UNICEF Humanitarian Award Honors Maria Woltjen for ‘Commitment to Putting Children First’
Maria Woltjen, director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights at the University of Chicago Law School, will be honored today with the UNICEF Chicago Humanitarian Award in recognition of her “commitment to putting children first and the impactful work of the Young Center.”
The UNICEF Chicago Humanitarian Award recognizes Chicagoans who have made an "extraordinary impact in the lives of children, whether locally, nationally, or internationally." This year's luncheon will focus on the global migrant and refugee crisis, impacting nearly 50 million children who have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced, and the efforts of community leaders to provide humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable.
The Young Center is a national initiative that provides child advocates for unaccompanied immigrant children detained by the federal government; Woltjen founded the Young Center clinic at the Law School more than 11 years ago.
“Unlike every other adjudicatory system in which children are the subject of the proceedings, there is no best interests standard for immigrant children. Immigration judges are not required to ask for evidence that a child will be safe if returned to home country before issuing a deportation order. This is what we aim to change,” Woltjen said. “Now, more than ever, these issues are critical. We are seeing children separated from their parents at the border—the mothers sent to adult detention, the children, sometimes younger than two years old, placed in custodial facilities thousands of miles away. Enforcement officials are apprehending parents and threatening to charge them with smuggling their own children—a federal offense that comes with a 10-year sentence.”
Law School students in the Young Center clinic work one-on-one with unaccompanied immigrant children who come to the United States without a parent or legal guardian to flee violence, abuse, and/or poverty. Students draw upon international human rights law, immigration law, and children's rights law to support their advocacy.
“Law students have the opportunity to see the immigration system from the ground up, at a time when the issue is front and center,” Woltjen said. “They learn to advocate with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health & Human Services on issues ranging from custody to the ultimate decision about whether a child will be granted legal relief.”
For more than three decades as an attorney, Woltjen has focused on children’s rights, at the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the ChildLaw Center at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and at the University of Chicago Law School. Woltjen’s focus is on reforming the immigration system—in which children are treated as adults—into a justice system that recognizes children as children, with rights and protection needs all their own. Woltjen also was the recipient of the American Constitution Society 2013 Ruth Goldman Award.
“This award is a terrific honor and very well-deserved,” Clinical Professor Jeff Leslie, the Law School's Director of Clinical and Experiential Learning, said of UNICEF award. “Maria possesses incredible creativity, intelligence, empathy, and perseverance, traits which have made her such a highly effective advocate and leader. She has built an amazing team at the Young Center, and our students treasure the opportunity to learn from them and to contribute to their vital work on behalf of immigrant children.”
In addition to Woltjen, UNICEF will be honoring Dr. Mohammed Zaher Sahloul, the executive director of MedGlobal and the co-chair of the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition; Suzanne Akhras Sahloul, founder & Executive Director, Syrian Community Network; and Steve Lehmann, founder of Threadies, who will receive the Next Generation Humanitarian Award.