As the institution in which the Deputy for Children has been explained in the previous meetings, and it have not been any substantial structural change of it, we only want to point out that the defence of the children’s rights given to the Deputy for Children has consolidated as one of the different forms that can take up the independent ombudsservices for children.

We think that it has proved valid for the fullfilment of the goals why tha Parliament established it.

The team is still too small, but it is taking a specific profile and a characteristic way of doing. It is formed by five people including the Deputy, two assessors (one a jurist and the other a social worker), and two people for administrative tasks.

At times the team is helped by scholarships or students.

* The office relates to government mainly by official mail, complemented by personal contacts, telephone calls, and so on.

* The relation to Parliament is through:

a) the presentation of the Anual Repport to the Chamber. It must be said that this repport is a general one, as the institution is also a general ombudsman.

b) the discussion of this Repport with the Comission of the Sindic de Greuges, composed by members of all the political parties with seat in the Parliament: theu ask for voids in the actions, the position of the Sindic towards several questions if they are not included in the Repport, they can suggest or demand its intervention in a particular issue, or organizational changes.

* The relation to NGOs results of complaints presented by them, or at our request in the way of ex-officio actions. We work with them in regular partnership in some issues as non-accompanied maghribi children living in the streets of Barcelona and other catalan cities.

The complaints we’ve received from them are mainly referred to immigrant discrimination and poverty.

Some professional collegues have also come to present complaints or worries about determined groups of children having their rights vulnerated, tehir observation coming from their professional work.

* The relation of the office with children is still scarce, but the Deputy has participated in several Children’s Town Halls Assemblies. There are 12 of them in Catalunya. The Deputies presence in these meetings has estimulated the exercise of the children’s rights of participation. One of these Children’s Assemblies presented a complaint as a result of one of their egular meetings.

The two assessors attended a Public Audience in Barcelona’s Town Hall, where the result of a year’s work in different schools and leisure centres in the town was shown. The work had the aim of designing one park in every district, alrready existing, and to modify it to cover the necessities of the diverses population that goes to them.

Several hundreds of children attended and one represented each district and explained why they decided the final design. Many politiacians and media were there.

* Dissemination of the UNC: The children’s team try to be accessible to the demands of pariticipation in conferences, round tables, teaching lessons, reviews, parents’schools sessions, teachers update training, etc.

A brochure about "The Sindic and the Children" have been printed in order to informe children and adults about the institution aims, activities and ways of access.

* Visiting: The Deputy has visited a lot of services, institutions, resources and teams related to:

- child protection system: residential equipments, assesment interdisciplinary teams.

- juvenile justice system: treatment centres, community services responsibles, probation supervisors, accompanying educational tutors.

- child day-care: family centres, mother and child care centres.

- primary and secondary school: schools at risk of becoming ghettos, university programs to fight school failing, parents assotiations, teachers.

- children in prison with their mothers.

- day-centres in marginalized suburbs

- immigrant maghribin children: streets and places where street children are, accoeil cetres, emergency centres, day centres, night shelters.

The main goals of these visits are: a) to know children’s real situation in the state facilities; and b) to monitor the implementation of the children’s rights in them.

Meetings with professionals, and long stays are included in the visiting.

- Monitoring the application of the new penal juvenile law

- Non-discrimation in the educational system: academical level groups, ghetto scholls, etc.

- Dropping-out from school in deprived areas.

- Residential equipments.

- Teenagers health care.

- Feminine sexual mutilation

- Monitoring of the implementation of the "Protocol for the abused children" in the four provinces of Catalunya: following up comissions.

- Foster Care Payment: differences between kinship and other kinds of F.C.

2. Positive changes

- Decree developing the Catalan Children Act 8/1995, long asked for by the Sindic. It covers only in part our demand as it is a partial santioning development, but it is important, because affect partiticipation rights as: privacy, identity, vulnerated rights by media, and others, which were not regulated in Catalonia, in spite of being stablished by law. We had demanded it in the four Anual Repports (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000) to Parliament since the Deputy was elected.

- Decree of the access to the educational private and public system: the Consellera has anounced very recently to adopt some of the demands we have made public in our three last Anual Repports to parliament.

- the goverment has accepted to make a new Catalan Education Act, which was to have been done already to develope the Spanish Educational Acts of 1985 and 1990, in order to globally regulate the whole education system. It was demanded in the 2000 Anual Repport.

- the new Children’s Act: its a double-faced change due to the fact that the new act, which raft paper is now in Parliament, because it takes only the control perspective, and has leeft more educative measures unregulated.

The previous Children Act was aproved before the reality of street immigrant children was a fact, and thus was good for protecting abused children at home, but not for teenagers with difficulties to accept social norms, even though they were catalan or spanish. This was why it didn’t accept any form of not-wholly-open residential equipment. In our Anual repport we had demanded a new approach, including the legislative part of it, for dealing with teenagers un-eager to accept the "state protection" and to seek new forms of giving them chances to overcome their way to marginalitzation.

1. The government doesn’t accept many of our suggestions.

2. Delay in the government answers, that becomes an obstacle to investigate.

3. The governement doesn’t fully understand the rol of the Sindic and the answers are of a too political kind.

4. Neither the citizens who present complaints seem to understand the Sindic’s rol.

5. Too often the staff is "engulfed by casework".

* Equal opportunities for children in the right of education

Last edited by Barneombudet March 22, 2004
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