To ENOC, October 2002

Report by the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman, Sweden

Since the last Annual Meeting of ENOC, the activities of the Children’s Ombudsman of Sweden have concerned a number of issues ranging from commercial sexual exploitation of children to bullying at school.  

Important amendments to the law governing the work of the Children’s Ombudsman entered into force on 1 July this year. These amendments serve, inter alia, to strengthen the independence of the Ombudsman. 

This autumn, the Government of Sweden is to submit its third periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Children’s Ombudsman has been requested to submit her official comments to the report. 

Other issues which have been in focus in the work of the Children’s Ombudsman since the last Annual Meeting of ENOC are children with functional impairments, mental health, bullying, joint custody of children, children in public institutions, children with a multiethnic background, and refugee children.

At the end of 2001, the Office of the Ombudsman was restructured and divided into a cabinet, an administrative unit, and information unit, a legal unit and a project and research unit. In the context of the re-organisation, the Office has also defined general goals of its work:

·        To increase all children’s and young people’s knowledge of their rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and prevailing laws, in order to increase their opportunities for exercising influence in society.

·        To represent the interests of children and young people, safeguard their rights, promote their welfare and ensure their right to equal treatment.

·        To shape public opinion regarding children’s and young people’s rights and interests.

·        To seek and compile information on children’s and young people’s living conditions and to promote research and development.

·        To increase awareness and interest among decision-makers and the general public regarding the rights of children’s.

·        To monitor the prevailing legislation and its application, and examine Government bills from a children’s perspective, in order to suggest legislative changes or new laws.

·        To promote preventive, early initiatives to meet children’s and young people’s needs for support, in particular focusing on children and young people in vulnerable circumstances.

·        To participate in international initiatives to promote favourable living conditions for all children.  

Advice received from children and young persons

Opinions and advice from children and young people constitute an important factor in the determination of the priorities in the work of the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman. In accordance with the new amendments to the law on the Children’s Ombudsman, advice and opinions of children are to form an even greater role in the work of the Ombudsman in the future.

Methods of involving children and young persons in the work of the Office currently include so called contact classes, direct contacts between the Ombudsman and children during her visits around Sweden, and a Child and Youth Council. The contact classes currently number 120 classes in the senior grades of compulsory school (ages 13-16). The children’s replies are collected, analysed and presented in the Ombudsman’s annual report to the Government. The pupils’ opinions convey an important picture of how children and young persons view their lives. A new questionnaire survey in the autumn of 2002 will address the question of how children view their possibilities of exercising influence and power in society and children’s views on parenthood. This survey also aims at identifying possible differences between children with a Swedish background and children of foreign origin or children belonging to national minorities in how they view their possibilities of exercising influence. 

The Child and Youth Council is a special expert committee of children and young persons living in the Stockholm region. This Child and Youth Council has about 15 members, aged between 10 and 15, and provides advice on topics which the Office should address and how. This year the Child and Youth Council has provided expertise on e.g. a draft booklet on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child aimed at 9 to 12 year olds, issues relating to the working environment in school, school lunches and questions regarding influence and democracy. 

Issues that children and young people themselves raise most often relate to stress, bullying and school lunches. Privately, or in smaller groups, many children mention the separation of their parents as a main concern. 

The amendments to the law on the Children’s Ombudsman

A series of amendments to the law establishing the Children’s Ombudsman of Sweden entered into force on 1 July 2002. The most important changes that the amendments will imply are the following:

-         that the means of children and young people to participate directly and indirectly in the work of the Office and of other public authorities shall be strengthened and diversified;

-         that other public authorities, at the request of the Ombudsman, are obliged to submit information to the Ombudsman on how they are implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in their work. The Ombudsman may also summon representatives of other authorities for consultations;

-         that the national strategy for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is transformed into a permanent and integrated part of the work of the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman;

-         that the Ombudsman will have an increasing role in monitoring the implementation of existing legislation having a bearing on the rights of the child;

-         that the Ombudsman shall provide interpretations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child from the perspective of Swedish legislation and monitor the practice of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child;

-         that the Ombudsman shall initiate research concerning the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and concerning children and young persons in general.  

The Children’s Ombudsman and the media

The office of the Children’s Ombudsman was interviewed or mentioned in almost 1600 articles published by Swedish newspapers and periodicals between August 2001 and August 2002, and featured in 108 items by the Swedish news agencies. The media coverage shows a moderate increase since the year before. The coverage by foreign media is not included in our statistics.  In 2002, the Office has strengthened its information unit through new recruitments.

