Laurent Chapuis

Having spent several years in the disability sector, Laurent Chapuis, Child Protection Specialist for UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Office, finds significant similarities between this field and his present work on child protection. He was first active as a physiotherapist, but early in his career he started training communities on disability issues. Gradually moving into working on broader social policy issues, he went back to university to study social policy and disability studies in order to strengthen his knowledge in these fields.

Based in Amman, Jordan, he provides support to UNICEF’s country offices in the region in their work with governments on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child with respect to child protection from all forms of violence, developing national child protection systems, and tackling the social norms and attitudes that harm children, such as physical punishment, child marriages, and sexual and gender-based violence.