PART III PART II PART I CANCELLOR OF JUSTICE AS OMBUDSMAN FOR CHILDREN IV. PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN 1. Studies and analyses Besides supervisory functions, the tasks of the Ombudsman for Children include raising awareness of and promoting the rights of children. In order to better plan his awareness-raising work the ombudsman considers it necessary to carry out surveys and analyses to obtain an overview of the awareness of society about the issues relating to the rights of the child. Based on information from Statistics Estonia, the Ombudsman for Children prepared an overview of child poverty in Estonia37. In March 2012, the Chancellor of Justice Indrek Teder as the Ombudsman for Children organised a roundtable “Child poverty - looking for solutions!” in order to introduce the overview and seek solutions to problems of child poverty. Invited to the roundtable were members of the Riigikogu social affairs committee, Minister of Social Affairs, Minister of Regional Affairs, Minister of Education and Research, representatives of the Association of Estonian Cities, the Association of Municipalities of Estonia, universities and NGOs. By organising the roundtable the Ombudsman for Children wished to draw attention to problems of child poverty and offer an opportunity to seek solutions to the problems in a joint discussion of specialists and decision makers. The topics explored by the roundtable and the results of the overview were also widely covered by the media. On the initiative of the Ombudsman for Children and the Ministry of Social Affairs, and in cooperation with the Praxis Centre for Policy Studies, a monitoring survey of the rights of the child and parenting was carried out for the first time in 201238. The aim of the monitoring was to find out society’s awareness of the issues relating to the rights of the child and analyse attitudes and problems concerning issues of raising children and supporting parenting, viewed from the angle of children as well as adults. For this, information was collected from both the adult population and children. The results showed that both among adults and children it is necessary to enhance awareness of the substance of the rights of the child. Most people have heard about the rights of the child but have often not understood their substance. The results of the monitoring survey also showed that more attention than before should be given to informing the Russian-speaking population, as this group of society knew less about the rights of the child than Estonianspeaking population. Based on the monitoring, it may be claimed that the attitudes prevalent in society tend to support involvement of children in decision-making concerning them, and taking into account the opinion of children. However, these attitudes are not always expressed in actions: while children usually have a say in family matters, their opportunities in having a say and expressing their opinion at school and more widely on the level of community and society are rather limited in practice. The need for a wider involvement of children and better explanation of decisions concerning children is also shown by the fact a considerable number of children replied that teachers had treated them unfairly and bullied them at school. One in ten children replied that they had witnessed violence at home. Such children need assistance and support even when they themselves have not been direct victims of violence because, indirectly, they are victims too. Therefore, it is particularly important that everyone 24 37 Available online in Estonian: http://lasteombudsman.ee/sites/default/files/ylevaade_vaesus_ja_sellega_seotud_ probleemid_lastega_peredes.pdf. 38 Summary of the monitoring survey on the rights of the child and parenting is available online in English: http:// oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/IMCE/summary_of_the_monitoring_of_the_rights_of_the_child_and_ parenting.pdf.