The creation of such institutions has been promoted by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and, from 1990 onwards, by the Council of Europe.
[16][17] The federal office focusses on advocacy on behalf of children and on promoting the principle of non-violent education, while actual complaints are being handled on the state level.
He led a Government delegation to France, Norway and Sweden in February 2004 to study the Children's Ombudsman institutions in those countries.
[21] The Canadian provinces and territories have a variety of agencies that serve as more or less independent advocates of the rights of children, particularly those that have been clients of social services.
The People's Defender (Spanish: Defensoría del Pueblo) or Ombudsman's Office of Colombia has a children's rights unit.
[1] Costa Rica was the second country (after Norway) to establish a children's ombudsman, setting up the Defender of Childhood (Spanish: Defensoría de la Infancia) in 1987.
In 1993, this body was absorbed into the main Defender of the Inhabitants (ombudsman) agency, which created a specialist child rights section.
In July 2011 Dominique Baudis was appointed to the office by the Council of State on the nomination of the Prime Minister, for a single six-year term.
The Department was established in 2003, by law 3094/2003, to investigate alleged acts and omissions by individuals and legal entities that violate the rights of children or endanger their wellbeing.
The main areas of work of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman (OCO) are complaints handling; communication and participation; and research and policy.
Presidential decree was issued on 25 March 2016, appointing Deputy of the Majilis of the Kazakh Parliament Zagipa Baliyeva as Children's Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
[43] The national Youth Ombudsman of Korea (Korean: 대한민국 청소년옴부즈만) was existed under the Prime Minister's Office from 2004 to 2006.
The Children’s Rights Ombudsman Institution of the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublikos Vaiko Teisių Apsaugos Kontrolieriaus Įstaiga) was established in September 2000.
The Ombudsman can conduct investigations, require the production of information and evidence, propose legislation and policy, and report to the President, the Seimas (Parliament), the Government or a municipal council on violations of legal acts or shortcomings in the law.
The role of the Ombudsman for Children is to promote the rights of the child in the public and private spheres by providing advice and information; advising the government and Parliament on legislation and policy that affects the rights of the child; investigating complaints or conducting investigations on his own initiative, and monitoring how complaints by children or their representatives are dealt with by the relevant bodies.
The Commissioner promotes awareness and understanding of the views and interests of children, conducts research and inquiries, and can investigate individual cases.
The office has statutory powers to investigate individual complaints; it also monitors legislation and policy, and engages in human rights education.
[54] Dr. Lindboe came to international attention when she called for circumcision to be banned until the age of 15,[55] and for Jews and Muslims to replace it with a symbolic ceremony.
[56] Dr. Lindboe succeeded Reidar Hjermann (2004–2012), Trond Waage (1996–2004), Trond-Viggo Torgersen (1989–1995) and Målfrid Grude Flekkøy (1981–1989).
[63] He was followed by Anna Kuznetsova in 2016, whose controversial views led the founding editor of the business newspaper Vedomosti[64] to interpret her appointment as a sign that President Vladimir Putin was becoming more ideological.
[66] In 2023, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and various investigations surrounding alleged child abductions during the war, Lvova-Belova and Putin were issued arrest warrants by the ICC.
[68] The Protector of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia (Ombudsman), an independent state authority with a broad mandate to protect human rights and freedoms, was created by law in 2005 and given constitutional status in 2006.
Sweden was thereby committed under international law to implement the Convention, and around the same time the Government examined the issue of appointing an Ombudsman for Children.
Ukraine was the first country to install a child as children's ombudsman when Ivan Cherevko and Julia Kruk were jointly appointed as the first ombudsmen in late 2005.