Ms Mikiko Otani is the Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. She is an international human rights lawyer based in Tokyo where she practces family law with focus on women’s and children’s rights. Ms Otani is also the Council Member of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and former Chair of the Committee on International Human Rights of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Ms Otani is the country representative of Japan for the Family Law and Family Rights Section of LAWASIA (The Law Association for Asia and the Pacific). The areas of her focus include human rights education, early childhood development, child participation, girl child, child marriage, human trafficking and migrant children.