Ms. Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, former Special Rapporteur (2014-2020)

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (the Netherlands) was Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children from May 2014 to April 2020.

Between 2002 and 2012, she served as Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the first woman elected for this post. She joined the Council of Europe in 1969 and worked in different capacities in the human rights protection mechanism set up under the European Convention on Human Rights. In 1998, she was elected Deputy Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights.

Throughout her mandates, she focused her work on the fight against discrimination and violence, and the promotion of the rights of the most vulnerable groups, especially children. She launched the Council of Europe programme “Building a Europe for and with children”, advocating for a holistic and integrated approach towards the issue of eliminating all forms of violence against children and respect for children’s rights. She spearheaded the development and adoption of three key Council of Europe Conventions, namely, the Convention on action against trafficking in human beings, the Convention on the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, and the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

She is President of the European Federation for Missing and Exploited Children (“Missing Children Europe”), and continues to dedicate herself to ending abuse and neglect of children.

Ms. de Boer-Buquicchio studied French language and literature, followed by law at Leiden University, the Netherlands, specialising in labour law and international organisations. She is fluent in Dutch, English, French, Italian and German.