BackAlmost a year has passed since the Government submitted a proposal to amend the Ombudsman Act to the Parliament. It has now been sealed with the President's signature. The law will enter into force on 1 July 2025. Thus, the institution of the Children's Ombudsman will be created on that date. Until the election of its representative, the duties will be carried out by the Deputy Ombudsman, Vít Alexander Schorm. The amendment also extends the ombudsman's mandate to include a so-called "National Human Rights Institution" whose aim is to protect and promote human rights in the Czech Republic.
On the first day of the holiday season, the newly-approved Children's Ombudsman will start work under the roof of the current Ombudsman's headquarters in Brno. His task will be to promote children's rights in individual cases and at a systemic level. Both ombudsmen will work independently.
Deputy Ombudsman Vít Alexander Schorm explains the changes that the establishment of the Children's Ombudsman will bring. "The Czech Republic will finally have a figure who will consider the rights of children in a comprehensive way. He will therefore have to carry out a whole range of activities - investigating children's complaints, researching and communicating children's views to other institutions. He will be assisted by an advisory body composed of children, which will be an important source of information on the concerns and aspirations of the younger generation. A completely new element is the power of the Children's Ombudsman to initiate or intervene in selected legal proceedings where the rights of a child are at stake".
Ombudsman Stanislav Křeček points to another important change brought about by the amendment: "In connection with the amendment that has just been signed, there is often talk of a children's ombudsman. Less attention is paid to the fact that the law gives the ombudsman's office new responsibilities in the form of a so-called human rights institution. Until now, the Czech Republic has not had an independent body dealing with human rights in a comprehensive manner. Although the Government Commissioner for Human Rights and a number of non-profit organisations work on this issue, we have so far lacked an institution that would take care of the protection and promotion of human rights in a completely independent manner".
The establishment of a national human rights institution does not entail the creation of a new office. The term refers to the new role of the Ombudsman in protecting and promoting human rights.
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Source: The Office of the Public Defender of Rights, Czechia
