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Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (born December 28, 1944) is a Dutch
jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and former UN
Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography The Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children works on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the exploitation of children around the world and make recommendations to governments on how to end s ...
. She served as Deputy Secretary General of the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
from 2002 and retired from the post in 2012 and was succeeded by Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. De Boer-Buquicchio was born in
Hoensbroek Hoensbroek ( li, Gebrook) is a Dutch town in the municipality of Heerlen. It is situated in the southeast of Limburg, a province in the southeast of the Netherlands. Until 1982, Hoensbroek was a separate municipality. Hoensbroek is known for its ...
,
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and studied French and
French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
, and later
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
at
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
. She specialized in international relations and labor law, obtaining her degree in 1969 with a thesis on the equality of treatment between men and women under
European Community law European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...
. De Boer-Buquicchio joined the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
in 1969, and joined the legal Secretariat of the
European Commission of Human Rights The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe. From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Hu ...
. She later worked in a variety of positions in the Council of Europe system, including in the private office of the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe The Secretary General of the Council of Europe (french: Secrétaire général du Conseil de l'Europe, links=no) is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers for a period of five years. The secreta ...
and as Deputy Registrar of the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
. She was elected Deputy Secretary General in 2002, and re-elected in 2007.


Philanthropy

De Boer-Buquicchio is a member of the Board of Directors of the
International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with a regional presence in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia, is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit global organization. It com ...
(ICMEC), a global nonprofit organization that combats
child sexual exploitation Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a child, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the prostitution of ...
,
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a chi ...
, and
child abduction Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a Minor (law), minor (a child under the age of Age of majority, legal adulthood) from the Child custody, custody of the child's Parent, natural parents or Legal guardian, legally appo ...
. She was elected President of Missing Children Europe in 2013, a position she took over from former Advocate General at the European Court of Justice, Sir Francis Jacobs. On February 14th, 2022, De Boer-Buquicchio was appointed Chair of the International Board of Trustees of
ECPAT ECPAT International is a global network of civil society organisations that works to end the sexual exploitation of children. It focuses on ending the online sexual exploitation of children, the trafficking of children for sexual purposes, the se ...
International


Personal life

De Boer-Buquicchio is married and has three sons.


Career


United Nations Special Rapporteur

On 8 May 2014, De Boer-Buquicchio was appointed Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. From 12 to 18 May the following year she visited
Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
to investigate violence against children.


Visit to Japan

From 19 to 26 October 2015, De Boer-Buquicchio traveled around Japan (
Tōkyō Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Ōsaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...
, Kawanishi and
Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...
) for eight days to investigate child trade, sexual exploitation, production of child pornography etc. and she held a press conference at
Japan National Press Club The is an association of journalists in Japan. History This was established as a national press centre, in place of Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, in November 1969. See also * Press club * Mass media and politics in Japan * Kisha club ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
on 26 October to report the results. On 2 November 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a complaint to the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
(OHCHR) over De Boer-Buquicchio's comment of 26 October, which they quoted as saying that 13% of schoolgirls were involved in ''
enjo kōsai is a type of transactional relationship similar to the western equivalent being a call girl of Sugaring. It is the Japanese language term for the practice of older men giving money and/or luxury gifts to attractive young women for sexual favors ...
'' ("compensated dating"), and asked her to disclose the source for the claim of 13%. In response, the OHCHR released a clarification from the Special Rapporteur acknowledging that she had not received an official statistic concerning this matter while in Japan and explaining that the 13% figure was an estimate found in open sources that was mentioned – thanks to a mistranslation, as 30% – to highlight a phenomenon that must be urgently tackled. Following the issuing of a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 9 November in which it requested the withdrawal of the remark and that the report be based on objective data, she addressed on 10 November a letter to the Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations in which she stated that she would not refer to this estimate in her Report to the UN Human Rights Council. The final report was presented to the UN Human Rights Council in New York on 3 March 2016.


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boer-Buquicchio, Maud de 1944 births Living people Council of Europe people Dutch officials of the United Nations Dutch women jurists Leiden University alumni People from Heerlen United Nations special rapporteurs