Child and youth advocacy
Child and youth advocacy offices are independent institutions of the Austrian federal states with the legal mandate to observe the implementation of children's rights and to make them known to the public. Each federal state has its own child and youth advocate. The basis of the KIJAs is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child .
history
On November 20, 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. So far, the Convention on the Rights of the Child has already been signed and ratified by 192 countries around the world. As a result, these states have undertaken to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child in their national legislation and to ensure compliance with it. It formally came into force in Austria on September 5, 1992. For Austria this means that the laws passed by the National Council and the state parliaments must comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In addition, the signing of the agreement laid the foundation stone for the establishment of a child and youth advocate in every federal state of Austria.
On January 20, 2011, the Austrian National Council decided to include a part of children's rights in the federal constitution in a weakened form - namely only if the relevant facts are not regulated otherwise by law. So z. B. the right to equal treatment of disabled children is enforceable before the constitutional court.
Legal basis
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention on the Rights of the Child consists of 54 articles, in which all children and young people under the age of 18 are guaranteed basic political, social, economic, cultural and civil rights, for example the right to health, the right to education, the right to protection from violence or the right to Contact with both parents.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is based on four basic principles:
- Non-discrimination : All children have the same rights. No child may be disadvantaged - regardless of the reasons (skin color, origin, nationality, language, gender, religion, disability, social origin, etc.).
- Priority of the best interests of the child : The best interests of the child must be a primary criterion in decisions that affect children.
- Development: All children have a right to life, a secure livelihood and the best possible development opportunities.
- Participation: Children must be assured the right to freely express their opinions on decisions that affect them. This should be taken into account appropriately according to age and maturity.
Child and Youth Welfare Act
The Federal Child and Youth Welfare Act 2013 (B-KJHG 2013) is another basis of the Austrian child and youth advocacy. In this basic law, the framework conditions of the child and youth advocacy, in particular their freedom of instruction, are determined. The implementing laws of the federal states regulate the specific tasks and powers of the KIJAs. The freedom to issue instructions guarantees that the KIJAs are not bound by instructions from administrative bodies or politicians responsible for their ministries in their activities. This ensures that they can stand up for children and young people independently and in part. However, you are obliged to regularly submit an activity report to the respective state government and / or to the respective state parliament.
tasks
The KIJAs are equipped with different resources, powers and tasks in each federal state, but they have the following central tasks in common:
Mediation in conflicts - advice
They mediate in conflicts and offer children and young people quick and unbureaucratic advice and support. The offer can be used confidentially, free of charge and, if requested, anonymously by children, adolescents and adults, provided that the concerns of children and adolescents are the focus.
Representation of interests
The second important pillar of the KIJAs is the representation of interests . The implementation of children's rights across Austria is to be promoted through legal assessments and proposals, information events, workshops, high-profile information campaigns, projects and regular dialogue with politicians and other decision-makers.
Public information - monitoring
It is the task of the KIJAs to represent the rights, interests, needs and concerns of children, adolescents and young adults in public, to provide information about children's rights and to point out violations of children's rights (= monitoring).
team
At the head of all nine child and youth advocates is the respective child and youth advocate. The teams vary in size and are usually composed of experts from the fields of social work, psychology, law and PR. This diversity enables an interdisciplinary treatment of the clients' concerns and the best possible advice.
Networks
Stank
The permanent conference of the child and youth advocates in Austria (Stänko) is held twice a year and consists of the child and youth advocates of the nine independent KIJAs. These meet in order to develop common strategies, to exchange ideas and to ensure a strong and uniform public appearance.
The Stänko has the following tasks and goals:
- Elaboration of suggestions, suggestions and statements, especially on topics of national importance
- Exchange of information and experience
- Further training of employees of the child and youth advocacy
- Cooperation in science and research
- Cooperation with organizations that take care of the concerns of children and young people
- International cooperation
National Coalition - Children's Rights Network
The Network Children's Rights Austria - National Coalition (NC) is an independent network of children's rights organizations such as B. the child and youth advocacy, the asylum coordination, the paediatricians and the federal youth council and now consists of 44 members. The NC was founded in December 1997 and campaigns for the rights of all children and young people and against their discrimination. The aim is to ensure that children's rights are implemented in Austria. The counterpart in Germany is the National Coalition Germany .
