On April 17 and 18, the Chancellor of Justice hosted the ombudspersons for children from Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. It is a traditional cooperation meeting that provides an opportunity to exchange experiences and good practices with countries with similar historical experiences.
Among other things, the rights of children and young people in sports, the supervision of child protection work, kindergartens, the child's consent, and data protection were discussed in those days.
As part of the meeting, the Ukrainian School was also visited, where the living arrangements of the children who arrived from Ukraine in different countries were discussed. Besides, the guests met with the representatives of the Social Insurance Board and the Police and Border Guard Board and discussed the involvement of children and youngsters with Roger Tibar, a member of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Human Rights, and young people who are drafting children's report for the UN and are participating in the ENOC's project on the role of the ombudspersons for children and child participation.
The meeting of ombudspersons for children of the Baltic countries is an annual tradition that began in 2012 in Tallinn when the Estonian Chancellor of Justice invited the ombudspersons for a meeting for the first time.
In Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the models of the ombudspersons for children are slightly different. In Lithuania, for instance, there is a separate institution of ombudsperson for children, which was established in 2000. While, just like Estonia, Latvia has a general ombudsperson whose competence includes the protection and promotion of children's rights. The Latvian ombuds institution has operated since 2007. Estonia got an ombudsperson for children on March 19, 2011, when the Chancellor of Justice was given the task of protecting and promoting children's rights.
