ENYA Annual Seminar

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children

ENYA Annual Seminar 29th to 31st of August 2012 Warsaw Poland

1 September 2012

Contents Page

1.0 Introduction 3

2.0 Structure 4

3.0 Attendance 7

4.0 Thematic Working Groups 8

4.1 Children in Care 9

4.2 Juvenile Justice 15

5.0 Evaluation 20

5.1 Introduction 20

5.2 Evaluation from Facilitators 20

5.3 Evaluation from Young People and Facilitators 21

2 September 2012

1.0 Introduction

During 2010, ENOC developed the ENOC Network of Youth Advisors (ENYA) and in doing so enabled almost 200 young people and over 20 moderators to exchange their views and experiences, and contribute through ENOC, their thoughts and comments on policy making at European, national and regional levels.

Through the 4 different thematics of violence, education, health and the internet, young people debated the issues through the e-forum; identified key common issues on each of the topics; agreed representatives from each country to represent them at the Annual ENOC Conference in Strasburg and finally, presented their proposals for action / recommendations to ENOC members.

Thomas Hammarberg, EU Commissioner for Human Rights joined in the debate at the Conference and told us “Time to stop having young people present as decorations in your debates about their rights and needs. Listen to them properly, and act!"

This was followed up by an Annual Seminar held in Belfast in July 2011 and a presentation in Warsaw in September 2011. Following evaluations of these conferences, the E-forum was re established to focus on the areas of Juvenile Justice and Children in Care.

Young people from across Europe contributed to the E-Forum resulting in an Annual Seminar held in Warsaw during August 2012. This report describes the outcomes of this seminar.

3 September 2012

2.0 Structure of Annual Seminar

The Annual Seminar was held on the 29th and 31st of August. The three day conference was structured as follows:

Agenda: DAY 1 Date: WEDNESDAY 29TH AUGUST 2012 Location: OMBUDSMAN OFFICES

DAY AND TIME ACTIVITY 13.30pm Lunch Location: Conference Room 14.30 pm Introduction and icebreakers (Facilitators Guide Session 1) Location: Conference Room  Ice breakers and introductions – Matoula (Greece) 15.30 - 17.00 Group work (Facilitators Guide Session 2)  Juvenile justice (including break for o Location: Library refreshments) o Facilitator- Mat (Northern Ireland) o Summary Presenter – Christina (Cyprus)  Children in institutional care o Location: Cabinet Room o Facilitator- Suzanne (Malta) o Summary Presenter – Jurga (Lithuania)

17.00 -17.30 Return to hotel Meet in lobby at 17.30 17.30-18.00 Bus journey to old town 18.00-19.00 Dinner in old town

4 September 2012

ENOC 19.00 - 20.00European Network ofGuided Ombudspersons walking for Children tour of old town

Agenda: DAY 2 Date: THURSDAY 30TH AUGUST 2012 Location: OMBUDSMAN OFFICES

DAY AND TIME ACTIVITY 8.30 - 9.30 Breakfast Location: Hotel 10.00 -13.00 Continuation of Group Work (Facilitators Guide Session 3) (including break for refreshments) Location: same as previous day Break into the same 2 groups as group the previous day, including Ombudspeople.

13.00 -13.45 Lunch Location: Conference Room Confirm dinner venue for that night 13.45-14.00 Break 14.00 -16.00 Finalising Presentation (Facilitators Guide Session 4) Location: Conference Room (including break for refreshments) Facilitated by Niall (Northern Ireland)

Join the two groups together and each presents their slides.

16.00-17.00 Final Presentation (Facilitators Guide Session 5) Location: Conference Room Facilitated by Niall (Northern Ireland) Presentation to the Commissioner and questions and answers

17.00-18.00 Dinner Location: To be decided over lunch 18.00-21.00 Bus tour of Warsaw

5 September 2012

ENOC Agenda:European NetworkDAY of Ombudspersons3 for Children Date: FRIDAY 31ST AUGUST 2012 Location: OMBUDSMAN OFFICES

DAY AND TIME ACTIVITY 8.00-9.30 Breakfast Location: Hotel Be at lobby at 9.30 for bus 9.30-10.00 Bus to City Centre 10.00-13.00 Januscz Korczak / children’s rights awareness session Location: City Centre (including break for refreshments) 13.00-14.00 Lunch 14.00-14.30 Conference evaluation and close Location: Conference Room Facilitated by Agnieszka (Poland)  Evaluation of conference  Close of conference by Polish Ombudsperson

3.0 Attendance

6 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children The conference was attended by the delegates shown below broken down by country.

