ANNUAL REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA in the form of abuse and neglect, the responsibility and obligation of all those who work with children, as well as every citizen, to report violence against children, must not be neglected. Every child has the right to respect for his or her human dignity and physical integrity, and to equal protection of the law. By ratifying international standards for the protection of children's rights, Bosnia and Herzegovina has undertaken to protect children from all forms of psychological or physical violence, as well as sexual abuse. Ombudspersons consider it necessary to point out the exceptional importance of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe Convention on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (also known as the Lanzarote Convention) 340 and Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). Bosnia and Herzegovina is also a signatory to two optional protocols to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, namely: the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and the 2000 Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography 341. United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child 342 in its Concluding Observations states the following „that the types and lengths of criminal sanctions for sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children in domestic criminal law are not proportionate to the consequences of these acts on victims and therefore require the legislature to provide adequate and proportionate penalties for perpetrators of criminal offences of sexual exploitation and abuse of children“. Following the initiative of a couple of NGOs 343 for the amendments to the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ombudspersons registered a case (these NGOs asked for harmonization of the Criminal Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with international documents governing the sexual violence against women and children and protection of children from all forms of phychological or physical violence, as well as sexual abuse) 344. The said legislative proposal was drafted and in form of a bill in July 2017 put in parliamentary procedure. On 19 October 2017 the Government of FBiH provided its opinion on this Bill to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH claiming that it offered a quality legal solutions and suggested it to undergo the regular parliamentary procedure as a legal draft. However, irrespective of the obligations assumed by the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina by ratification of international documents for the protection of human rights and the rights of the child, the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to harmonize Treatment of Children and Juveniles in Criminal Proceedings Brčko distriktu Bosne i Hercegovine Official Gazette of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no. 44/2011. 340 Article 1 reads: The purposes of this Convention are to: .prevent and combat sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children; b.protect the rights of child victims of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse; c. promote national and international co-operation against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children. 341 Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no. 5/2002 - International Treaties. 342 While considering the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CRC/C/BIH/5-6) on its 2404th and 2405th sessions held on 10 and 11 September 2019 343 Initiative of the NGO "Zemlja djece u BiH", NGO "Žene ženama" and Association of Prosecutors of FBiH within the campaign under the title "Šutnja nije zlato / Silence is not golden"- stop sexual violence against women 344 Ž-BR-01-176/18 83