Özlem Lakatos is a Scientific Collaborator at the Center for Children's Rights Studies of the University of Geneva. Since September 2017, she has been working alongside Professor Philip D. Jaffé, a Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Since 2019, she has also been pursuing a PhD in Social Sciences at the Institute of Gender Studies of the University of Geneva. Her primary activities encompass research, teaching, following up on master’s students’ academic work, and coordinating an annual 4-week seminar on Child Abuse and Violence. She co-founded the association “ 30 Ans de Droits de l’Enfant ” with Prof. Philip D. Jaffé and Mr. Jean Zermatten, a former Chairman of the UNCRC (2011-2013). The association was established to coordinate international celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 2019.

 

EDUCATION & WORK EXPERIENCE 

Özlem is a social scientist with an interdisciplinary background oriented towards international affairs and human rights. She attended universities in France, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium. She studied law and political science at the University of Amiens (Bachelor / Licence in 2013) and at the University of Moncton (Master / Maîtrise with honors in 2014), followed by European and Global studies at the University of Geneva and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Master of Arts in 2016).  During her studies, she worked for her universities as a Student Ambassador (France), a Teaching Assistant in Political Science (Canada), and a French Language Assistant for Erasmus students (Belgium). 

Prior to joining the University of Geneva in 2017, first as a Research & Training Assistant and then as a Scientific Collaborator, she worked in several institutions such as the UN, the Council of Europe, the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), and the French Ministry of Defense (DGRIS / Sub-Saharan Africa Division). She volunteered in several children’s rights-related projects with NGOs in Senegal, the United Kingdom, and Bulgaria. She also served as a Former Youth Counselor of the City of Amiens (2012-2014) and of the Region of Hauts-de-France (2011-2015), and she is a Global Shaper Alumni - an initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

 

RESEARCH

Research interests

• Girls’ Rights, Children’s rights, Women’s Rights.
• UN Human Rights System (Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review) / UN agencies (as UNICEF, UNFPA)
• Concepts of intersectionality, representations, vulnerabilities, biopolitics
• Gender and postcolonial studies
• Foucault’s Archaeological and Genealogical Methodologies
• Qualitative methods (archives, interviews, observations) 

 

Ongoing PhD Research

Her research (working title) : “Universal Category, Specific Rights? From the Rights of the Child to the Rights of “Girls” at the United Nations (1989-2019)” focuses on the rights of girls at the international level, situated at the intersection of women's rights and children's rights. By taking a gender and postcolonial approach, she is studying girls as both an object of historical investigation (I) and an object of analytical deconstruction (II). Her research methodologically relies on UN archival records, UN Conventions (and other official documents) and interviews. 

 

TEACHING 

Presentations taught in different master’s programs of CIDE/UNIGE; FAPSE/UNIGE; University of Basel. 

• Introduction to Children Rights 
• Children Rights History (1924-1989)
• Children and Gender Based Violence (GBV) 
• Gender and intersectionality

 

COMMUNICATIONS (selected)

Lakatos, Ö. (2023). Introduction de ma thèse, Séminaire des doctorantes de l’Institut des Études Genre, SDS, Université de Genève, Crêt Berard, Puidoux.

Lakatos Ö. (2023). Commentaire de la présentation : La gestation pour autrui sous l’angle des droits humains, en particulier des droits sexuels et reproductifs de Vanessa Ndoumbe Kotto, Séminaire de recherche « Droits, Enfants, Familles », Faculté de droit Université de Genève, Campus en Valais, Sion.

Lakatos, Ö.(2022). The girl-child icons in the international arena. 14^th Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the past (SSCIP) “Valuing Children: Past and Present”. Université de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. 

Lakatos, Ö. (2022).The social construction of the girl-child at the UN: from victim to advocate for change (1989-2019). Mid-Term Conference of the Sociology of Children and Childhood of the European Sociological Association (ESA), UHI Inverness College, Scotland, United Kingdom. 

Lakatos, Ö. (2021). Les droits des « filles » au Comité des droits de l’enfant : une incursion dans les archives de l’Organisations des Nations unies à Genève (ONUG), Séminaire de recherche « Droits, Enfants, Familles », Faculté de droit, Université de Genève (en ligne).

Lakatos, Ö. (2021). Les filles dans l'agenda international : processus, acteurs et enjeux, Séminaire des doctorantes de l’Institut des Études Genre, SDS, Université de Genève (en ligne).  

Lakatos, Ö. (2020). Droits de l’enfant et droits des femmes, convergences et tensions, Séminaire des doctorantes de l’Institut des Etudes Genre, SDS, Université de Genève (en ligne)

Lakatos, Ö, (2019). Gender and Children Rights, 7^th Children’s Rights Research Symposium, CREAN conference, University of Liverpool, UK.

Lakatos, Ö. (2019). Intersectionality and International Human Rights Law: The Case of the Girl-Child, International Conference on Gender Studies of the London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, University of Cambridge, UK.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Articles 

Jaffé, Ph.D., Zermatten, J. & Lakatos, Ö (2023, forthcoming). Government, Policy and the Role of the State in Childhood (Switzerland). Bloombury Education and Childhood Studies. Bloomsburry Academic, London. 

