ANNUAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE FRENCH OMBUDSMAN FOR CHILDREN / DEFENSEUR DES ENFANTS
(OCTOBER 2000-OCTOBER 2001)

At the time of the last ENOC meeting in Brussels, in October 2000, the French Office of the Défenseur des Enfants / Ombudsman for Children was but a few months old (Claire BRISSET was only appointed in May 2000 and the Office did not really commence operations before July 2000).

One year later, it is now possible to make an initial assessment of its activities.

A – Background: Mission of the Ombudsman for Children

Originally set up by a French law dated 6 March 2000, the Office of the Défenseur des Enfants is totally independent and vested with authority by the State; it is charged with defending and promoting children’s rights as defined by law or by "an international agreement regularly ratified or approved" like the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations on 20 November 1989 and ratified by France in July 1990.

Under the law of 6 March 2000, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children has a fourfold mission:

1 –  The Office reviews individual cases in which the rights of a child have not been respected. This situation arises when cases have not been resolved in an equitable and satisfactory way despite attempts by the many other structures already in place in France.

The Office does not act in place of the specialized services, the associations or the legal and/or social aid structures set up to protect children. Rather, the Ombudsman intervenes when the normal procedures and systems have proven inadequate and when children are the victims of this inadequacy, when their development is threatened and their stability compromised because they feel that their rights are neither recognized nor respected.

The Office reviews the complaint and, if it appears justified, notifies the appropriate legal or social aid authorities. Some cases are referred to the Mediator of the French Republic. The Ombudsman is constantly kept informed of proceedings.

2 –  The Office must identify and bring to light any collective dysfunctions of which it learns and which have adverse effects on minors. It is responsible for verifying that the rights of children are effectively considered and respected in a wide variety of contexts: schools, hospitals, institutions, prisons…

3 – The Office promotes children’s rights and organizes information campaigns on this theme, particularly on the occasion of the French National Children’s Rights Day on 20 November.

Quite naturally, it is children themselves who are the prime targets of this type of information, which is consistently presented in a simple and easily understandable form so as to help them to comprehend the basic fact that they are bearers of rights and that these rights protect them.

The Office also provides information and training specifically designed for professionals who, in a variety of ways, deal with children. All too often, these professionals have received training that did not include sufficient information on the existence, the nature and the effects of children’s rights.

4 –  Finally, the Ombudsman is responsible for ensuring that children’s views are heard concerning matters that affect them directly and situations where their rights have not been respected or properly recognized. The Office may propose texts or modifications in existing laws or regulations which appear to disregard or even contravene the rights of children as set forth in international agreements which France has ratified.

Young people themselves, their legal representatives or child advocacy groups may call on the Office directly, in writing.

The Ombudsman may also take the initiative and intervene in situations where it appears that children’s rights have not been respected.

Every year, on 20 November, which is Children’s Rights Day in France, the Ombudsman for Children presents a report on the activities of the Office to the President of France and to the French Parliament.

One aspect of the work of the Ombudsman for Children is to "ensure the promotion of children’s rights" and to "set up structures for information and training concerning the existence and effective respect of children’s rights".

It is in this framework that in 2000, the Ombudsman for Children took the following initiatives:

- a poster with the slogan: "J’ai droit à mon enfance" (I have a right to my childhood), designed to heighten public awareness of children’s rights. 100,000 copies were printed in collaboration with several French ministries, and circulated both throughout French schools and in the institutions which depend on the ministries associated with the project.

This same poster was discussed in a manual designed for civics classes for children around twelve years of age, and distributed to the schools prior to September 2001.

- a website accessible since 1 November 2000 at: www.defenseurdesenfants.fr.

The content is designed for a very wide public of children and adults. The adults most specifically targeted are those who, on a variety of levels, deal directly with children: parents, teachers, leaders of special activities groups, educators, etc.

The purpose of the website is to provide information of a pedagogical nature concerning all aspects of children’s rights, and to serve as a "reference centre" for the public – most particularly teachers and their students.

It offers practical information about the Office, and legal information about laws, the legal system and other mediator structures. It also includes a glossary of all legal terminology used.

In the ten months since it was set up, it has been accessed 49,000 times.

In addition, this year the Office produced a leaflet explaining its mission, its procedures, the way in which it can be contacted and its means of intervention. The free leaflet has been widely distributed in public places. An English-language version has also been produced.

Lastly, a CD / book produced with the help of several partners will be launched on Children’s Rights Day. It will contain some fifteen songs about children ’s rights in France and around the world, along with complementary texts illustrating the theme of children’s rights and giving pedagogical suggestions to teachers.

Between 3 May 2000, the date on which Claire BRISSET was appointed, and 31 August 2001, the Office has received close to 4,000 letters, of which 922 concerned individual complaints with regard to which a file was opened. On average, some 15 new files are opened each week.

