The children’s ombudsman office in the Czech Republic has received 228 complaints in the first two months of operation, most often related to problems in families and child care allowances, the office announced on its website yesterday.
As the children’s ombudsman has not yet been appointed, Deputy Ombudsman Vit Alexander Schorm is in charge of these duties.
During the summer, the children’s ombudsman also dealt with delays in court proceedings concerning children, the availability of schools and children’s social services, the process of granting residence permits to children with foreign citizenship, and various issues in the health care sector. The office also assessed several applications for intervention in various court proceedings and visited two facilities for children.
The children’s ombudsman has dealt, for instance, with the case of a teenage boy who ran away from his mother and stepfather to his grandmother because his stepfather had beaten him. He reported it to the Child Social Protection Authority (OSPOD) and the police, and then turned to the Children’s Ombudsman, who advised him how he could proceed.
The children’s ombudsman’s office began work in the Czech Republic on 1 July, while the position itself is still vacant. Until the Chamber of Deputies elects an ombudsman, Schorm will perform the duties.
The children’s ombudsman, part of the Office of the Ombudsman seated in Brno, is tasked with examining the procedures of the authorities, as well as other institutions whose activities affect the rights of a particular child. Furthermore, this ombudsman will map and promote children’s rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international treaties, and is responsible for raising awareness and protecting the interests of children in court proceedings.
By establishing the position of children’s ombudsman, the Czech Republic has complied with the request of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which entered into force in the former Czechoslovakia in 1991. The Czech Republic was one of the last EU countries not to have a children’s ombudsman.
