Professor Jaap E. Doek was Chair and member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 1999 to 2007. He is an Emeritus Professor of Family and Juvenile Law at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and he was a Juvenile Court Judge in the District Court of Alkmaar and The Hague from 1978 to 1985. Currently, he is a Deputy Judge in the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam.

He is the Chairperson of the Board of Aflatoun Child Savings International, an Amsterdam-based international NGO promoting social and financial education for children, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Innocenti Research Centre of UNICEF in Florence, and also a member of the Expert Committee for the selection of candidates for the Annual Children’s Peace Prize (an initiative of Kids Rights, based in The Netherlands).

On November 6, 2012, Prof Jaap E. Doek was awarded the Juvenile Justice without Borders’ International Award in recognition of his steady commitment and involvement in promoting a better situation and treatment of children and youth in conflict with the law.