INSTITUTIONS IN THE GREEK LEGAL ORDER PROMOTING THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD AND THE PRINCIPLE OF EDUCATION

Before starting analyzing our topic, we felt the need to write a few words about our acquaintance with Ms. Prof. Dr. Sokullu. We met Professor Sokullu during our participation in the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) Conferences in Valencia, Spain (2008)1 and in Brussels, Belgium (2009)2 and in the Ernst Moritz Arndt University Conference in Greifswald, Germany (2010)3 as well as in the Criminal Justice Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece (2011)4. We remember Professor Sokullu as a person of kindness, politeness and elegance. She is not only friendly and helpful to young people but furthermore she is a well-educated strong personality with deep democratic beliefs and values. We remember in the Greifswald Conference how she passionately expressed her views on the necessity to defend and promote the best interest of the child in all its aspects. On this ground, our first thought about our contribution to the Essays in Honour of Professor Sokullu was exactly to write a topic relevant to the theme “best interest of the child”. Our contribution to the book can be seen as a small token of our strong gratitude to Professor Sokullu. We both express our appreciation and thank her for all the inspiration she has given us!