Name Country Name N. Ireland Mat Crozier Niall Moore Thomas Crossley Patricia Lewsley-Mooney Nicole Morgan Cyprus Christina hadjisavva Leda Koursoumba Anastasia Tsolaki Alexandros Karamallis Finland Jouko Laaksonen Markus Nieminen Marjo-Reetta Kaul Poland Agnieszka Koziol Michal Koba Filip Lazarski Marek Michalak Republika Srpska Stefan Marinkovic Zlatoljub Misic Blazenka Lukic Greece Dimitra Maria Tsakogia Katerina Vasileiou Matoula Papadimitriou Belgium Bernard De Vos Stephan Durviaux Malta Suzanne Gili Michelle Summat Sarah Said Lithuania Jurga Kinderiene Skaiste Dilginaite Rugile Matuleviciute Edita Ziobiene

7 September 2012

ENOC European Network of OmbudspersonsAudrone for Bedorf Children ENOC Secretariat Polina Atanasova

4.0 Thematic Working Groups:

The thematic working groups met over two days on the 29th and 31st of July. The first day was dedicated to listening to the summaries presented from the E-Forum discussions and to prepare ideas in relation to what topics could be presented to the Chair of the working Group on ENYA, Patricia Lewsley-Mooney.

The second day of the annual seminar was dedicated to each thematic working group preparing a presentation and then joining the groups together to present each presentation and common themes.

The following pages include a brief summary of the discussions of each thematic working group.

4.1 Children in Care

During the ENYA Seminar that took place on the 28-31 of August, 2012 in Warsaw one of the two issues discussed was Children in Care, this document is a summary of the discussions held over the two days and the final presentation to the Ombudspeople who were members of the Bureau.

8 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children Group Composition Co-ordinators: Suzanne Gili (Chair) (Malta) Jurga Kinderiene (Topic Summariser) (Lithuania) Matoula Papadimitriou (Greece) Zlatoljub Misic (Republika Srpska) Niall Moore (Northern Ireland)

Young People: Blazenka Lukic (Republika Srpska) Katerina Vasileiou (Greece) Michelle Sammut (Malta) Sarah Said (Malta) Marjo-Reetta Kaul (Finland) Nicole Morgan (N. Ireland) Skaiste Dilginaite (Lithuania) Rugile Matuleviciute (Lithuania)

Summary of Discussions The discussions that took part in the group were made up of examining the conversations young people had in the E-forum and then a group discussion on young people’s recommendations and experiences of the care system. These discussions can be grouped into the following categories.

a) Trust and Social Environment The forum discussion on this topic focussed on the characteristics of social workers. The young people discussed at length the need for social workers to be appropriately trained have the ability to organise a range of initiatives to help the children and young people in their care and also to be approachable and open minded. The group discussed these findings at length alongside the difficulties associated with trusting adults who you find you cannot relate to. The group had mixed experiences of social workers they had worked with and

9 September 2012

ENOC Europeanwhilst some Network highlighted of Ombudspersons very for good Children practice by some social workers, others highlighted the need for stability with one young person stating that social workers ‘…change all the time’. The group agreed on the following recommendations under this topic:

Recommendations: 1. Thorough training needs to be provided for social workers on how to listen and to work with children.

2. Government systems should reward social workers for continuing with a set of clients as opposed to only providing financial gain if they move to more managerial positions.

b) Personal, Social Life and Leisure Closely linked to the topic above was around the amount of personal social and leisure time that young people had who lived in care. The E-forum provided a lot of information in relation to this topic, with participants comparing activities that young people in care take part in against those that young people living outside of the care system participate in. The experiences articulated on the forum varied as shown by these two quotes: ‘… As far as my experience goes, on the issue of leisure time the institution is like family!’ ‘…From my point of view leisure time in institutions is like being in a school without classes’. The group who met in Poland discussed the opportunities presented to children living in care at length and came up with the following recommendations:

Recommendations 1. Each child has an individual plan that is decided by children together with the social worker and the Manager(administrator) of their institution that includes; - Structured time. - Freedom to choose hobbies and things to do.

