About the Ombuds Office

About the Ombuds Office

Impact analysis on the Ombuds Office Children’s Rights Switzerland underlines comprehensive benefit for children, families and wider society

12 December 2024

Launched in 2021, the Ombuds Office Children’s Rights Switzerland supports children and adolescents by providing low-threshold, child-friendly legal advice and intermediary services in complex proceedings. In doing so, it helps young people protect and uphold their rights. For the first time, a new impact analysis by Interface Politikstudien Forschung Beratung, commissioned by the Ombuds Office, illustrates the significant positive effect this work has on children, those in their immediate circle and society as a whole.

About the Ombuds Office

«Family is not always a private matter»

18 December 2023
Children’s rights are being violated? Even in a democratic, progressive country governed by the rule of law like Switzerland? We truly wish that it wasn’t the case. Yet attempts to consistently implement children’s rights are often frustrated by misguided notions of protection on the part of the individuals and authorities responsible for child welfare. Our Managing Director Irène Inderbitzin spoke to ElternMagazin Fritz+Fränzi, the Swiss magazine for parents, about the concerns that children continue to report to us at the national Ombuds Office for Children’s Rights. Among other things, Irène sheds light on how we offer advice and consultation, the tasks that the Ombuds Office performs and the root causes of these types of violations of children’s rights.
About the Ombuds Office

For us, every day is Children's Rights Day

24 November 2022

Dilan has known for a long time that he wants to live with his father. Since his parents separated, he has lived with his mother and her boyfriend. There are constant arguments at home, the new partner has rejected Dilan and has acted violently. Often, lots of alcohol is involved. Caught in the middle is Dilan, and he is only 9 years old. How can he assert himself against his mother’s wishes and move in with his father? 

About the Ombuds Office

What gap is closed by an ombuds office for children’s rights?

16 June 2022
Almost two years have gone by since Parliament approved the bill to create an ombuds office for children’s rights. It is now time for the federal administration to act. By passing this legislation, Parliament acknowledged the void that was accurately described in the bill: despite the existence of at least 58 children’s rights organisations including seven cantonal ombuds offices as well as other such facilities at the local level, there remains a need for yet another ombuds office for children’s rights. How is this possible?