We are delighted to announce that Dr. Philip D Jaffé has been appointed as the new Chairperson of our Supervisory Board, taking up his position as of 1 March 2025.
Philip, who serves on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), brings to Child Helpline International his extensive expertise, international experience and invaluable connections with other networks in the field of child protection.
He studied psychology and specialized in clinical psychology at the University of Fribourg and the University of Geneva (Diplôme, 1983). He received a Young Researcher grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and completed his doctoral studies at Yeshiva University (Doctor of Psychology, 1988) in New York, USA.
Following a postdoc internship at Harvard University (McLean Hospital), he trained as a forensic psychologist, has taught clinical psychology and legal psychology at the University of Geneva, and has developed a private practice as a licensed psychotherapist and as a court-appointed expert. He co-founded and presided during the first decade the Swiss Society of Legal Psychology. He is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Geneva, where he served as the founding director of the Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. In addition, he has also been called upon to perform humanitarian missions for major international governmental institutions in several troubled regions of the world, such as the Caucasus, Iraq and Aceh province in Indonesia.
We are proud and honoured to now have Philip serve on our Supervisory Board, and wish him every success in this important role as Board Chair.
Philip’s appointment means that we must also bid a sad farewell to his predecessor, Corinne Dettmeijer, who leaves us after over six years and serving two consecutive terms – her first as Vice Chair, before taking over the role of Chairperson in 2022.
We wish Corinne well in her future endeavours and thank her sincerely for her work with Child Helpline International.
Philip officially took up his position on 1 March 2025. He is supported on the Supervisory Board by eight other members – three of whom have been appointed to our Board because of their own specific expertise and specialist knowledge in the fields of child rights and child protection, and five of whom are selected every three years by our child helpline members from among their own number, in each of five regions, to represent their interests at the highest levels of our management and governance. The Regional Representative for the Americas & Caribbean – Alisa Simon, from Kids Help Phone Canada – has also been appointed as of 1 March 2025 as the Vice Chairperson of the Supervisory Board. Details of all of the Members of our Supervisory Board can be found here.