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The Ombudsman for Children in Norway
NATIONAL UPDATE- October 2002 OFFICE UPDATE: The office has
11.5 permanent positions and 4 employees on short-time projects. The
office’s total income comes from government grants exclusively. As a result of the many expectations to be met, the
Ombudsman stresses his flexibility and aims for a holistic approach in the work
carried out on behalf of the children. Innovation is crucial to stay proactive and to set
the political agenda. In order to maintain optimal flexibility in response to a
rapidly changing society, it is important to avoid bureaucratic structures in
the Ombudsman’s office. Graphically the structure of the office can be
illustrated as below: 
The administration is the core of the office, where everything needs to
be in order for the rest of the office to function. Influencing and being part of
policy making is essential for the Ombudsman. Due to the modern media
environment, it is a challenge for the Ombudsman to be present at the
public arena and to be part of the public debate. Information/Dialogue is pertinent to stay in touch with children and
youth, from whom the office acquires its real mandate.
The communication tools employed by the Ombudsman are fundamental in
order to change and improve legislation concerning children (more on the
Convention below). Individual cases, law proposals,
professional advice
A considerable part of the
enquiries to our office are regarding children’s procedural rights when
subject to legislative matters, court or administrative decisions. Most
enquiries are referred to competent offices when possible, especially complaints
in singular cases. The Ombudsman reserves his primary capacities for cases of
significant principal value. The staff also gives more personal advice on how to
best take care of children and how to highlight the best interest of the child
under potentially stressful circumstances. The Ombudsman office is an
active participant in both national and regional hearings concerning
children’s rights. The Ombudsman has also continued to work as an ambassador
for various projects to show the media and the public a diverse picture of
children’s lives in Norway. The Ombudsman’s Main Objectives in 2002:
ü
Making sure that all children and youth’s interests are looked
after. ü
Work to strengthen the services for children living in unsound
environments. ü
Work to strengthen the services of children in need of special
care. ü
Increase the knowledge and understanding of the CRC in society,
particularly amongst children and youth. The society must work to make
children be seen, heard and valued. Children must be looked upon as competent
individuals. In order to monitor the Norwegian childhood, the Ombudsman has
close contact with his external network, including experts on areas such as
education, sports and culture. FOCUS AREAS
2001-2002: The Convention
on the Rights of the Child in Norway: The major focus area for the Norwegian Ombudsman is to
strive for equality in the environments where young people live their lives. In
our society we need to strive to reach optimal equality in standards of
schooling, health care, social care, leisure- and cultural activities etc.
Today, however, the standards within the different laws concerning children are
still fragmented, dispersed and lacks consistency. Norway ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Ombudsman has all the time worked for the
incorporation of the Convention. This has also been the recommendation from the
Committee in Geneva. The Ministry of Justice has this year proposed an incorporation
process, which implies that the CRC document as a whole would be incorporated
into Norwegian law The proposal will be handled in Parliament winter 2002. It is
expected that the proposal will get a majority in Parliament and this will
create a strong and irreversible platform from which the laws concerning
children and adolescents would be fully revised. For this reason, the Ombudsman
believes it is important to emphasise the need for the incorporation to not only
involve legal processed, but also political and professional processes. How can
the whole society become part of, and aware of, the important changes in the
rights of children and youth? It is important to raise the general awareness
that children are subjects with full rights, rather than objects of adults’
decisions. The
Ombudsman’s Dialogue Instruments: The Ombudsman for Children is more than just a public
figure with statutory powers. The office aspires to strengthen its partnership
with children and youth, continuing to improve various conditions affecting all
children in Norway. The CRC article 12 stresses
children’s right to express their own views on all matters affecting them,
i.e. empowering children and youth. To stay in touch with children and youth the
Ombudsman employs several communication tools. These are considered to be the
knowledge base, which is crucial in order to change and improve both attitudes
as well as legislation concerning young people. Powerline: To stay in touch with the children in Norway the
Ombudsman’s office established the Children’s Powerline in 1989. The
Powerline gathers information about the lives of children and youth and attempts
to provide swift replies and information to the callers. While there has been a decrease in the number of
callers, there is a considerable increase in number of Powerline e-mails.
The Internet expansion also means that children and youth are able to express
themselves clearer and more in detail, without the briefness of the Powerline
answering machine. Internet
Parliament and the influence of Student Councils: This year, the Internet Parliament (IP) for students in
the secondary school has been established. The aim is to empower young people by
letting them have their say through mini-referendums on matters concerning
themselves. On behalf of their schools, the 25 democratically elected student
councils will give their opinions on various issues to the Ombudsman. These
valuable data will then be used in the Ombudsman’s work, whether it is
implemented in hearings or used as facts in public debates. Fall 2002, the Internet Parliament will be used as part
of Norway’s state report to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
which is due in February 2003. For the first time, the voices of children and
youth will used as part of the state report. In addition CRC theme days and to
regional hearings at various schools, the IP student councils will influence the
report by expressing their opinions via the Internet Parliament. In 2001-02
the Ombudsman’s office has continued to highlight children’s rights through
distribution of information material, school meetings and through a partnership
with the national broadcasting service, NRK1. The Ombudsman has also given out grants
to innovative ideas to improve the work of the student school councils,
continuing to encourage children and youth to partake in political decisions and
empowering them to use their voices effectively. Initiative
Against Bullying: The Ombudsman recognises the many children suffering
from bullying, both at school and in their local area. In the research and
campaigns focusing on bullying, the Ombudsman emphasises the need to focus on
leadership and to hold the school administrations accountable for the situation
in the schools. Rather than launching another anti-bullying campaign, the
Ombudsman for Children’s office has maintained a continuous focus on the
issue, working towards a zero-tolerance for bullying at Norwegian schools. At the end of 2001, a fruitful public debate started
as national media became involved in the Ombudsman’s work. As the Ombudsman
focuses on making leaders (i.e. mayors, principals and teachers) accountable, we
needed to start breaking down some of the taboos around bullying. To advance
public debate further, the Ombudsman started co-operating with regional and
local media in order to collect the stories of victim and bullying offenders.
As this became a success, the Ombudsman arranged a conference to present
the experiences from journalists, the bullies and their parents as well as the
victims and their families. At this point, the Ombudsman started promoting the
vision of “zero-tolerance” towards bullying in our schools. Six
months later the Ombudsman, the Prime Minister and the organisations
representing all aspect of the school system, signed the ambitious manifesto against bullying.
The partners in this work are the Government, represented by the Prime Minister,
the school owners, represented by The Norwegian Association of Local and
Regional Authorities , The teachers union of Norway, the Norwegian Parents
Association and the Ombudsman for Children in close co-operation with the
Norwegian Pupils organisation. The
goal is to eradicate bullying from Norwegian schools by 2004, establishing a
zero tolerance among the school leaders and students. The Ombudsman has a “Stop Bullying” section on the
our web pages. The pages present the various aspects of bullying and encourage
youngsters to share their stories with others, whether they represent the victim
or the offender. As part of the evaluation system emerging, there is also an overview of all municipalities who have signed the manifesto, and those who have not. Another very important evaluation channel will be all the student councils, which the Ombudsman is generally trying to revitalise, making them become political influential. The councils are in a position where they can do a continuous evaluation of what is being done at their school and in the municipality in general. We encouraged the councils to inform the Ombudsman’s office and local media of both great progress, as well as complete lack of such. The student councils and the focus of local media will be a strong force in reaching this very ambitious objective.
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Last edited by Barneombudet November 12, 2002 |