa: returning to our future. In: Morris A. & Maxwell G. (Eds.), Restorative justice for Juveniles: conferencing, mediation and circles. Oxford: Hart Publishing. 103-120.
- Pinnock D., Skelton A. & Shapiro R. (1995), New juvenile justice legislation for South Africa: giving children a chance, Chronicle 4(1): 4-9.
- Co-Chair of the Committee on Enforcing the Rights of Children in Migration
- Tutor in the Masters in International Human Rights Law
- Editorial Board
- International Ambassador
- Chairperson
- Editorial Board