Lakatos, Ö., & Jaffé, Ph. D. (2021). Childrenʼs Rights and Womenʼs Rights: Convergence and Complementarity. Womenʹs Rights and Childrenʹs Rights : Towards an integrated approach in Development Cooperation, 12-26. Genève, Suisse :Enfants du Monde and University of Geneva. 

Lakatos, Ö., & Jaffé, Ph. D. (2021). Les droits de l’enfant et les droits des femmes : convergence et complémentarité. Droits des femmes et droits des enfants : Vers une approche intégrée dans la coopération au développement, 12-26. Genève, Suisse :Enfants du Monde et Université de Genève.

Jaffé, Ph.D. et Lakatos, Ö. (2019). Children marching towards total participation. Dans J. Zermatten et Ph.D. Jaffé (dir.), 30 ans de droits de l'enfant : un nouvel élan pour l'humanité ! (p. 114-123). Genève, Suisse : Association 30 ans de droits de l’enfant.

 

Edition of conference proceedings 

Jaffé, Ph.D., Lakatos, Ö., Langenegger Roux, N, Moody, Z, Nanchen, Ch., &. Zermatten, J. (2022). Les droits de l’enfant à l’ère digitale. Actes du Colloque. 83 pages. Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant, UNIGE, Sion.

Jaffé, Ph.D, Lakatos, Ö., Zermatten, J., Langenegger Roux, N., Nanchen, Ch., & Moody, Z (2020). Droits de l’enfants et croyances religieuses : autonomie, éducation, tradition. Actes du 10^e Colloque du Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant de l’Université de Genève, UNIGE : Sion.

Jaffé, Ph.D., Zermatten, J., Langenegger Roux, N., Lakatos, Ö., Nanchen, Ch., & Moody, Z. (2019). Pour mieux protéger les enfants en Suisse: Interdire les châtiments corporels! Actes du Colloque. 129 pages. Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant, UNIGE, Sion.

Hoefflin, G.,Jaffé, Ph.D. & Lakatos, Ö. (2018). Le chemin de vie et les droits de l’enfant handicapé. 62 pages. Actes du 9^e Colloque du Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant de l’Université de Genève, UNIGE: Sion.

Jaffé, Ph.D., Hitz, N., Zermatten, J., Langenegger Roux, N., Lakatos, Ö., Nanchen, Ch., Riva Gapany, P., & Moody, Z. (2018). Les droits de l’enfant en situations de migration en Suisse: Protection, Prestations, Participation. 170 pages. Actes du 8^e Colloque du Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant de l’Université de Genève, UNIGE: Sion. 

 

OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Member of Scientific Committees & Working Groups

Co-organizer, in collaboration with the NGO Enfants du Monde of the working group on Women Rights and Children Rights in Development cooperation (2019-2021) : 

• Conferences (University of Geneva, 2019 ; United Nations in Geneva, 2019; online, 2021); 
• Publication (2021).

Organizing committee member of international conferences of the Center for Children Rights Studies of UNIGE, HEP-VS and HES-SO (Bern, 2018 ; Geneva, 2019 ; Online, 2021; Online, 2022; Sierre, 2023) :

• The 'Manufactured' child: What are the challenges for children's rights, identity and origins? Sierre, Novembre 2023.
• “Code red, the planet is burning! Children’s Rights to a healthy, safe and sustainable environment in the midst of a climate crisis?”, Online, May 2022.
• “Chidren’s Rights in the Digital Age : Should children be protected from screen exposure ?”, Online, May 2021.
• “Children’s Rights and Religious Beliefs : Autonomy, Education, Tradition”, Geneva, May 2019.
• “To Better Protect Children in Switzerland : Ban all Corporal Punishment?”, Bern, May 2018.

 

Masterclass Organization

• Masterclass « Construire une politique publique de protection des enfants imprégnée des droits de l'enfant » (2023) with Mrs. Marie Derain de Vaucresson, Inspector of Justice and former Children’s Ombudsman (France), University of Geneva (open to the public / online).
• Masterclass on Discourse Analysis in Social Sciences, Doctoral program in Political science (2022) of the Conférence Universitaire de Suisse Occidentale (CUSO), University of Geneva, Valais Campus, Sion.
• Masterclass « Réparer l’irréparable ? Le défi de la Commission reconnaissance et réparation sur les violences sexuelles » (2022) with Mr. Pierre Hazan, Commissioner in the Recognition and Reparation Commission for Victims of Sexual Violence Committed by Members of Catholic Religious Institutes in France, University of Geneva (open to the public / online).

 

Other Roles

Since 2023: Reviewer, Revue de l’Université de Moncton

Since 2022: Judge of the Inter-University Debate Competition of The Hague, Corax Foundation

 

SCIENTIFIC AFFILIATION

Member of the Institute of Gender Studies of the University of Geneva 

Member of the Swiss Association for Gender Studies (SAGS) 

Member of the European Sociological Association (ESA)

 

CONTACT 

Ozlem.lakatos(at)unige.ch 

@Linkedin  

@Twitter