Children’s rights in theory and practice
On this website you will find articles and publications by Dr. Philip E. Veerman about children’s rights and announcements of symposia and conferences in the field of (international) children’s rights.
Recent articles
Still Passionate About Children’s Rights After Thirty Years
Philip Veerman about 30 years 'The International Journal of Children's Rights' - a brief history, the founding and new developments and challenges. "I am more worried now about the future of children than I was in the period 1989–1993, when we were...
Defending children’s rights
Evaluating the decision by the Ministry of Defence to declare DCI-Palestine a ‘terrorist organisation’ In 1988 I founded the Israeli-Section of Defence for Children International (DCI) and struggled 17 years to get funding and run the organisation....
Minister for children! Sign the petition
We organize our society in such a way that a quarter of a million children live in poverty, that children in psychological distress, children who are suicidal are on waiting lists, that a large number of children are neglected, maltreated and abused, that there are children who live on the...
Minister for Children – the next step with a plea
As in Ireland, we aim to appoint a Minister for Children in the Netherlands as well. Do you endorse this plea? Then share it via a message on LinkedIn and in your network. Then it has a "snowball effect". Do you want to join this movement? Let us know by commenting on this message and / or send an...
‘How do you narrow the gap between young people and politicians?’
The debate in the House of Representatives in the night of Thursday April 1 is a great opportunity to get young people more interested in politics, says child law expert Philip Veerman in his opinion piece Den Haag Centraal. New results of an annual survey of the views of young people in secondary...
Include lowering of the voting age in the coalition agreement
By Philip Veerman in FD March 28, 2021 - "Cautious proposals to slightly lower the voting age are invariably rejected," Mathijs Bouman writes in his column 'Prohibited to vote'. Giving young people a chance to vote is not an unworldly thought. Austria already lowered the voting age to 16 years in...
the problem of homeless adolescents and young adults
In an interview that I gave to the weekly 'Den Haag Centraal' about the problem of homeless adolescents and young adults, I expressed the hope that the new mayor of the Hague, Jan van Zanen, would do something about it. Then the mayor called and asked if he could visit me at my home. There he...
‘We are more concerned about animals than about children’
Young homeless people: no treatment place, no housing Marijke Landeweer speaks with Dr. Philip Veerman about this subject in Den Haag Centraal. The transition from the state and the province to the municipality caused major problems for youth care: long waiting lists, an enormous workload and a...
“Should education become more inclusive?”
On November 16 the Dutch Parliament debates on the question if education should become more inclusive. According to Philip Veerman bringing regular and special education closer to each other is a good idea, but if inclusive education means doing away with special education this is not something he...
Philip Edmond Veerman
Philip Edmond Veerman (Amsterdam, 28 juni 1948) is an expert in children’s rights, health-psychology and (special) education. He initiated several new child welfare organisations in the Netherlands and developed international children’s rights initiatives. For his 40 years of efforts to promote children’s rights he was given a Royal distinction, when in 2015 he became Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.