• Ton LIEFAARD, Professor, UNICEF Chair in Children’s Rights at Leiden University, Leiden Law School (Netherlands). • Usang Maria ASSIM, Senior Researcher Children’s Rights Project, Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, University of the Western Cape (South Africa). • Juan MENDEZ, Professor of Law at the American University in Washington and Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (Argentina). • Benyam Dawit MEZMUR, Member and Former Chair, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and member of the African Committee on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Ethiopia). • Vitit MUNTARBHORN, Professor of International Law at Chulangkorn University, Former UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography (Thailand). • Dainius PURAS, UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health (Lithuania). • Benoit VAN KEIRSBILCK, Director of the Belgian section of Defence for Children International (Belgium). • Jean ZERMATTEN, Founder and Director of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child and Former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (Switzerland). • Leila ZERROUGUI, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Former UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (Algeria). NGO Advisory Panel for the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty1 4.1 Co-Conveners A very special thanks go to the co-conveners Jo BECKER, Human Rights Watch and Alex KAMAROTOS, Defence for Children International for their impactful engagement and impressive coordination of the NGO Panel consisting of 170 NGOs worldwide and for being essential advocates in this global endeavour. 1 The full list of all NGOs part of the NGO Panel can be found in Annex III XV