The stories behind

The letter

A life cycle starts

I begun writing poems, songs and short stories at the age of twelve or so. Entering literary, drawing and song contests was for me a way of getting money, books, music records and trips. I also worked as a waiter in bars and collected fruits in endless fields, but I clearly preferred writing and drawing, which involved much less sweating.

In 1979, I participated in an international competition about the rights of the child. The prize? The authors of the selected works were invited to participate in the First International Congress of Children.

This letter announced me that I was invited to join 300 children from 45 countries for a children’s congress in Madrid. I was far from imagining how defining those days would be.

I took the plane for the first time and spent an amazing week discussing, playing and discovering Madrid with kids from many European and Latin American countries. We discussed the rights that would be later enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989.

King Felipe VI

When a kiss turns you into a frog

The first time I met King Felipe VI, he was a Prince, I was fourteen years old and taller than him. It happened at the First International Congress of Children in 1979. My mother had “adviced me” to wear an awful skirt for the audience with the royal family and I complied. For some strange reason, I ended up having to present the Congress’ medal to the Prince. The result? I kissed the Prince and turned into a frog. I hated my look and didn’t take any of the pictures that were offered to the participants, which I of course regret today. Nothing has changed much: the last time I met King Felipe VI, I still felt like a frog. And I keep hiding in group photos…

Those good causes…

When I finished my law studies in 1989, my dream was to pursue my training abroad but had no way to finance that. I therefore decided to open my own law practice with a friend. I paid the bar with the prize of a writing contest and did a lot of pro bono work defending victims of domestic violence, conscience objectors and socially excluded people. At that time,  there was no official training for future barristers. Becoming one without any help was the most courageous decision I have ever taken. And it worked! One year later, I had a successful law practice.

Creative fund raising

Money came indeed from unexpected sources… In 1992, I participated in a very popular and funny TV programme called “Children’s games”. Teaming up with a celebrity, the challenge was to listen to children’s descriptions (of people, for instance) and guess what they meant. I enjoyed the experience immensely and brought home a lot of pesetas :). Thanks to this income, I could move to Strasbourg to get my human rights and environmental law training …

En Français, svp!

When I moved to Strasbourg to pursue my studies, I had to face a “petit problème”: my below zero knowledge of French! To be accepted in the University, I had to go through an interview with one of the Professors. With my German boyfriend’s help, I learned a few sentences in French by heart, and that made the trick!: I somehow managed to start three years of insightful studies in French, European and environmental law. These are my notes on EU caselaw… I have a visual memory…

Counting the whales

When I was a teenager, I got involved in nature protection activism. After my master in environmental law in Strasbourg, I volunteered to help researchers to collect data, and NGOs to advocate for what in 1993 became the PELAGOS marine sanctuary in the Mediterranean. I spent many, many hours sailing, looking for whales´ blows in the endless blue. I was rewarded with whales jumping, playing, feeding, diving and… pooping around us:) 

Becoming an international civil servant

Determined to become a human rights lawyer, I did a three-month internship in the Council of Europe in the Directorate of environment and local authorities. I then left for my honeymoon in Canada, where I backpacked around 10.000 kms (travelling by bus!). During my stay in Prince Edward Island, I had to call the Council of Europe for a job interview at 4 am from the camping’s telephone booth (operating with coins)… I got the job offer and the next day, we ate lobster instead of our usual corn and potatoes. Two months later, I became a staff member of the Council of Europe.

Building a Europe for and with children

When vision meets action to change the world

When she was elected Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe in 2002, the amazing, unstoppable Maud de Boer-Buquicchio asked me to propose measures to strengthen the protection of the rights of the child. I then designed the Programme Building a Europe for and with children which would mainstream children´s rights in all Council of Europe policies, bringing the Organisation to work as a team and achieve amazing results. The Programme was launched in 2006 and continues keeping  its promises. 

Ending corporal punishment

Campaigning against all odds

We launched this courageous campaign in 2008 with the pro-bono support of Saatchi and Saatchi London. It was probably the first Council of Europe campaign to challenge the majority of its member states on a sensitive issue. It gave us many headaches, but had a huge impact, including new legislation to ban corporal punishment and the development of positive parenting in more than 20 countries. The video is a masterpiece worth checking!

Dealing with the unspeakable

Since the adoption in 2007 of its Convention on the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, the Council of Europe has multiplied efforts to break the silence and move leaders to stop this scourge.  I still remember a Head of State saying  “We don’t need this treaty because in our country, we love children”. I am happy to report that this country has ratified the treaty and improved child protection. This pic was taken at the Child Dignity Conference in Rome in 2018.  The journey from denial to effective and concerted action has not reached its destination yet …

Meet Kiko!

When we started working on preventing sexual abuse of children, we had to address the lack of guidance and materials for parents, teachers and carers to discuss this issue with very young children. This is how a sweet character called Kiko came to life as a bedtime story and a videoclip, thanks to GREY Amsterdam pro bono creative work. It teaches about good and bad touch, about good and bad secrets, about self-confidence and safety nets. It is fun, and kids around the world have adopted it, making puppets, theatre plays, drawing contests… It is used in schools and at home and comes with guidance for adults, a training for trainers manual and much more. Unfortunately, one country decided not to promote it because they couldn’t tell whether Kiko was a boy or a girl…

Ending violence against children in sport

Becoming game changers

In 2017, I prompted the development of the Start to Talk campaign to stop sexual abuse of children in sport, a highly sensitive topic that sport organisations didn´t want or didn´t know how to address. We brought together public authorities, sports organisations and child rights experts and created a snowball effect. The very effective branding and video were developed thanks to the talent and pro bono support of Pieter Hemels, CEO of futureproof (ftrprf). This inspired many countries and sports organisations to invest in child safeguarding. The FIFA Guardians Programme is a great example to follow. 

Learning from leaders 

I have met many high profile figures and “celebrities” over the years, including some historic leaders. These were mostly short encounters with lots of protocol to observe, but meeting Mikhail Gorbachev and Stephan Hessel was a huge privilege.  I admired them for their intelligence and courage; I Ioved their humility and kindness. They both signed to support our campaign against corporal punishment. And so did many others, including King Felipe VI, Queen Silvia, Fanny Ardant and the whole Real Madrid team, while other public figures didn’t support it claiming that “public opinion wasn’t ready”. But when it comes to human rights matters, people in power should lead and not follow, right?

Dancing tango 

A survival strategy

When I met the man who would later become my husband, he was teaching Argentinian tango in Toulouse and had a dancing partner. I realised I had two options: to either learn how to dance or to accept watching him share this passion with another woman (!!).  When we moved to Strasbourg, we taught tango at the University to pay for our studies. We also founded the association Tango Argentoratum and organised “Milongas” every week in a beautiful art nouveau café. And yes, this is  how Argentinian tango started in Strasbourg…