Text: Marjolein de Jong | Photo: David Meulenbeld | 19 May 2025
KidsRights' office is located in a monumental building in Amsterdam, once the home of the 17th-century brokers' guild. 'Brokers traded coffee, tobacco and grain, but also enslaved people,' says Dullaert. 'I hope that by working with KidsRights here, we can compensate something. Where human trafficking used to take place, we are now working for children's rights.'
You once started in the world of advertising, how did you end up in that of children's rights?
'I was an advertiser, doing campaigns for Peugeot and Chanel perfume. Until one day I was on a plane and the man next to me asked what I did. When I told him, he said, "Can't you do anything better with your talent than sell soap?" That was a slap in my face.'
'A few weeks later, I quit and switched to the non-profit sector. I went to work for what is now called Plan Nederland. For four years I travelled around the world and saw with my own eyes how much suffering exists everywhere. However, that travelling took a toll on my private life. At one point, my wife said, "I feel like I married a sailor."'
And then you decided to stay in the Netherlands?
'Yes, through Ivo Niehe I ended up in the world of television. There I learnt the trade of television producer. But I still found it hard to forget what I had seen in the world. My wife, my best friend and best critic, said, "Maybe you should go out with a film crew again." Then I went with her to Sierra Leone, for a documentary on blood diamonds.'
'In Sierra Leone, the car broke down near the border, so we had to spend the night unexpectedly in a dangerous place. The next morning I woke up to a horrible sound. Outside, a woman was sitting on a dirt road with her dead little daughter on her lap. She was on her way to a refugee camp, but was too late. That moment hit me immensely. I had to cry a lot. That day, I called my wife and said, "I have to do something." That's how the idea for KidsRights was born.
"I said to my wife, 'That child should get the Nobel Peace Prize.'"
What exactly do you do with your KidsRights foundation?
'With KidsRights, we work for children's rights worldwide. We support local initiatives by and for children, bring abuses to the attention of policymakers and give young people an international stage to tell their stories, such as with the International Children's Peace Prize.'
How did you come up with the idea for an International Children's Peace Prize?
'One evening I was watching the eight o'clock news. A new winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was announced. That same evening followed a documentary about a little boy, Iqbal Masih, 11 years old, from Pakistan. He had worked as a carpet knotter for much of his short life and had then started a protest against child labour. "I said to my wife, 'That child should get the Nobel Peace Prize.'"
'I contacted the Nobel Committee, but there they informed me that only adults were eligible. After some detective work, I discovered that the Nobel Peace Prize winners themselves meet at a summit chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union. Through word of mouth, I got 10 minutes with him in his Moscow office a few months later. I was bloody nervous, standing trembling in the corridor with a Dutch cheese in my hands.'
'Gorbachev listened, but at first barely responded. Until I asked him if he had children of his own. Then he became emotional. His wife had died, he told me, but his grandchildren had taught him that life was still worth living. Half an hour later, I was called back and he said, "We are going to welcome this Children's Peace Prize." In 2005, Gorbachev presented the first prize, at the annual summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners in Rome.'
'Children don't need to know better than adults, but they do look at the world differently and their perspective is just what is desperately needed.'
Why do you think it is so important that children are not only protected, but also heard?
"Because children are not only vulnerable, but also powerful. I have seen young people who set something in motion from nothing. Like a child who lived in a cemetery in Manila and stood up for other street children. Such a boy has no power or network, but an enormous sense of justice. We adults can really take an example from that.'
Do you think young people can really contribute at the policy level?
'Definitely. Decisions are being made - on climate, on education - that will have huge consequences for young people. Only they are not at the table themselves. Look, children don't need to know better than adults, but they do look at the world differently and their perspective is just what is desperately needed.'
Do you think it is realistic for young people to have a real seat at the policy table?
'Why don't children actually have a seat in parliament? In some Scandinavian countries, a so-called "children's test" already exists. There, policy plans that affect children and young people are submitted to youth panels. Their voices count seriously and they are really listened to.'
'In my ideal image, parliament would reflect society, so also in terms of ages. Surely it's strange that here, and in many other countries, decisions are taken on climate issues, for instance, that only take effect in 20 years' time. While the people making those decisions may no longer be alive by then, and the generation under discussion has no voice now.'
'It was mainly about raising awareness: that as a society we look more closely at what children need.'
You are not only a voice for young people abroad. You have also been the Netherlands' first Children's Ombudsman.
'That's right. One day, my daughter Isadora came to me and pushed de Volkskrant under my nose. She said: 'You are always busy with children abroad, but do something for the children here.' In the newspaper, there was a vacancy in parliament for the position of Children's Ombudsman. I wrote a letter and, to my surprise, I got it.'
What are you most proud of from what you did in that position?
'During that period, I managed to get children's rights much higher on the agenda in the Netherlands. It was mainly about raising awareness: that as a society we look more closely at what children need. This led to a policy against bullying, with new protocols for schools. And I was able to put fighting divorces and child poverty as phenomena on the map.'
Why do you feel so compelled to work for children?
'Because it doesn't let go of me. Children are so often dependent on decisions over which they themselves have no influence, while bearing the consequences. I have seen so many times up close how quickly things can go wrong when no one stands up for them, but precisely how far they can get when they do have a voice.'
