A Samoan Supreme Court judge, Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, has been elected to sit on the Committee on the Rights of the Child, based in Geneva.
As one of 18 independent experts Justice Nelson will spend 6 weeks annually in Geneva to monitor the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
This includes monitoring the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Justice Nelson was behind the first Pacific-based Young Offenders Act in 2007, and the Community Justice Act 2008.
He also set up the Olomoana Centre, to house young people in conflict with the law and give them the opportunity to upskill.
