ACCUEIL » L’INSTITUTION » ENGLISH PRESENTATION
The institution of the Défenseure des Enfants/Ombudsperson for Children was created by a law of March 2000.
The role of the Ombudsperson for Children is to defend and promote child rights as defined by law or by an international treaty like the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (or ICRC), ratified by France in 1990.
The Ombudsperson for Children is appointed by decree by the President of the Republic, for a non-renewable term of 6 years. Since 29 June 2006, Dominique Versini has held this position.
The Ombudsperson for Children has three priority missions:
To assist her in these activities, the Ombudsperson for Children has the support of:
THE BIG NATIONAL CONSULTATION "Giving young people a say"
AIM
To give young people aged less than 18 years old a say: so that their voice can be heard on the major questions which concern them and so that their proposals can enrich the public debate on the fundamental rights of children.
OBJECTIVES
Report of the defenseure des enfants - Children’s ombudswoman - to the United Nations Committee on the rights of the child on the application of the international convention on the rights of the child
Summary of the main observations and recommendations
I. Is the very notion of the rights of the child really established in France ?
Whilst significant progress has been made towards raising awareness and ensuring the respect of the International Convention on the rights of the child and the notion of the rights of the child since the creation of the Défenseure des Enfants - Children’s ombudswoman (following the introduction of the law dated 6 March 2000), it may also be said that the Convention, together with the commitments that it represents, is still not particularly well known in France. A survey commissioned by UNICEF in 2007 found that 25% of young people aged between 15 and 18 and 34% of adults aged over 18 have ever heard of the Convention, despite the fact that courses on human and children’s rights have become part of the general school curriculum for all pupils aged 12-13.
Over the course of the first two years of her mandate, the children’s ombudswoman has developed new educational tools to be made available to school institutions and has also arranged for the deployment of 32 Young Ambassadors, in the framework of the voluntary civil service scheme, in 12 «départements», who have been given the task of meeting young children with a view to raising their awareness of the rights of the child.
She considers that France should increase its efforts to ensure that there is greater knowledge of the Convention amongst children themselves, as well as amongst the professionals who are responsible for children. She therefore demands that training on the rights of children be made mandatory for all professionals whose occupation brings them into contact with children and that the resources of the bodies responsible for the promotion of the rights of the child be increased.
The children’s ombudswoman welcomes the «Court of Cassation’s» (judicial High Court) change of mind regarding the applicability of Articles 3-1 and 12-2 of the International Convention on the rights of the child, in other words their right to be heard in all procedures that affect them, as well as the primacy of their higher interest in all decisions that affect them. In this way, the two highest judicial organisations, namely the Court of Cassation and the State Council (administrative High Court) henceforward consider these two articles to be directly applicable. However, some areas of divergence still exist between the Court of Cassation and the State Council regarding the direct applicability of certain provisions and there is a pressing need to end these differences of opinion.
The children’s ombudswoman believes that the continuing efforts being made to ensure that the legislation conforms to the Convention must be increased in order to improve the way in which the rights of the child are taken into consideration in the French legal system. To this end, the children’s ombudswoman recommends that a parliamentary delegation on the rights of the child should be created in each parliamentary assembly and that an implementation committee should be set up and entrusted with the task of ensuring that the law conforms to the Convention. She also calls for the adoption of a legal provision that makes the opinion of the children’s ombudswoman binding on all proposals for laws regarding minors under the age of 18 or their legal guardians.
Press release
On 4 February 2009, the «Défenseure des enfants» (Children’s Ombudswoman) has presented her evaluation report on the application of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva - Paris, 2 February 2009
The Défenseure des enfants, Dominique Versini, has been heard on 4 February 2009 by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. During the hearing she has spoken about her report on the current state of the fundamental rights of children living in France, following the numerous recommendations (57) made by the Committee in 2004.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child is composed of 18 independent experts who are elected by the UN Members States and has its headquarters in Geneva.
Under the terms of the current United Nations procedure, several months before the hearing granted to the representatives of the French government (which has already submitted its 3rd report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child), the Committee receives and examines the evaluations undertaken on the same issues by the independent Institutions who are responsible for defending the rights of the child, as well as the associations. The official debate between the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the French government will take place next May in Geneva.
The report written by the children’s Ombudswoman takes into account the thousands of complaints she has received from parents, children or adolescents themselves or associations regarding individual or collective situations in which the rights of the child are not respected. The report also contains details of enquiries and the elaboration of proposals for reforms that she has been engaged in over the course of the last few years.
Dominique Versini notes that substantial legislative work has been carried out over recent years in order to ensure that French law conforms with the commitments entered into by France when it ratified the Convention in 1990 and also that it reflects the 57 recommendations issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, so that the vast majority of children who live in our country enjoy reasonably good living conditions, a protected state of health, guaranteed access to education and fundamental rights that are generally respected.
However, certain categories of children continue to live in extremely fragile situations and the measures taken to ensure greater respect for their rights are still insufficient and, in some cases, are not at all in keeping with their interests [...]