| SUMMARY |
| An Ombudsman for Children has been
established by legislation in Madrid (Defensor del Menor en la Comunidad de Madrid),
Seville and Catalonia. |
| CONTACT INFORMATION |
| Name of Office (In
National Language) |
Sindic de Greuges de Catalunya |
| Name of Office (In
English) |
Ombudsman of Catalonia |
| Postal Address |
C/ Josep Anselm Clavé 31
08002 Barcelona
España/Spain |
| Telephone |
+34 93 301 8075 |
| Fax |
+34 93 301 3187 |
| Email address |
sindic@sindicgreugescat.org |
| WWW |
None |
| Title of Ombudsman |
Síndic de Greuges |
| Name of Ombudsman |
Anton
Cañelles (*) |
| Name of contact
person for ENOC |
Jordi Cots |
| OFFICE SIZE AND STRUCTURE |
| Number of staff
members |
33 people |
| List of staff
members and functions |
The Síndic de Greuges
The Deputy Síndic
The Deputy Síndic for the Child's Rights surveillance
14 persons in charge of advisory tasks of diverse scope
16 persons with administrative functions |
| Summary of annual
Budget |
220,000 million
pesetas approx |
| Principal sources
of funding |
The budget of the
General Ombudsman of Catalonia is included in the budget of the Parliament of Catalonia. |
| HISTORY OF THE OFFICE |
| Date the office was established |
The figure of the
Deputy for Children was established in 1989, but was put into force in 1997. |
| Initiator of the
Ombudsman office |
The Parliament elect
the Síndic de Greuges for a period of five years. |
| Steps Involved in establishing
office |
| The Deputy of Children was
proposed by the General Regional Ombudsman with the approval of the Parliament. |
| Major changes in structure,
focus and activities |
| Ex-officio actions have increased
significantly |
| Information about the office |
| The Ombudsman is
empowered to supervise the activities of the Administrations of the Autonomous Region of
Catalonia, and the entities and the authorities subordinate to the same, as well as of the
local entities of Catalonia. The resolutions of the Síndic which are
addressed to the Administration may take form of reminders of legal duties and of
suggestions on how to interpret the rules of law and on adoption of organisational
measures. The governments are free to accept or reject the considerations of the Síndic,
who informs the Parliament of the result of his activity.
The Síndic de Greuges presents an annual Report to the Parliament, in which he
attempts to identify the main problems and the principal advances in the action of the
public administrations of Catalonia, the state of health of the fundamental rights and the
public freedoms of the citizens. |
| Terms of reference
or Mission Statement |
| The Síndic de Greuges is in
charge of defending the citizens fundamental rights and public liberties. It supervises
the performance of the Generalitat's public Administration. It also supervises Catalonia's
local agencies. |
| AIMS
AND CURRENT ACTIVITIES |
| Action with Children |
ü
Community meetings with groups of children
ü Schools
|
| Activities Office undertakes |
ü
Influencing policy development at state/provincial level
ü Data
collection on children
ü Education/awareness
raising on children’s rights
ü Training of professionals or other groups on children’s rights
|
| Areas of greatest experience |
ü The
Schools System
ü Social
Services
|
| Principle themes of the current
year |
ü Non
-Discrimination
ü Child
participation
ü Sexual exploitation
ü Children
in institutions
ü Health
ü Education
|
| EVALUATIONS/STUDIES |
| Evaluation of the
effectiveness/impact of the office |
| In 1998 and the first eight months
of 1999, the Deputy for Children has investigated about 200 complaint cases and has
realised nearly 50 ex-officio actions. We figure the following ex-officio actions at the
Office indicative, considering they have meant a change for better in the children's life
in Catalonia from the point of view of the respect to their rights:
 | Medical examination of physically and sexually abused children: a
commission was created including all the institutions implicated in the process of
detecting, approach, reporting, process in court. A special "protocol" was
signed by all the institutions in order to avoid the repetition of explorations and other
proceedings to the children victims. |
| Administrative tutelage of a minor and incapacitation: the Administration
has guaranteed via written interdepartmental agreements that the Child Care administration
will protect children in care when coming to age, till judicial incapacity has been
resolved. |
| Unaccompanied Maghrebi children and teenagers living in the streets in
big cities in Catalonia: written agreements have been made among different Administrations
and NGO's in order to attend the new needs of these minors. |
| Public play fields for children: a special report and recommendations
have been made in a joint action with Barcelona's University. |
| Children's facilities and family school programmes: a report about these
facilities being key tools for positive parenting of small children and preventive of
psychosocial risk has been made. |
| Video games inciting children to violence: a reminder of legal duties has
been made to the Autonomous Administrations of setting the sanctions for law violation. |
| The right of ill children to education: visits were made to all the
children's hospitals in order to evaluate the education children were receiving. The
Síndic made recommendations to the Education Department as well as to the Health
Department in order to improve the conditions of the hospital schools and teachers. So to
was the situation of the ill children being at home and receiving lessons there. |
| Emergency centres for children in care: the Deputy for children and his
assistant visited all the emergency centres in Catalonia, and wrote an special report
about them, which was sent to the Justice Department, responsible for the children in
care. |
| Mental Health: state of things and facilities for children and teenagers.
Still underway. |
| Residential equipment for children and teenagers in care. Still
underway. |
| Drop out's from school. Still underway. |
|
| Other publications or studies
available |
The Annual Report to the
Parliament
The Summary of this Report |
