This year’s Forum of the European Network of Young Advisers of the Ombudspersons for Children (ENYA) entitled ‘Let’s Talk Young, Let’s Talk about Children’s Right to Physical Health’ was held on 1st and 2nd July in Jezerčica, Croatia. It was organised by the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children in Croatia.
ENYA has been an integral part of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) since 2009, and this year 12 ENOC Member States participated in the two-day activities of the ENYA Forum. Young people from Andalusia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Italy, Montenegro, Northern Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Scotland presented their recommendations related to improving the provision and implementation of children’s right to physical health, which they had previously discussed and adopted with peers and adult coordinators in their countries. They also carried out various professional and creative activities, as well as held discussions with health experts, visited hospitals and other relevant institutions. In addition to the young representatives of the countries who physically participated in the Forum in Croatia, young people from Malta and Ukraine who could not attend the Forum also contributed to the recommendations.
The recommendations of young advisers of the Ombudspersons for Children relate to many aspects of the physical health of children and young people – from ensuring equal access to health services for every child, regardless of their economic, social and geographical status (and especially for children on the move, children without adequate parental care and other children from vulnerable groups), promoting healthy lifestyle habits, improving regulations related to advertising and consumption of energy drinks and tobacco products, to ensuring a healthy and balanced school diet, improving the performance of PE classes and taking into account the opinions of children and young people in matters related to their health. Their recommendations, following the joint Forum in Croatia and the annual ENOC conference in Bucharest in September 2025, will be incorporated into ENOC’s position on children’s right to physical health. The purpose of the ENYA project is to actively involve children and young people in the annual work of ENOC and give them the opportunity to be heard at a level that goes beyond the borders of their country, at the European level.
The welcoming words were addressed to young advisers by the Ombudsperson for Children in Croatia Helenca Pirnat Dragičević and Elina Pekkarinen, President of the ENOC and the Ombudsperson for Children in Finland. During the two-day Forum, children and young people the opportunity to get acquainted with representatives of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ)– Maja Lang Morović, Ivana Šimić and Slaven Krtalić – who presented the HZJZ project ‘Living Healthy’, examples of balanced and healthy meals, as well as the physical activity course that participants had the opportunity to try on the spot. They also had the opportunity to hear more about the Croatian education system and research on the impact of digital technologies on the mental health of children and young people in Croatia during the presentation of Ph. D. Boris Jokić, director of the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb.
The Office of the Ombudsperson for Children in Croatia, in addition to its role as the organizer of this year’s Forum, held meetings and discussions with members of the Network of Young Advisers (NYA), with the aim of adopting recommendations on the topic of children’s right to physical health. Two representatives – NYA members – Aleksandra Miljević and Petra Boroje – presented the activities leading up to the Forum, as well as the adopted NYA recommendations related to the improvement of children’s right to health.
After this Forum, the young advisers, together with the adult advisers of the European Ombudspersons for Children, will continue their activities as part of the joint ENYA project. Their next joint meeting will be at the ENOC annual conference in Bucharest in September 2025.
