Martin Causin holds a Master’s degree in law from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. As a volunteer member of the association Défi Belgique Afrique from 1996 to 2002, he obtained his first professional position as general manager of this association. He was in charge of the transition to NGO status and coordinated the implementation of development education projects.
Wishing to experience a country in the South, he spent seven years in Burkina Faso as country representative for ADJAO. It was at this time that his commitment to children’s rights took root, as he worked to facilitate access to sport and leisure activities for the most disadvantaged young people. In 2013, he joined Avocats Sans Frontières Belgium, first as base manager in Bunia in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, then as head of mission in Tunisia, and then in the Central African Republic. On each occasion, he led programmes aimed at improving access to justice for the most vulnerable people, particularly women and minors, as well as projects to defend victims in international criminal justice.
He joined the IBCR at the beginning of 2017, with the desire to contribute more directly to the development of adequate child protection systems that respect their rights. His first position at the IBCR was as Project Manager in Burkina Faso, which allowed him to further specialise in capacity building of actors in the child protection system. After four years on this project, he became IBCR’s regional representative in Africa. This last function, focused on the development of the IBCR in Africa and the coordination of our actions on this continent, was a springboard towards the general management of the IBCR, a position held by Martin Causin since January 2022