Dr. Shelly Whitman

Dr. Shelly Whitman took up the post of Executive Director of The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative in January 2010, now the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. In the 12 years since, she has spearheaded the establishment and growth of the organization, signed more than 13 MoUs with countries and institutions around the world, and today leads an international team based in Canada, Rwanda, Mozambique, DRC, South Sudan and Uruguay. In 2020, the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative successfully became the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security based at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Shelly has been instrumental in creating and collaborating on a number of key, international agreements and policies on the protection of children:

  • The Implementing Guidelines for the Safe Schools Declaration and successfully lobbied the Canadian government to sign on to the agreement;

  • Spearheaded global roundtables with young people affected by armed conflict to inform the new Policy on Children by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC);

  • Supported the creation of NATO’s Standard Operating Procedure on Children in Armed Conflict;

  • Helped to write two UN Security Council Resolutions in 2014: UNSC RES 2143 on Children and Armed Conflict and 2151 on International Peace and Security and Security Sector Reform;

  • Co-authored the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers with the Government of Canada, which gained a record of 59 signatories before the start of the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial in November 2017 and now has 105 endorsing nations globally;

  • Led the Dallaire Institute to develop the first predictive model to monitor the early warning signs of the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and violence.

    As a subject matter expert, Shelly is regularly called upon to speak to global forums and provide media commentary on the issues of children, peace and security. She has also been a member of the Paris Principles Steering Group since 2016 and was named to the UN SRSG CAAC’s expert group on the 25th Anniversary Report on the Study of the Evolution of the Mandate. Shelly also serves as an expert on Public Safety Canada’s National Expert Committee on Countering Radicalization to Violence since 2018.

    Prior to her work with the Dallaire Institute, Shelly worked as Head of Research on the inter-Congolese dialogue from 2000-2002, under the direction of Former Botswana President, Sir Ketumile Masire. Previous to this post, she was a Research Consultant at UNICEF in New York and worked under the direction of Ambassador Stephen Lewis on the OAU Rwanda Genocide Report.

    Shelly has also enjoyed an academic career teaching in International Development Studies and Political Science at Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University and the University of Botswana. In 2009, Shelly introduced a course on Children and Armed Conflict at Dalhousie University and has also created and implemented a new e-learning course at Dalhousie on Children and Youth at Risk.

    Research publications and interests have included topics related to the prevention of the recruitment and use of children, to conflict related sexual violence, the responsibility to protect,

    the international criminal court, peace processes and the need for effective peacekeeping preparation on children and armed conflict.

    In 2014, she was awarded the Canadian Progress Club Women of Excellence Award and in 2017, the organization was the recipient of the Human Rights Watch Voices for Justice Award. In 2023, she was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for Meritorious Service to Children and Veterans.