2. There needs to be smaller numbers of children living together, to allow for more time to be spent with each child and privacy.

10 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children c) General Access to Family, Friends and Information Alongside the previous topics, access to information, family friends and pets was an issue that generated a lot of discussion. The group present in Warsaw divided this complex topic into 3 distinct areas, resulting in a recommendation for change in each area.

FAMILY In terms of maintaining relationships with family members and parents participants on the E- Forum highlighted that this decision must be decided on according to a number of factors:

 Are parents safe to be around the child (as decided by a competent authority)  That visits are supervised from the beginning  That parents have demonstrated that they have overcome problems which has led to the child being taken into care The discussions held in Warsaw reflected a more measured approach resulting striking a balance between children’s best interests and parental rights.

Recommendation 1. The decision to see family should be based on a balance between what the child wants and what social workers see as in the child’s best interests.

FRIENDS On the E-Forum access to friends was seen as more permitable for older children who lived in care. Some young people who took part in the forum cited examples of going on walks and parties and letting their friends come to visit. This experience was echoed by the participants who took part in the discussion in Poland and resulted in a recommendation that there should be a duty on social workers to ensure a child’s right to continue friendships, unless it is not in the child’s best interests.

11 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children Recommendation 2. There should be a legal requirement that the social worker/foster carer must ensure the child’s right to continue friendships.

INFORMATION In Warsaw access to information such as the internet, mobile phones and support services varied across countries. There was however a general consensus that information should be accessible to children and young people who live in care to allow them to connect with their social environment, particularly if they are isolated, or where they live is inaccessible. Amongst services discussed where health and education services but also more practical skills such as driving lessons.

Recommendation 3. Children in care should have access to information unless it could harm them.

d) The Care System and Crime Closely linked to the discussions of the juvenile justice group, there were a number of questions on the E-Forum which attempted to explore the link between children in care and crime. It was felt by the participants in the E-Forum and those in Warsaw that children who live in care are not necessarily more likely to break the law than those who live outside. As noted by a participant in the E-forum children in care maybe more susceptible to bad external influences due to the instability in their lives. In Warsaw a number of initiatives to combat this susceptibility included, shared experiences of young people who got involved in crime through interactive lessons, using alternatives as opposed to harsh punishments and to try and develop better positive bonds with social workers and those around you.

Recommendations 1. Reduce the punishments (use the alternatives). 2. Form a strong personality and sense of belonging. 3. Inform about the consequences.

12 September 2012

ENOC European Network- ofInteractive Ombudspersons lessons. for Children - Shared experiences.

e) Aftercare Moving on having lived in care was identified as a worrying time for young people, both in the E-Forum and in Warsaw. In general both groups felt that it was important that children

are prepared, both practically and emotionally to transition out of the care system and go on to lead independent lives. There was a lot of debate in the group of when and how this could happen; with practices from across various countries being shared in general the following recommendations were made:

Recommendations 1. Planning for leaving care should be done as far in advance as possible. The training and preparation for this should include: - Semi-independent living. To practice what it would be like to live on your own and identify any problems you have. - Developing through education tools to help young people learn how to make good independent decision with regards a range of issues including finance. 2. Alongside this plan education should be provided to support each child in any areas they are finding difficult. 3. There should be the opportunity to do paid work whilst still living in an institution in order to earn money and learn how to manage it.

f) General Recommendations Across all of these categories several key themes began to emerge from the discussions.

 Child’s voice to be heard- Throughout all of the categories the need to hear from children directly about their experiences and need was seen as crucial.  Social workers were seen as vital to the experiences of young people in care. However there is a need to provide more training to ensure social workers stay

13 September 2012

ENOC European Networkmotivated of Ombudspersons to continue for Children providing stability to children and young people they work with.  Throughout the discussions held in Warsaw, participants continually made reference to including children and young people with children who didn’t live in care. This was seen as a positive influence and one which should be encouraged in services such as education. This also includes sharing and learning from experiences of children living in care, so young people don’t feel alone.  The need for plans for each child which were individual and tailored to each person’s need was seen as important in all aspects of living in care.  The need for a support structure which reflects practical skills with emotional and physical wellbeing is essential.

