Best Interests of the Child - Biography 1 | Page 2

Jorge CARDONNA LLORÉNS
Jorge Cardona Lloréns, born in Valencia on 30 April 1957. He is currently
Professor of Public International Law and International Relations at the
University of Valencia. Special Graduation Award (1980) and Special
PhD Award at the University of Valencia (1984). Teacher of Public
International Law at the Universities of Valencia (1980-1984; 198595; and since 2008), Alicante (1984-85) and Jaume I in Castellón
(1995-2008). Director of the International Law Section at the Bancaja
International Centre for Peace and Development (since 1997). Director
(and foun-der) of the Bancaja Euro-Mediterranean Courses on International
Law (since 1997). Holder of the Henri Rolin Chair at the Universities of
Louvain-La-Neuve

and

Vrije

Universiteit

Brussel

(2009)

and

the

Jean Monnet Chair in Community Law (since 1997). President of the
Mediterranean Institute of European Studies (since 1999). President of
the Centre for Studies on Law and International Relations (since 2007).
Visiting

Professor

at

different

Universities

and

University

Institutes in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Member of the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child since 2011.

Nigel CANTWELL
Nigel Cantwell is a Geneva-based international consultant on child
protection policies who has been working on the human rights of children
internationally for over 30 years. He founded the NGO Defence for
Children International (DCI) in 1979, and coordinated the NGO Group
for the Convention on the Rights of the Child throughout the drafting of
that treaty. As DCI representative, he participated actively in developing
the 1993 Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. In 1994 he
joined UNICEF, initially as a consultant on children’s rights and protec-tion
issues and then as head of the ‘Implementation of International Standards’
unit at UNICEF’s Innocenti Research Centre in Florence until 2003. He
played a lead role in drafting the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of
Children approved by the UN General Assembly in 2009.

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