The Bavarian State Parliament‘s Children‘s Commission
The commission to promote children‘s interests in the Bavarian State Parliament (Kinderkommission), in short „KiKo“, is an independent Bavarian State Parliament commission. It was appointed for the entire duration of the electoral term (until autumn 2018) with the Bavarian State Parliament‘s decision on 15 July 2014 and consists of 4 members of Parliament in total: CSU, SPD, FREIE WÄHLER and ALLIANCE 90/THE GREENS provide one member each.The chairwoman is the MP Tanja-Schorer-Dremel, the vice chairwoman is the MP Doris Rauscher.
The Bavarian State Parliament is, alongside the German Bundestag, the only parliament in Germany to have a Children‘s Commission. The Children‘s Commission was appointed during the last electoral term (June 2009) for the first time,its detailed final report dated 2 July 2013 documents the wide range of issues that the commission dealt with. Besides the equal epresentation regardless of proportional strength, the Children‘s Commission has several other special features compared to the Bavarian State Parliament‘s committees and other bodies: for example, a unanimous vote from all members is required for decisions, not just a majority „yes“ or „no“ vote. The Bavarian State Parliament wants to deliberately send out a message with this: in favour of solidarity among party and parliamentary groups for the sake of our children.
What are the Children‘s Commission‘s duties?
„Children are the most valuable source of a people. They shall be entitled to develop into self-determined and responsible persons.“ That is the wording in Art. 125 Section 1 of the Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria. These sentences mean a duty and obligation at the same time for politics. The state must do everything to respect, protect and develop children because society‘s future lies in its children.
As a result, children‘s policy is a cross-cutting issue. There is hardly any political topic that children are not affected by in some way. Especially in light of the challenges that we are facing as a consequence of demographic development, it is of crucial importance to focus on children‘s interests and those of young people in particular. The Bavarian State Parliament wants to contribute to this with the Children‘s Commission. The Children‘s Commission shall intervene and also get involved in ndividual cases as an advocate for children and young people to guarantee suitable framework conditions for the children and young people‘s living in our country.
The Children‘s Commission sees itself as a contact for any families, children and young people and all institutions and organisations that are committed to protecting their interests. At the same time, it sees its duty as being to raise public awareness for children and young people‘s issues and needs and to give them a parliamentary vote. This includes constantly keeping an eye on political decisions and what impact these decisions have on children and young people. The Children‘s Commission also has the duty here of articulating the interests of children and young people in time and helping them assert them in political processes as far as reasonably possible – acting as a seismograph and catalyst at the
same time.
What does the Children‘s Commission‘s work focus on?
During this electoral term the Children‘s Commission‘s work will focus on:
• Children‘s rights
• Child protection
• Children and education
• Children and poverty
• Children‘s health
• Nutrition
• Inclusion – children and disability
• Children and media literacy
The Bavarian State Parliament‘s Children’s Commission‘s Meetings
The meetings usually take place once a month during sitting weeks. They are convened and chaired by the chairwoman. Besides the commission members and head of the commission office, state government representatives responsible for the specific agenda items also attend. The Bavarian State Parliament‘s shorthand writers’ service documents the meetings.