ABOUT THE CONFERENCE Children and Young People It is the premise of this conference that children and young people need to be involved in any discussions of child and youth rights. Therefore, children and youth have been invited to actively participate in the conference. Contacts with organizations that are involved in assisting children and youth to engage in rights issues have been initiated and the young people will be designing components of the conference. More information will be posted on the website as it becomes available. Speakers Keynote and invited speakers have been drawn from around the world and include some of the leading experts on child and young people’s rights. The speakers represent different disciplines and perspectives. More information is available in the “speakers” section. Target Audience The conference is open to all interested parties. In particular, children and young people from local, national and international groups, scholars, Convention experts and individuals from other cultural and legal contexts, as well as those from various disciplinary perspectives are invited to participate and engage in ‘transdisciplinary knowledge exchange’. Language The Plenary sessions will be conducted in English and all other sessions will be conducted in either English or French. The abstract book, conference schedule, and the conference website will be available in both English and French. Technology The majority of the sessions will take place in “smart rooms”. These rooms are equipped with computer consoles that support PowerPoint presentations and allow easy interface with memory sticks, laptop computers, CD-roms and DVDs. All rooms also come equipped with overhead projectors. A support person will be available to assist participants in each smart room. Slide projectors are not supported and therefore slide projector presentations are strongly discouraged.