Jean Zermatten

Jean Zermatten

President of the Juvenile Court of the Canton of Valais from 1980 to 2005; founder and Director of the International Institute for the Rights of the Child (IDE) in Sion (1995–2014); lecturer at the University of Fribourg (Faculty of Law) and at the Interfaculty Centre for Children’s Rights (CIDE), University of Geneva (2011–2020). He has lectured at several foreign university institutes. He is the author of numerous publications on children’s rights and juvenile justice. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Fribourg (2007), the University of Geneva (2014), and the University of Sherbrooke (2024).
He was a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child from 2005 to 2013, serving as Vice Chair from 2007 to 2010 and Chair from 2011 to 2013. He has served as President of the Swiss Society of Juvenile Criminal Law and of the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates (AIMJF). He is a member of numerous associations and foundations dedicated to children and currently chairs the Child Protection Commission of the Canton of Vaud.