14 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children 4.2 Juvenile Justice

During the ENYA Seminar that took place on the 28-31 of August, 2012 in Warsaw one of the two issues discussed was Juvenile Justice, this document is a summary of the discussions held over the two days and the final presentation to the Ombudspeople who were members of the Bureau.

Group Composition

Co-ordinators: Mat Crozier (Chair) (Northern Ireland) Christina Hadjisavva (Topic Summariser) (Cyprus) Jouko Laaksonen (Finland) Agnieszka Koziol (Poland)

Young people: Anastasia Tsolaki (Cyprus) Alexandros Karamallis (Cyprus) Stefan Marinkovic (Republika Srpska) Dimitra Maria Tsakogia (Greece) Markus Nieminen (Finland) Thomas Crossley (N. Ireland) Michał Koba (Poland) Filip Lazarski (Poland)

Summary of Discussions Although many themes were brought up during the discussion the participants were asked to choose up to five to bring to the attention of the Ombudspeople. Based on what young people consider being the most prominent causes of criminal behaviour in youth, the high value of early

15 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children prevention and intervention measures and respecting child´s rights, the participants believe that the following five issues should be given serious consideration:

a) Play and Leisure One of the causes of delinquent behaviour identified by young people is having a lot of unsupervised free time with nothing to do. Being bored and unsupervised puts youth in high risk of getting involved in antisocial activities which later can escalate to unlawful ones. The solution proposed is, establish and make easily accessible to youth a range of community based support measures such as development centres, recreational activities and facilities so that young people, and especially young people at risk, spend their time creatively and constructively.

b) Training of Professionals It was a common observation amongst all the participants that many professionals that work with children are not specially trained to work with this specific age group. Participants concluded that especially within the justice system the professionals are neither knowledgeable on youth issues nor trained to work with young people. As a result many times the punishments given to young offenders are harmful to their wellbeing and are based only on the gravity of the crime without taking into consideration the personal circumstances of the young offender. The participants believe that harsh punishments that fail to take into consideration the personal circumstances of the youth can brutalize them and lessen their chances of reformation. What young people need is to receive continuous and constructive help and support to deal with the causes that lead them to delinquency in the first place.

The suggestion of the participants is that ALL professionals involved within the justice system are specialized on youth issues, youth psychology and children’s rights on an ongoing basis.

16 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children c) School as the best place for early prevention and intervention School was identified as one of the most important places for early prevention and intervention since it is the second most influential place for children after their family. Forms of punishment used in schools like exclusion and suspension fail to address the underline causes of antisocial behaviour, help students change their behaviour or support them in dealing with personal, social or familial difficulties. On the contrary they deprive youth from the opportunity to complete their education, receive help and stay away from dangerous situations.

Participants identified the following good practices which can make schools effective places of early intervention: a. All schools must have a clear policy on how to react to antisocial behaviour so that everyone knows what to do. Early and appropriate reaction to antisocial behaviour is an essential factor to preventing the problem from escalating. At least one member of the school personnel needs to be specifically trained on how to help students who behave antisocially. b. Each school must establish good cooperation with the parents on an on-going basis in order to support them in setting boundaries and use appropriate methods to discipline their children. Special attention needs to be given to disadvantaged families. If needed, the parents can be referred to other appropriate professionals who should be available to parents in good time, without charge and on an ongoing basis. c. If the antisocial behaviour is persistent then good cooperation and coordination amongst different services i.e. social services, school, health services is essential. d. Since peer pressure was identified as an important factor that contributes to delinquent behaviour, participants proposed that more emphasis on character development, building interests and talents and respecting individuality should be placed within schools. Too much emphasis on academic achievement puts a lot of students at risk of experiencing failure, rejection and disappointment

17 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children and therefore makes them more vulnerable to peer pressure. Finally the rewarding system in the schools must be based on improvement and not only on high achievement. e. Combating school failure by offering additional support to children and young people with special educational needs or with limited support or access to resources.

