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REPUBLIC
OF MACEDONIA PUBLIC
ATTORNEY - OMBUDSMAN DEPARTMENT
FOR PROTECTION OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS In
the Republic of Macedonia, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic
of Macedonia the institution of the Public Attorney is functioning which
according to the Constitution and the special
Law on the Public Attorney has the mandate to protect the constitutional
and legal rights of the citizens when they are being violated by the civil
service bodies or other bodies and organisations with public authorities. The
Public Attorney-Ombudsman is authorised to protect the rights of citizens and
children’s rights are also included within this framework. According to the
Constitution and the Law on the Public Attorney there is no legal possibility
for the establishment of a separate institution of Ombudsperson for the
protection of children’s rights, due to which a special Department for
protection of children’s rights was formed within the institution of the
Public Attorney. From its establishment in 1998 until the present, the
Department has not experienced any structural changes and it’s still derives
its competences from the Law on the Public Attorney and is acting in accordance
with the competences of the Public Attorney. The
Department for the protection of children’s rights is primarily acting upon
individual complaints, but it also ensures the provision of special protection
to children in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
legislation and creation of opportunities to act on a more general plan in the
protection, education and creation of conditions for achievement of the rights
in the Republic of Macedonia and the Department plays the role of a guardian dog
for children’s rights. Prior to the establishment of the Department there was
no institution which provided special protection for children and no measures
were undertaken on a general plan to create the conditions for the achievement
of children’s rights. Positive
changes achieved through the functioning of the Department The functioning of the Department for the protection of children’s rights has proven to be very positive and in a short period of time very good results have been achieved with regards to the achievement and protection of children’s rights, as well to the acting upon individual complaints concerning the protection of specific rights, as well on a more general plan with regards to the monitoring of the situation related to the achievement of children’s rights. The
following achievements are considered to be more significant: 1. For
several years there was an ongoing argument about the adoption of a special law
on children’s protection, the reason for which was the determination of
conditions for the accomplishment of certain material rights
of children. The disputed issue was whether there should be the
recognition of certain rights for all children or just for a specific number of
children, all for the purposes of carrying out a population policy in the state.
Due to the lack of agreement on this issue from all parties, the law remained
not adopted for several years even though it was prepared. Right
at the beginning of our work we lobbied for the adoption of this law and the
removal of the discrimination between children with regards to all their rights
regardless of their status and the number of children in a family. Our proposal
for the adoption of this law was accepted. Also a
number of proposals were adopted concerning the material stipulation of
specific issues in accordance with the Convention. Very soon after that a
special Law on children’s protection was adopted which did not discriminate at
all against children. 2.
A specific problem that we thought had to be resolved was the protection
of street children whose numbers grew daily due to the transition, unemployment
and the economic crisis in the Republic of Macedonia. It was established that
these were children who had parents, but who are abused by them by forcing them
to beg, sell cigarettes or similar activities every day in order to earn a
living for the family. For the purpose of protecting these children in
cooperation with UNICEF, the Centres for social work and the Ministry of Labour
and Social Policies we submitted a proposal for street children to be stipulated
as a special category in the legislation which is need of special protection and
support, to form daycare centres where both the children and the parents
will be
accommodated, registered, identified and educated in order to prevent
them from going back on the street, taking measures for enforced supervision of
the parental rights by the Centres for social work and as a final measure
initiating procedures for removal of parental rights. We have also proposed for
the state to undertake the commitment to guarantee and provide minimal living
standards in accordance with the Convention which requires the provision of an
adequate living standard. In
accordance with our proposals, street children are defined as a special category
in the newly adopted Law on Local Self-Rule with the right to special
protection, which obliges the municipalities to take measures to protect the
rights of these children if such exist in their region. The proposal for forming
of daycare centres was also adopted and where it is worked with these children
and their parents and they are
helped to stay away from the streets, to regularly attend education and support
them materially within the scope of the legal possibilities. 3. The
Department has paid special attention to the protection of children victims of
trafficking, which is a problem that is ever more increasing in the Republic of
Macedonia. Following our initiative and the
initiative and support of the International Organisation for Immigration
a shelter for victims of trafficking was established where they are provided
with health, psychological and social care and they are assisted to return
safely to their country. Our
proposal for these people to be
treated as victims in need of special protection, and not
to
be treated as criminals was adopted and they are given special protection,.