ENOC
The European network of ombudspersons for children and young people (ENOC) was founded in 1997 and consists of 29 members. The child and youth advocacy offices in Austria are also members of the ENOC, but are not entitled to vote because the legal basis for this is insufficient.
The goals of ENOC:
- To encourage states to enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in the constitution as best as possible;
- Lobbying for children's rights;
- Disseminate information, develop strategies and initiate awareness processes;
- to promote the establishment of independent institutions for children and young people.
Situation in Germany
In Germany, the interests of children and young people are not legally represented through a central body or a professional chamber. Efforts in the legislative process to centralize a German child and youth advocate were later abandoned.
The representative of the interests of children and young people in judicial proceedings is summarized under the functional term of procedural counsel. The method counsel replaced in 2009 (entry into force of since September 1 FamFG ) in family court proceedings the previous guardian ad litem (concept of function). In Germany, he has the task of representing the interests of minors in filing legal proceedings and can submit motions, appeal and take part in the hearings. The legal counsel is regularly referred to as a “child and youth advocate” or “child's advocate”.
The content and mandate of the procedural assistance are regulated in Sections 158, 167, 174 and 191 FamFG. The procedural counsel is a formal participant in the proceedings and can therefore appeal against decisions of the family court, which is decided by the higher regional court. He has to determine the interests of the child and to assert it in the judicial process. He has to inform the child in a suitable manner about the subject matter, process and possible outcome of the proceedings. If the circumstances of the individual case make it necessary, the court can assign the procedural counsel the additional task of holding talks with the child's parents and other caregivers and helping to reach an amicable settlement on the subject of the proceedings. The court has to specify the type and scope of the assignment and justify the assignment. The legal counsel may appeal in the child's interest. He is not the child's legal representative.
As a rule, the procedural counselor will have one or more discussions with the child and, insofar as this is necessary and instructed, also speak to parents or other caregivers. The procedural assistant should take part in the child hearing. As a rule, the procedural adviser will submit a written report by the hearing at the latest, but this is not always possible, particularly in the course of the newly introduced "accelerated procedure". As an exception, an oral statement at the hearing is sufficient.
The professional qualification for working as a child and youth lawyer is not standardized in Germany. The selection of the representative is incumbent on the respective court itself. With the entry into force of the FamFG and the consolidation of the representation of interests of children and adolescents, minimum criteria for the qualification of the representatives were set. According to this, basic (social) pedagogical qualifications and legal training should be available. In practice, they are regularly social pedagogues and lawyers with the opposite additional study and a corresponding further qualification and certificates.
literature
- Ludwig Salgo : The child's lawyer. Frankfurt am Main 1996. ISBN 3-518-28820-2 .
- Ludwig Salgo, Gisela Zenz , Jörg M. Fegert, Axel Bauer, Corina Weber, Maud Zitelmann: procedural assistance. A guide for the practice. 2nd Edition. Bundesanzeigerverlag, Cologne 2010, ISBN 3-89817-801-3 .
- Rainer Balloff, Nicola Koritz: Handout for curator ad litem . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-17-018466-0 .
- Werner Bienwald: procedural guardianship law. Gieseking, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-76940-906-X .
- Uwe Harm: Guardian of litigation in care and accommodation matters. 2nd Edition. Bundesanzeiger, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89817-437-9 .
- Walter Röchling (Hrsg.): Handbook lawyer of the child. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2001, ISBN 3-78907-384-9 .
- Ludwig Salgo (ed.): Procedural care business for children and young people. Bundesanzeiger, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-89817-040-3 .
- Walter Zimmermann: Recent case law on the remuneration of supervisors, guardians ad litem, legal advisers and administrators. FamRZ 2011, 1776.