d) Combating discrimination and marginalization of certain groups Discrimination and marginalization of certain groups makes them more vulnerable to antisocial behaviour which can end up to criminal behaviour. Especially in situations where there is ethnic conflict there are ongoing impacts, such as loss of a loved one, threads/harassment, social and economic disadvantage, segregation and vulnerable mental health of children, which can lead to delinquency. Therefore there should be an emphasis on helping disadvantaged groups and promoting respect for diversity and positive intergroup interaction.

e) Criminal record, custody and age of criminal responsibility: All participants agreed that having a criminal record harms the youth and limits their chances of being successfully reintegrated into the society as reformed citizens since it limits their chances of getting a job and predisposes other people negatively against them. Participants believe that no one under 18 should have a permanent criminal record (maybe after the person turns 18 the criminal record could be wiped).

Closely related is the issue of keeping youth in custody. Custody was identified as both harmful and ineffective to addressing the issue of delinquent behaviour. It exposes youth to more violence and criminal behaviour and fails to help them reform because it does not address the underlying causes of criminal behaviour. As an alternative to custody, participants particularly liked the idea of Youth Conferences where young people consent to meet the victim(s) of their offense in order to discuss what happened, the consequences of their actions and come up with a plan to meet the needs of the victim and prevent

18 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children further criminal activity. Other ideas are community programs which require that young people in conflict with the law spend time on activities designed to help them avoid crime in the future or make some act of reparation to the victim, ongoing counselling and special camps where youth can get counselling, do community service and receive vocational training.

Having a criminal record and being held in custody are both defined by the age of criminal responsibility. Therefore, the participants´ suggestion is that all countries rise the age of criminal responsibility as high as possible, 18 being the best choice.

19 September 2012

ENOC 5.0 EuropeanEvaluation Network of Ombudspersons for Children

5.1 Introduction

There were two evaluations which took place during the Annual Seminar. The first was held on the 30th of August with all co-ordinators and was chaired by Patricia Lewsley-Mooney.

The second evaluation took place after the conclusion of the Annual Seminar on the 31st of August, which included all young people and facilitators.

5.2 Findings of Evaluation with facilitators (30/8/12)

In discussions with the facilitators Patricia Lewsley-Mooney outlined that she wanted to hear directly from them, what they felt about the conference and the ENYA process. Whilst all facilitators acknowledged how enjoyable they and the young people have found the conference there were a number of issues.

Composition of the Group The number of children contributing to the forum who did not have direct experience of the issues being discussed was a concern for some facilitators. Whilst all were in agreement that the idea of having young people who have direct experience of the issues would be ideal, not everyone was able to facilitate this. While some countries were able to bring young people from a care and justice background it was too difficult for others. It was suggested that if this wasn’t possible for some organisations, then it would be important that the young people who do attend the conference need to be aware of the issues specific to their country.

E-forum The group raised this issue that there was a lack of co-ordination present on the e-forum. In the past a rota system has been developed for moderation purposes and this would have been helpful as facilitators were unsure if they could challenge young people directly over improper language etc.

20 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children 5.3 Findings from Young People and Facilitators (31/8/12)

The session was chaired by a member of the Polish Ombudsman’s staff. The participants were asked to each state one thing they enjoyed about the conference and one thing that they think could have been improved these have been summarised under the headings below.

Representation Six young people present suggested that the experience of meeting different people from different cultures was the best thing about the ENYA seminar and the E-Forum. However five young people stated that they felt there should be more participation (at the conference and the E-forum) from other countries to enable them to get a broader perspective on the experiences from across Europe and inform the work of ENOC.

Teamwork Closely linked to the topic above was teamwork. A number of young people stated that they enjoyed the team work element of the seminar with one saying ‘We just met 3 days ago, yet we are working as a team that has known each other for years’.

Whilst most young people enjoyed the positive side of team working, a suggestion was made, that a lot of time was spent in small teams, if the teams had been changed it could have provided a more interesting dynamic.

21 September 2012

ENOC European Network of Ombudspersons for Children Logistics of the conference One young person commented on the good atmosphere of the conference and the positive results the ENYA participants achieved. A number of young people and facilitators spoke positively about the cultural activities on offer during the conference and how interesting they were.

The topic of food divided the group with 1 young person stating that it was a positive part of the conference and 3 young people a negative. Overall young people wanted more time to spend at the conference.

22 September 2012