ENOC group photo
ENOC General Assembly 2019, Belfast

WHAT IS 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 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.

ENOC holds an annual meeting each year.

HISTORY

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 has resolved to establish a permanent independent Secretariat in Strasbourg, where it has been offered office accommodation by the Council of Europe. The ENOC Secretariat is running on a permanent basis since 2008. Its operation is partially secured by EC funding.

It is now registered as an association in France.

By 2020 it had grown to include 43 institutions in 34 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 in 2006, it adopted statutes (available in French) with strict criteria for membership. Since then the Statutes have been revised twice, in 2011 in Warsaw, and in 2012 in Nicosia.

ORGANIZATION OF ENOC


General Assembly

The General Assembly consists of all full members. Associate members can assist but can not vote. While members are in fact the independent institutions for children, they are represented within ENOC by the person who holds the mandate or its delegated representative. Both the General Assembly and the Bureau have decision-making powers within ENOC.

Bureau

The Bureau consists of five persons, the past Chairperson, the current Chairperson, the Chairperson-elect, 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.

Current ENOC Bureau Composition

The current Chairperson:

Ms. Koulla YIASOUMA
Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People

The Chairperson-elect:

M. Bruce ADAMSON
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

The past Chairperson:

Ms. Geneviève AVENARD
Children’s Defender, France

The Secretary:

Dr. Niall MULDOON
Ombudsman for Children, Ireland

The Treasurer:

Ms. Salvör Nordal
The Ombudsman for Children, Iceland

Secretariat

The Secretariat works in close collaboration with the Bureau to ensure the effective coordination and development of the activities of the network and the strengthening of its core administration.

It coordinates the efforts of ENOC’s members to contribute to policy development and to link with the European Union, other European and international institutions or NGOs operating in the children’s rights field.

Please note that the ENOC Secretariat do not handle individual national and/or cross-border complaints. For such matters, you can contact the relevant ENOC member(s). 

Ms. Polina Atanasova – ENOC Coordinator

Ms. Coralie Da Silva – ENOC Assistant Coordinator

ENOC Secretariat

Council of Europe « Agora Building »
Office n° B5 07V
67075 Strasbourg Cedex
Web: www.enoc.eu
Tel: +33 3 90 21 54 88
e-mail: secretariat@ombudsnet.org

ENOC is co-funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC 2014-2020). The content of this website represents only the views of ENOC and is its sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.