<%-- Page Title--%> Human Rights Advocacy <%-- End Page Title--%>

May 9, 2004

Children Ombudsman
The new concept for promoting child rights

Oli Md. Abdullah Chowdhury

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the most venerated human rights convention that simply asserts human rights of a child. When Bangladesh submitted 2nd periodic report, CRC Committee expressed concern that there is a lack of independent monitoring mechanism in establishing the rights of the child. Office of the children ombudsman could fill up the gap to a great extent.

Though there are children ombudsperson in many European countries, their responsibilities are not similar in all cases. The examples of Sweden, Norway and French could be examined in this regard.

Swedish experience
The Children's Ombudsman is appointed by the Swedish Government for a term of six years. The current Ombudsman, Lena Nyberg, was appointed in 2001 and is in charge of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman.

Ombudsman would work on the basis of UNCRC. The Children's Ombudsman shall assiduously encourage implementation of the Convention and monitor compliance with it. In this connection, the Children's Ombudsman shall give particular attention to ensuring that laws and other statutes and their application agree with the Convention on the Rights of the Child [The Act (2002:377)]. Accountability has been thus ensured in relation with Article 4 of UNCRC.

'Barneombudet' in Norway
Norway's sixth state ombudsman was established through legislation passed on 6 March 1981. The task of the children's ombudsman is to promote the interests of children. The children's ombudsman is appointed by the king for a four-year period. At the time of the appointment an advisory council is also selected in order to assist the ombudsman. Neither the ombudsman nor the council has any executive powers, but the ombudsman enjoys unrestricted access to all public and private institutions for children. Similarly he/she has the right to be provided with information, to study the protocols etc without being prevented by considerations to professional secrecy. He has on occasion reported municipalities to the police for their failure to fulfil the statutory regulations regarding children's rights

The heavy workload of this ombudsman is illustrated by the approximately 2,000 enquiries he receives per year, 10-12 per cent of these from children. These enquiries are considered especially important. The law specifically prohibits the Barneombudet from interfering in disputes with families.

Trond Viggo Torgensen, the physician who has been appointed as the Barneombudet, has set up a free phone number children can call with their messages about what they think is important, with a TV show once a week in which he will take up their topics. His staff, which includes a sociologist, a lawyer and a secretary, answers thousands of phone calls and letters each year; and their phone number is listed in every phone book in Norway.

Experience from France
A former journalist and Director of Information with UNICEF, Claire Brisset is the first children's Ombudsman in France, an independent authority with a brief to promote and defend the rights of the child. There are four major duties of children ombudsman: to listen to the individual grievances of children who think that their rights have not been respected.

The second brief is to identify any eventual collective dysfunction that arises to the children's detriment (the situation of minors in prison, for example, who must not be mixed with adults according to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The third brief is to provide training and information on the rights of the child aimed at professionals and at the general public, adults and children, notably by means of a web site. At the Rights of the Child Day, on November 20, the Ombudsman publishes an annual report, which is submitted to the French President and to Parliament.

The fourth brief is to provide opinions and make suggestions for changing or introducing legislative or statutory texts.

The context of Bangladesh
The governments of Bangladesh have showed their commitment towards children; nevertheless, Bangladesh is one of the earliest signatory of UNCRC. The government has also showed interest in establishing the office of an ombudsman for children in Bangladesh. A Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) has already made a draft proposal for an Ombudsman for children in Bangladesh. Apart from this, a high-level government delegation visited France, Norway and Sweden during the last week of January, 2004 at the invitation of the various governments to acquaint themselves with the process of creating and running an independent commission for children. Prime Minister has agreed on principle to the proposal and a committee has been already formed with representatives from civil society. The proposed new office could comprise of one Ombudsman for children and a 10- member Board of Directors, which will include 3 representatives from teenagers. Child rights organisations especially, Save the Children along with UNICEF has advocated and lobbied a lot for establishing the office of Ombudsman.

As stated in the proposal, this new office of the Ombudsman for Children could be established by promulgation of a new law based on the Ombudsman Law of 1980, Child Right Convention and the "World Fit for Children" agenda. The new office can monitor the implementation process of the New NPA for children for 2002-2007 and NPA for CSAET, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the "World Fit for Children" agenda. It could also monitor the implementation of CRC and concluding observation.

Although there had been a provision of Ombudsman in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (Article77), it never became a reality in Bangladesh. However, the new office of the ombudsman for children could be empowered by law to ask for information on the progress made by different ministries and institutions in implementing the measures aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of children.

Oli Md. Abdullah Chowdhury, is a Programme Assistant, Save the Children Sweden Denmark.