Marta Santos Pais

Marta Santos Pais is the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence against Children having taken her position in September 2009. As a high level global independent advocate, she promotes children's protection from violence in all settings, including in the justice system, in the home, in institutional care, in schools, in the workplace and in the community. Acting as a bridge builder in all regions, and across sectors she has been strongly committed to mobilizing action and political support to maintain momentum around this agenda and to achieve steady progress across the world. Marta Santos Pais has more than 30 years’ experience on human rights issues, engagement in United Nations and intergovernmental processes. She participated in the Drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of its Optional Protocols and of other key international human rights standards. She has authored a large number of human rights and children’s rights publications and was a Special Adviser to two major UN Studies, respectively on Violence against Children and on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children. Before her appointment as SRSG she was UNICEF Director of the Innocenti Research Centre, and before then UNICEF Director of Evaluation, Policy and Planning. Previously, she was the Rapporteur of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and Vice-Chair of the Coordinating Committee on Childhood Policies of the Council of Europe.