Message from the Advisory Board of the Global Study The Global Study Advisory Board is made up of a diverse range of experts from academia and practice, from all continents and multiple fields of expertise, several of whom rolled up their sleeves and got involved in the work of the Study. Professor Manfred Nowak held three expert meetings with the Advisory Board – and many individual discussions with individual members on their points of expertise - and it was through this process that the content and structure of the Study was shaped. The special ‘something new’ that the Global Study presents is that it encompasses a range of contexts where children are deprived of their liberty, beyond the usual terrain of children in the administration of justice. The inclusion of the six thematic areas was controversial in some respects, even the Advisory Board grappled with it. Children in prison with caregivers, for example – did they belong in the Study? There are arguments in favour of them remaining with their caregiver, at least whilst that is in their best interests, but adopting sentencing policies which aim to keep caregivers out of prison, as well as their conditions of detention, are also important questions to consider. Children in institutions was another contentious issue. While some felt that including them created confusion between alternative care and institutionalisation, those who have seen children in institutions know that they are often, both legally and factually, deprived of their liberty. It would have been a travesty to leave them out. For States, migration detention and children detained in the context of armed conflict and national security probably seemed sensitive issues to provide information through questionnaires for the Global Study. But no State can deny that these are the new frontiers of children’s detention. The current news cauldron bubbles with stories about child migrants separated from parents, unaccompanied migrant children detained, babies of foreign fighters held in camps, children being charged in contexts of counter-terrorism. The Study also included a number of cross-cutting chapters, focussing on child participation, disability, gender and health – some may ask why only these? What about indigenous children and children of minorities, for example, who are often overrepresented in detention? The answer is that there is much work still to be done, and this study provides a springboard. Indeed, there are many old and new problems to be tackled, and this Global Study is much more than a litany of the suffering of children. It also sets out clear recommendations for change, and illustrates how change can be achieved through positive examples from a range of countries. From the outset, it was understood by the Advisory Board that the Global Study will not, itself, set children free. The Study provides the base-line, the ‘how to’, the launching pad – but it is the concerted effort of everyone: States, NGOS, academia, professional bodies, UN agencies, treaty bodies and special procedures, that will open the doors. Professor Ann Skelton UNESCO Chair: Education Law in Africa University of Pretoria, South Africa Member, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Chair, Global Study Advisory Board Sir Malcolm Evans KCMG Professor of International Law University of Bristol, United Kingdom Chair, UN Subcommittee for Prevention of Torture Vice-Chair, Global Study Advisory Board IX