Questions of joint custody of children in cases of violence in the family, the situation of unaccompanied refugee children, legislation against bullying at school, long waiting periods to psychiatric treatment for children and young persons, and the worrying mental health situation of pupils have been some of the issues that the office has pursued in the media during the year.

Reports to the Government

The Office of the Children’s Ombudsman reports annually to the Government. In this report we highlight the issues which we want the Government to consider. This year’s report, Many can’t be seen but still exist, focused on children with functional impairments. Some of the findings were that children with functional impairments were more often bullied at school than other pupils, that children with functional impairments are often excluded from some lectures, for instance because they cannot enter the classroom in a wheelchair, and that they often have little or no possibilities of taking part in school excursions and extra curricular activities. Also in general the possibilities of these children to engage in spear time activities and to visit friends are very limited. Other issues raised in the yearly report of the Ombudsman include children with single parents, the position of children in legal procedures regarding custody, residence and contact and the increasing stress experienced by children.

The completion and continuation of the national strategy for the Convention on the Rights of the Child

The three year national strategy for the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by  the Riksdag (parliament) in 1999 has been concluded and a final report was submitted by the Children’s Ombudsman to the Government in June 2002. The aim of the strategy has been that principles and rules of the Convention should penetrate all decisions relating to children. An important aspect has been to see to that the child perspective becomes deeply rooted in the public authority and thereby becomes a natural part of the routines of the authority concerned. Through the amendments which entered into force on 1 July 2002, the national strategy has been transformed into a permanent and integrated part of the work of the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman The national strategy has included:

Especially vulnerable children

The Office of the Children’s Ombudsman has during the last year undertaken several activities and projects dealing with children who are in an especially vulnerable situation. A study of high court decisions (second instance and the Supreme Court) undertaken in co-operation with the Office of the Ombudsman shows that in cases of divorce or separation, the parents are almost exclusively awarded joint custody over the child although there are serious indications (and in some cases convictions) that one of the parents has committed violent acts against the other parent and/or the child.

In spring 2002, the Children’s Ombudsman proposed a series of legislative measures to protect another group of vulnerable children, children suffering from bullying. The proposals included an initiative to criminalize bullying and to extend the responsibilities of the school personnel in intervening with a view to prevent bullying from occurring at school.

An alarming news has been the disappearance of tens of unaccompanied refugee children from various refugees centres in the country. There are reasons to believe that at least some of these children have become victims of prostitution and other exploitation of children. The Ombudsman has proposed various measures with a view to guarantee that there always is an adult person who is responsible for the safety and well-being of the unaccompanied children and that the responsibilities among the different authorities involved are clarified.

International co-operation

In co-operation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Vietnam and the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA), the Office of the Ombudsman has undertaken a project which aims at an information collection system designed to take stock of children's situation from a child perspective. It involves collecting statistical data from children themselves.

On 7 – 25 October 2002, the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman, in co-operation with SIDA, organises the International Training Programme on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Stockholm. The objectives of the programme are, among others, to exemplify how the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be implemented at national, regional and local levels and to give the participants the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas on children’s rights. The target group comprises parliamentarians, politicians, civil servants, NGO’s, lecturers and people working for children’s rights at a high level in a number of Central and Eastern European states. Two previous training programmes  addressed participants from Southern and South East Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa.

During the spring of 2002 the Children’s Ombudsmen of the Nordic countries met in Reykjavik to discuss the possibility of joint activities and the need for an interchange of experience. Co-operation with the other European Children’s Ombudsmen has also been intensified.

  The Children’s Ombudsman participated in the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS) in New York in May 2002.

  The Office has continued to receive numerous international study visits concerning the work of the office and the situation of children in general in Sweden.

Participation in committees

During 2001 and 2002, the Office has served on several committees and commissions in an expert or special advisory capacity:

-         the Education Act Reviewing Committee;

-         the project group preparing a report for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS) in New York in May 2002;

-         the Delegation for Child Safety;

-         the project of the National Institute of Public Health concerning parental support;

-         the reference group of the Swedish Save the Children Hotline against child pornography on the Internet;

-         the working group concerning victims of sexual exploitation of children;

-         the network for the prevention of violence against women;

-         the working group of the Government’s project Tillsammans (Together) against bullying at school and

-         the inter-agency working group on the protection of unaccompanied refugee children;

-         the reference group of central authorities concerning the socio-economic development of large cities.  

The Office of the Children’s Ombudsman (Barnombudsmannen)
Box 22106, S-104 22 Stockholm
Telephone +46 8 692 29 50
Telefax +46 8 654 62 77
Email bo@bo.se
Web site www.bo.se

Last edited by Barneombudet December 10, 2002
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