OFFICE OF THE CHILDREN’S RIGHTS COMMISSIONER

FLEMISH COMMUNITY BELGIUM

ANNUAL UPDATE

Information, campaigns and publications

One of the main functions of the office is to get the Convention on the Rights of the Child known to people in Flanders. Several publications like brochures, leaflets, posters and booklets are made to that effect, aimed at different targetgroups, and distributed through different channels: schools, libraries, youth institutions etc. There is also a website which has been revised recently to make it more userfriendly (www.kinderrechten.be, in Flemish, with separate parts for children,young people and adults). The webiste has an average of 5000 visitors a month.

A report on the annual activities is published every year, in extended version for the parliament and Children's Rights partners as well as in a version for young people in a ‘newspaper’ format.

Every year in the fall there is the annual campaign focussing on participation rights and aimed at children, age 8-12. Participation rights because those are still rather problematic in practice, compared to protection and provision rights. Children, because we want their competences to be recognised and because we want to let them know and enjoy their rights for as long a period as possible: the younger they are, the longer they will be able to do something with their rights before they become adults.

The first years we went into the direct life surroundigs of children. In 2000 we focussed on Children's Rights in their community, in 2001 on Children's Rights in school and in 2002 the campaign will work towards inmplementing Children's Rights within the family.

Every campaign has its kickoff with the annual Children's Rights Festival on the 3rd saturday of september. The Festival is organised in a beautiful park, which is turned into the ideal kid’s city for a day. It is set up as an experimental area where kids can have fun and learn about their rights (and how to use them) at the same time. There are different activities set up by all kinds of Children's Rights organisations, as well as performances by artists and popular bands.

We also publish a ‘Megafoon’, a booklet for children with practiacl info and tips on how to exercise their rights in the community (2000), in school (2001) and in the family (2002). Where the first Megafoons were aimed at children themselves, the family Megafoon is aimed at children and their parents focussing on the importance of dialogue and mutual respect.

Every campaign also consists of an activity on the field: A voting ballot on local priorities for children in 2000, a school-participation project in 30 schools in 2001 and a theatre production and exposition in 2002-2003. For this production we worked with a well-known youth theatre group in Flanders. The theatre-production was made by children and young people themselves and will be performed by them in theatres all over Flanders. Accompanying the play is an interactive exposition for children and parents on daily life situations in the house.

In 2002 a new the Children's Rights poster was designed, based on all three campaigns. It shows all different Children's Rights in the setting of the community, the school and the family and children need to look them up. They can also colour the poster.

As a follow-up on the presessional in Geneva, the Belgian report for the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UNSSC, the office launced a Children's Rights Manifesto, together with the NGOcoalitions and the What-Do-You-Think group. In this Manifesto we go into several Children's Rights topics that should figure in Belgium’s National Action Plan on Children’s Rights, an obligation of the UNSSC Outcome Document. The Manifesto is sent out to all levels of government and to all the parliaments in Belgium.

All through the year the office is in close contact with several Children's Rights NGO’s, administrations and other relevant organisations.

- partnership with the League of Families and the Children’s Phone for the annual campaign,

- member of the editorial board of the Flemish Journal on Children’s Rights…

The Children's Rights Commissioner or teammembers in the office took part in several conferences and steering committees of research projects in universities.

The Children's Rights Commissioner was also active in preparations for the UNSSC and the first global meeting of IFRI for children in New York.

The Children's Rights Commissioner drafted an alternative report for the Committee and presented the report during the presessional in Geneva. The Children's Rights Commissioner was also present as an observer during the Committee’s session on the second Belgian report. Not only the Convention on the Rights of the Child itself but also the Conluding Observations will be important guidelines for the upcoming years.

Children and young people can contact the office with questions on Children’s Rights, with complaints or with policy suggestions. In the beginning it was mostly adults who contacted us but during the last two years, more and more children get in touch with the office (about 50%). Every year about 1000 requests are registered. Informative questions are decreasing since more people find all the necessary info on the website. The number of complaints is increasing, which means that more investigative work is necessary.

The Children's Rights Commissioner’s office cannot interfere in pending procedures or change decisions made by other authorities, but it can inform children on their rights and how to implement them themselves, it can refer them to the most appropriate services, it can mediate between conflicting parties or it can act as spokesperson for children in their relation with school, authorities, parents etc…

Most requests still deal with family problems surroundig a divorce. An increasing number of cases deals with problems in school: refusal of enrollment, discussion on schoolresults, distressing or violent behaviour of teachers or fellowstudents… Other cases concern problematic situations in youth care. Not that many children contact us with suggestions.

Not only do we try to solve the individual problem, but we also use this information as illustrations in policy recommendations.

Meanwhile a registrationsystem was designed and is now operational. This system allows a better follow-up of the individual cases and it serves as a database for more structural information and statistics.

A three-year research has just been finished on parent-child-relations and communicationwithin the family and its effect on the wellbeing of children. Information was gathered, both with children/young people and their parents, on children’s selfesteem, wellbeing in school, feelings of depression and anti-social behaviour. In short, the supposed link between positive communication and wellbeing is now scientifically proven, both for the child as for the parent.

In 2002 we also did a survey with children, age 10-12, on how they think they are consulted in family decisions. Parents today are often convinced that they run rather democratic households; their children however had a slightly different view. Although most kids say that they do not disagree with their parents all that often, some also said that even if they do, their opinion doesn’t really matter anyway. Others say that they can sometimes voice their ideas but to no real avail. A small percentage stated that they often disagree but that they are afraid to speak their mind.

This research also served as a supportive arguement for the 2002 campaign, by which we want to stimulate and improve family consultation.

Recommandations were drafted on several policy-issues dealing with the rights or the intrests of children: