The organization

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Operational team

The Foundation Board

The Board of Trustees of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child is the governing body responsible for guiding, supporting and supervising the Institute’s activities. It is made up of committed members from various fields related to children’s rights, education, justice and international cooperation.

Géraldine Gianadda

President

Since September 2023, Géraldine Gianadda has chaired the Foundation Board of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child, which she joined in 2020. Géraldine Gianadda holds a Master’s degree in law, a barrister’s certificate and a notary’s certificate…

She worked in her law firm for several years. Deputy juvenile judge from 1997 to 2001, investigating judge from 2001 to 2010, she was elected juvenile prosecutor in 2011, specializing in domestic and sexual violence. At the end of 2013, she had to leave the judiciary for health reasons. She resumed her career as a lawyer and has been a lecturer at the École Supérieure Domaine social in Sion since 2015. Holder of a CAS on “The child’s word in court” from the Institut Kurt Bösch in Bramois, she continues her investment in child protection as a deputy member of the six Child and Adult Protection Authorities in the French-speaking Valais region. Chairwoman of the Foundation Board of Addiction Valais, she also works on behalf of people suffering from addiction.

Virginie de Kalbermatten

Vice-Chairwoman

Has been a member of the Foundation Board of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child since 2020. After obtaining a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree in law at the University of Montpellier, she went on to obtain a post-graduate diploma (DEA) in international economic law in Dijon, before…

to join the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, where she defended her preliminary thesis on the privatization of state-owned enterprises. She worked for ten years in a major international law firm. She then went freelance and became involved in a number of humanitarian causes, in particular for the Order of Malta’s hospital service in Switzerland, where she is head of the Valais section. A mother of 3, she also trained as a mediator at the Kurt Bosch Institute in Bramois.

Dr. iur. Selin Gélard

Treasurer

Dr. iur. Selin Gélard holds a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degree in law. She has been working as a law clerk for a child and adult protection authority since October 2022…

His doctoral thesis analyzes the compatibility of the Swiss regime governing the placement and treatment of children in psychiatric institutions (art. 314b; 426 ff and 433 ff CC) with human rights principles (CRC, ECHR, ECHRB, CRPD), and his main contribution consists of lege ferenda proposals, based on a multidimensional analysis, which could constitute a genuine special section devoted to children’s rights in the Swiss Civil Code. The commercial edition of her thesis was published in August 2024. She has been a member of the Board of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child since April 2024.

Karl Hanson

is Professor of Public Law and Director of the Interfaculty Center for Children’s Rights at the University of Geneva. He obtained his doctorate in law from the University of Ghent (Belgium) in 2004, where he subsequently worked…

His research and publications in interdisciplinary children’s rights studies focus on theorizing the field, child labor, juvenile justice and international advocacy for children’s rights. He is one of the editors of the journal Childhood. He teaches in the interdisciplinary Master’s program in children’s rights, and is Scientific Director of the Master of Advanced Studies in Children’s Rights. He is also Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Children’s Rights European Academic Network.

Dr. Yvon Heller

A pediatrician and school doctor in Nyon for 30 years, Yvon Heller is involved in social and community pediatrics, with a particular interest in vulnerable populations. He has participated in the creation of…

multidisciplinary teams in Nyon schools and at Nyon hospital to better manage complex psychosocial situations involving children and adolescents

Dr. Madeleine Mirabaud

Madeleine Mirabaud has been a member of the Foundation Board of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child since 2024. After obtaining a law degree from the University of Geneva, she went on to study medicine…

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Roberta Ruggiero

Dr. Roberta Ruggiero is Director of the Children’s Rights Academy and Academic Coordinator of the Children’s Rights European Academic Network (CREAN) at the University of Geneva’s Centre interfacultaire en droits de l’enfant…

She has been a member of the Foundation Board of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child since 2024.

Her publications and research in the interdisciplinary field of children’s rights studies focus on the implementation and monitoring of public international law on children’s rights, independent children’s rights institutions, legal and social indicators of evidence-based children’s policies and impact assessment, the implementation of children’s rights through multi-level governance, knowledge transfer and interdisciplinary teaching of children’s rights in academia. Dr. Ruggiero is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice (Springer). She is also a member of the Foundation Board of the Terre des hommes Foundation (Tdh).

On January 20, 2024, Maria Grzegorzewska University (Poland) awarded Ms. Ruggiero the UNESCO Janusz Korczak Medal in recognition of her constant support for the promotion of human rights and children’s rights in higher education.

Jean-Dominique Vassalli

Former Rector of the University of Geneva, holds a doctorate in medicine and a doctorate in science. From 1986 to 2015 he was Professor of Developmental Biology at the Faculty of Medicine…

at the University of Geneva, where he is now Honorary Professor. He has been awarded the Prix Cloëtta (1988), the prize of the International Society for Fibrinolysis and Thrombolysis (1994) and is a member ad personam of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (2001). From 2011 to 2016, he chaired the Board of the Brocher Foundation and, since 2016, he has chaired the Foundation’s Scientific Commission. He has chaired the Board of the Foundation of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child since 2020.