About ENOC

The European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) is a not-for-profit association of independent children’s rights institutions (ICRIs). Its mandate is to facilitate the promotion and protection of the rights of children, as formulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

ENOC was established at a meeting in Trondheim, Norway in 1997, when an initial group of 10 institutions met, together with UNICEF. UNICEF’s office for Western Europe in Geneva agreed to provide a Secretariat for ENOC for the first 10 years. ENOC holds an annual meeting each year. By 2012 it had grown to include 41 institutions in 32 countries within the Council of Europe, 22 of which EU countries. Membership is limited to institutions in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

ENOC adopted Standards for Independent Children’s Rights Institutions at its annual meeting in Paris.

At a special members’ meeting held in Dublin, Ireland in 2006, it adopted statutes with strict criteria for membership. Since then the Statutes have been revised twice, in 2011 in Warsaw, and in 2012 in Nicosia. It is now registered as an association in France.

The amended ENOC Statutes are also available in French.

ENOC has resolved to establish a permanent independent Secretariat in Strasbourg, where it has been offered office accommodation by the Council of Europe. It is actively seeking funding for the Secretariat.

ENOC wants to establish links and share information and strategies with independent children’s rights institutions – children’s ombudspersons, commissioners for children, or focal points on children’s rights in national human rights institutions or general ombudsman offices. Together with CRIN – The Children’s Rights International Network – it is establishing a virtual global network through this website LINK.

Organisation of ENOC

ENOC has a General Assembly, a Bureau, and a Secretariat.

General Assembly

The General Assembly consists of all full members. While members are in fact the independent institutions for children, they are represented within ENOC by the person who holds the mandate or their delegated representative. Both the General Assembly and the Bureau have decision-making powers within ENOC.

Bureau

The Bureau consists of five persons, the past and current Chairperson and Chairperson-elect and the Secretary and Treasurer of the Network.

The Chairperson-elect, Secretary and Treasurer of ENOC are elected by the General Assembly during its annual general meeting. The Chairperson-elect is elected for a non-renewable one-year term and begins his/her functions at the beginning of the following annual general meeting of the General Assembly. The Secretary and Treasurer are elected for a one-year term and may be re-elected for a maximum of two further consecutive terms (three years in all). They take up their post immediately following election.

2013-2014 Bureau members (New)

Chairperson: Bernard De Vos (General delegate for the rights of the child, Belgium/French Community)

Chairperson elect: Tam Baillie (Scotland's Commissioner for Children & Young People)

Past ENOC Chair: Leda Koursoumba (Commissioner for Children´s Rights , Cyprus)

Secretary: Vincenzo Spadafora (National Authority for children and adolescents, Italy)

Treasurer: Tamara Luksic-Orlandic (Deputy Ombudsman on Children's Rights, Serbia)

Secretariat/Coordination Office: Ms. Polina Atanasova

The Secretariat works in close collaboration with the Bureau to ensure the effective coordination and development of the activities of the network and the strenghtening of its core administration. It coordinates the efforts of ENOC's members to contribute to policy development and to link with the European Union and other European and international institutions working to promote the rights of children.