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 Country Updates 2003

Austria Belgium Catalunia Denmark
France Georgia Hungary Iceland
Lithuania Macedonia Madrid Northern Ireland
Norway Poland  Portugal Romania
Russia(Volgograd) Sweden    
 

Challenges and Opportunities for Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child in Central and Eastern Europe (PDF) Cover Page(PDF)

Report of the 6th Annual Meeting in Brussels 2002( PDF)
6th Annual Meeting Report Cover (PDF)
Standards for independent human rights institutions for children
New examples of legislation added (see Thematic profiles/Legislation)

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Children's Rights Commissioner appointed in Flemish Belgium (see legislation)

The office is an independent Children's Rights Commissioner appointed by the Flemish Parliament. The first Commissioner was appointed in May 1998. It has the following mandate:

to follow up the implementation of the CRC,
to defend the rights and interests of children (0-18) in Flanders
to analyse, evaluate and make public the living conditions of children in Flanders,
to inform and sensitise the public on the contents of the CRC, - to be the megaphone for children towards the political level,
to formulate recommendations to the parliament for a better child policy and
to investigate complaints.

All of these tasks will have to be carried out in close contact with children themselves and children’s organisations.

The Commissioner holds the office for 5 years, with a possible one-term renewal of the mandate.

This year the office has a budget with which it will establish a team of two university-level workers and one social worker. The Parliament already agreed to a budget increase for next year in order to be able to take on a communications expert. The Commissioner’s office should be fully operational by the end of the year.

At this preliminary stage, some focuses for the office may be:
while in Belgian society, the notions of provision and protection are widely accepted issues, this is not the case for the participation issue. A lot of awareness raising is still necessary.
all possible communication channels shall be explored to see how children can reach us and vice versa
the inputs of children will be essential to determining the agenda of the Commissioner. In this area it is important to really listen what they say (which can be different from what adults want to hear!).
recommendations will have to be scientifically supported by research, not based on individual views or opinions.

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Last edited by Barneombudet September 02, 2003
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