The Bill on the Children’s Rights Ombudsman will be passed in the shortest possible time, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Dr Oliver Dulic, promised upon meeting with the group of children from different parts of the country who participated in the preparation of this legal project.

They visited the Assembly Speaker today intending to stress the importance of an expedient forwarding of the Bill on the Children’s Rights Ombudsman, announced as far back as last year as one of the priorities and entering Assembly procedure in December 2007, to the decision makers and the public. The initiative for establishing this independent institution in Serbia was initiated by the Children Protection Programme “Save the Children“ fund in cooperation with the Children’s Cultural Centre Belgrade.

At their own initiative, at the meeting the children symbolically presented the Assembly Speaker with a kite bearing the children’s data and personal opinions on the current condition of the realisation of children’s rights in Serbia, leaving room where the Assembly Speaker will have the opportunity to leave his comment on the future steps to be undertaken in the protection of children’s rights.

The guests briefed Speaker Dulic on the initiatives and actions for establishing the institution of Children’s Rights Ombudsman so far, involving the participation of about 1500 children, as well as their opinions on the necessity of the establishment of this institution. They particularly emphasised the fact that in the drafting of the Bill on the Children’s Rights Ombudsman for the first time in the history of Serbian legislature, children’s opinions were included. This Bill establishes the Children’s Rights Ombudsman as an independent state organ protecting, monitoring and promoting children’s rights.