TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Children's Ombudsperson

Summary: Information about institutions in Trinidad and Tobago that monitor children's rights.

Children's Ombudspersons

The Office of the Public Defender was established under the Public Defender Act of 1999 and is empowered to instigate complaints, including in relation to the violation of constitutional rights by a government ministry, parish council, statutory body, statutory authority or a company in which the Government holds not less than a 51 per cent stake. In its Concluding Observations of 2006, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted the existence of the Ombudsman, but expressed concern at the absence of an independent mechanism with a specific mandate to regularly monitor and evaluate the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee also expressed concern that there was no mechanisms empowered to receive and address individual complaints on behalf, or from, children.

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