Also, following our initiative, a change was made in the legislation whereby
trafficking of adults and children is defined as a separate criminal act, after
which our state has started numerous procedures which have resulted in
convictions, which we hope will contribute to the easing of this problem. For
the purpose of preventive action and protection of children from this
occurrence, we have prepared a special brochure for the victims of trafficking
which should be printed soon and distribute to various users with the
financial and professional support of UNICEF. 4. Acting upon specific complaints concerning violation of their
rights, a great number of children
have been protected or accommodated. A special problem in our work are the
complaints which refer to the relations between parents and children, especially
in divorce cases. By raising several general issues for overcoming the problems
in the achievement of these rights, we are also taking specific measures to
overcome the conflicts between the parents and through direct meetings with them
we are informing them of the rights of their children, their own rights and
obligations, and their responsibilities in the case of a
violation of the rights of the children. With our actions in cases which
the Centres have been unable to solve for a long period of time and were unable
to overcome the problems, we succeed to establish solid relations between the
child and the parents. 5. In the previous legislation, the children with
special needs had no right to the special supplement if they were attending
regular education, which in our opinion was a kind of discrimination. Though our
proposals the legislation was changed and all children with special needs were
made equal in the accomplishment of their legal rights.. 6. The Department has carried out an analysis of
the overall legislation concerning children’s rights and submitted its
proposals for changes or amendments for the purpose of
complete and consistent implementation of the Convention of the Rights of
the Child, proposing at the same time to ensure material and other conditions
for the accomplishment of the rights of children guaranteed by the Convention.
Our proposals have received broad support from all the Ministries and other
bodies and organisations working on children’s rights, by UNICEF, NGO’s, as
well by children and they have been submitted to undergo the proper
Parliamentary procedure. 7. Taking into account that the school
curriculums insufficiently include content with regards to children’s rights ,
we have given a proposal to find ways and possibilities for children to be
informed during their education of their rights and the possibilities for
protection of their rights before the institutions of the system. To this end we
have prepared a brochure containing all the rights of children starting from the
Convention, the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia and the overall
legislation. The brochure has been distributed to all the primary and secondary
schools and institutions for accommodation of children. It has also been printed
in Braille for blind children, and it will be printed in Albanian for the
children of this nationality which is the most numerous in the Republic of
Macedonia. We have, also, informed children through our regular panel
discussions and visits to the schools about our institution and their rights,
with special emphasis on the
possibilities and institutions for protection of their rights in the cases of
their violation . 8. The Department is making concerted efforts for
deinstitutionalisation of children accommodated in institutions and the process
of which is already being carried out successfully in the Republic of Macedonia.
However, considering the fact that this process is proceeding slowly and there
are still a great number of children accommodated in institutions we have
concluded that special attention should be paid to the accomplishment of the
rights of these children in the institutions themselves and outside them . For
that purpose we are conducting visits to the institutions and intervening in
front of the competent authorities for special measures to be undertaken for the
protection of these children and for the accomplishment of their rights, which
has yielded positive results. We have also prepared a special brochure for the
purpose of educating children about their rights and to prepare them to fight
for their rights and to feel equal to all other children. We have received for
this brochure financial support from UNICEF and it will be distributed to
children in institutions.
Functioning of the Department for the protection of children’s rights The
Department for the protection of children’s rights through its function both
with regards to individual complaints, as well as with regards to working on a
more general plan on the protection of children’s rights plays a very
important role with regards primarily to: - More
expedient and legal decision making on the rights of children in specific cases; - Improvement
and proper implementation of the legislation; -
Carrying out of certain processes for the practical implementation of
the
Convention in the everyday life of all or specific categories of children
(our
Department is continuously supporting and helping the process
of
deinstitutionalisation of children accommodated in institutions, through
proposals for legal enhancement of the process and through specific measures for
adequate and more expedient implementation of this process. Considering
the fact that the institution of the Public Attorney, and within it also the
Department for protection of children’s rights, is still a new institution in
the Republic of Macedonia, during the course of our work we have encountered
difficulties in the development of the awareness for the need to eliminate the
bureaucratic behaviour of officials in the institutions. Through hard work,
persistence and multiple interventions we have succeeded to assert ourselves and
to establish solid collaboration with most of the institutions, however there
are still institutions which are reluctant to collaborate with our institution,
which do not always act upon our requests and some of them do not even respond
to our requests at all. I would like to especially emphasise our collaboration
with the media which is a very important instrument for pressuring the competent
authorities. A
special benefit to the successful work of the Department represent the direct
contacts with the children during our visits to the schools and institutions,
whereupon this visits and conversations that we
have with the children help us in locating the problems occurring in the
accomplishment of the rights of children and to acquaint ourselves with their
needs and opinions. At
the same time, the collaboration with NGO’s contributes to the more adequate
and expedient solution of specific issues related to children’s rights. Measures
planned to be undertaken in the forthcoming period
- Greater public presentation of our work, due to the fact
that children in the course of our work are
still not sufficiently informed about our institution; -Education
of children about their rights, bit also education of parents about children’s
rights; -Working
with the media and taking measures to ensure adequate informing of children and
fighting against information which are detrimental to the development of
children; -Undertaking
more aggressive measures to create the material preconditions for the
accomplishment of children’s rights through lobbying and appealing to the
Government to give priority during the allocation of the budget assets to
children and by putting special emphasis on taking measures for the eradication
of poverty which is increasing in the Republic of Macedonia; -
Undertaking measures to create conditions fro the inclusion of all children in
the education system and undertaking measures to provide the highest level of
health care. -Finding
adequate ways to have more frequent direct contacts with children, for which
purpose an SOS telephone line will be installed. -Greater
international collaboration with other similar institutions in other countries
and exchange of experiences concerning specific issues.
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Last edited by Barneombudet November 12, 2002 |