The reasons for which cases are submitted to the Ombudsman for Children are varied and complex but, in general, are based on disputes as to visiting rights and living arrangements when couples have separated or children have been placed in foster families (29 % of all files) and disputes as to custody decisions (13 % of all files). These cases, which together represent almost half of all complaints made, occupy the major share of the Office’s time, as they are generally so legally complex, time-consuming and psychologically taxing.

Some issues were immediately identified as priorities when the Office was set up:

* access on the part of families to social worker files on their case,

* training for professionals dealing with children,

* inadequacies in psychiatric help for young people,

* foreign minors,

* children in difficulty confronted with the AIDS virus,

* access to the family records of children who have been given up at birth.

A summary of the work on these issues was presented in the Ombudsman’s first report to the French President and the Parliament on 20 November 2000.

Investigations into these questions were pursued in 2001, particularly with respect to children's psychiatry and to families’ access to social worker files on them.

Two further themes have been given priority, adolescence in general, and children faced with the fact of incarceration (children born in prison, children sent to prison, children with a parent in prison, alternatives to prison for minors, etc.).

The results of all of these investigations will be made public in the next report on the Ombudsman’s activities.

The law of 6 March 2000 states that the fourth mission of the Office is to make proposals to improve awareness and respect of children’s rights.

When presenting the last report on the Office’s activities, the Ombudsman for Children made 7 proposals which, in light of her early work, appeared necessary to ensure that children’s rights are respected.

The discussions and work undertaken have, in some cases, resulted in improved attention to the best interests of children. In other cases, work has been hampered by difficulties of a political or legislative nature, as well as by attitudes and resistance to change.

As things now stand, the European Union has agreed, at the initiative of France, to establish a European Children’s Rights Day on 20 November.

France is favourable to the establishment of an international Day, but the ultimate decision rests with the United Nations. While the issue remains topical, we now know that it is not on the agenda of the special session of the United Nations devoted to international implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will therefore be necessary to reformulate the proposal, which also has the support of many associations which defend children’s rights.

The Ombudsman is currently working on this with the Ministry of Justice and with a number of other partners. A network of regional commissions is now being set up with a view to promoting awareness among young people of what their rights are and helping both adolescents and children to enjoy their rights fully.

This goal is on the verge of being achieved. The strong stand on the part of the Ombudsman for Children and various associations, a number of reports and recommendations issued by the French social welfare administration, and a working group set up to study the question within the Ministry of Justice, presided by M. Jean-Pierre Deschamps, President of the Marseille Juvenile Court, have been extremely influential in achieving progress. All have pointed up the importance of the legal principle of a full hearing of both sides, and have defined means for informing families of the contents of their files.

It should also be noted that the national Consultative Commission on Human Rights has played a key role in this process.

* Introduce a procedure for emergency interim rulings regarding custody of very young children.

This is in line with a wish expressed by the Minister for the Family relative to improving the measures for the protection of children, as well as by the national Consultative Commission on Human Rights in its recommendations on child custody. All have recognized the need for an emergency procedure for contesting a custody ruling and for accelerating the review of appeals.

The Ombudsman for Children has investigated the type of assistance given to victims of sex offences. She has noted the measures set up to provide medical and psychological support, and she has also noted the inadequacies of the system. In general, it appears to be the patients themselves, and the occupational pressures on psychiatrists and children's psychiatrists which most hamper the support systems.

The protection of unaccompanied foreign minors has been significantly complicated by a recent ruling of the French Court of Appeals which fully, were it necessary, justifies the attention given by the Ombudsman for Children to this issue. Over the year, the Ombudsman has intervened on several occasions to remind the authorities of the rights of foreign minors arriving unaccompanied in France who, very often, cannot be admitted into the country. In a number of cases, the forced deportation of what are sometimes very young children has thus been avoided. In such cases, it has been possible to turn over the children to members of their family in France.

The lack of appropriate housing and support for such families remains a real concern. A recent decision on the part of the French Constitutional Council had the effect of vetoing projects by which the National Health Service was to finance family housing with household and medical assistance, as provided for in a law passed at the end of 2000. The cancellation of this financing leaves this important problem unresolved.

*

In conclusion, we can say without hesitation that, after 15 months of activity, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children has become a normal part of the French institutional "landscape". Its relations with the authorities (the French President, the government and the Parliament), with national and regional bodies and with administrative agencies concerned with children’s welfare, are excellent.

The media are taking an increasing interest in the work of the Ombudsman in all that relates to the protection of children in general; her recommendations are listened to and followed by the appropriate authorities.

The Ombudsman for Children has become a widely respected authority as regards the protection of children’s rights and the benefits of the Office are now unanimously recognized.

Last edited by Barneombudet March 22, 2004
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