Dame Carolyn Paula Hamilton DBE (born November 1951) is a barrister who specialises in children's rights. She is also director of Coram Children's Legal Centre, an independent national charity dedicated to the promotion and implementation of children's rights based at the University of Essex. Hamilton has the position of professor at Essex.
Early life and family Carolyn Paula Hamilton was born in Hendon, London, in November 1951England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcription. Retrieved 24 February 2016. to David Hamilton (died 2007) and his wife Laura. She has a brother Alan S. Hamilton. Her father escaped Nazi Germany as a boy before the Second World War on the first Kindertransport ship to England"1938: The year of fate" by Hermann Simon in Beate Meyer, Hermann Simon, & Chana Schütz (Eds.) Jews in Nazi Berlin: From Kristallnacht to Liberation, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2009. pp. 15-16. and subsequently made a fortune in real estate and fashion. In 2016, a dispute between Carolyn and her brother Alan over the division of their father's estate became the subject of a bitter court case.Siblings in court battle over father’s £3.2m Holocaust fund. Frances Gibb, The Times, 24 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016. Bitter inheritance feud over Nazi survivor's fortune sees son tell court father was tax avoider. Tom Morgan, The Telegraph, 23 February 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
Career Hamilton is a barrister who specialises in children's rights. In 1995Interview with Carolyn Hamilton, The Children's Legal Centre. Retrieved 5 March 2016. she was appointed director of Coram Children's Legal Centre, an independent national charity dedicated to the promotion and implementation of children's rightsProfessor Carolyn Hamilton, Director of International Programmes and Research. Coram Children's Legal Centre. Retrieved 5 March 2016. based at the University of Essex where Hamilton is a member of the department of law.STAFF OF THE UNIT. The Children and Armed Conflict Unit. Retrieved 5 March 2016. She was a Consultant on Juvenile Justice to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2001-2003. She was the Child and Family Commissioner for the Legal Services Commission until December 2010.Carolyn Hamilton. 1 King's Bench Walk. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to children's rights.
Selected publications Family, law and religion. Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1995. Family law in Europe. Butterworths, London, 1995. (Kate Standley & David Hodson) "Armed conflict: The protection of children under international law", International Journal of Children's Rights, Vol. 5 (1997). (With Tabatha Abu El-Haj) Bullying: A guide to the law: How to tackle bullying inside and outside school. (With Lucy Hopegood and Helen Rimington) Children's Legal Centre, 2000. "The employment of children", Child and Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 135–149, 2004. (With Bob Watt) International child abduction: Law and practice. Butterworths, London, 2001. (With Mark Everall, Nigel Lowe & Michael Nicholls)
References
External links Carolyn Hamilton on the Third Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.