Who will be appointed to occupy the position that the General Delegate for the Rights of the Child must leave? Bernard De Vos, current “children’s lawyer”, will be 65 years old – the age limit to hold this position – on November 16th. He also completed two successive terms (this is the maximum) of 6 years in June 2021. For political reasons (the reform of the decree on the powers of the Delegate was unsuccessful), the procedure for finding a replacement for Bernard De Vos was finally launched only last May.
After two mornings of hearings, behind closed doors, the parliamentary committee of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (one PS, one MR, one Ecolo, one Les Engagés and 1 PTB; Défi being invited as an observer) responsible for giving an opinion on the candidacies, agreed on a short list of six people deemed suitable for the position.
Rated A by the experts
The following were selected: Solayman Laqdim, former member of the cabinet of Rachid Madrane (PS) when the latter was Minister in charge of Youth Aid and today Director of Prevention in Liège; Joëlle Milquet (61 years old), former CDH Deputy Prime Minister at the federal level (Employment, Interior, etc.) and former Minister of Education (of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation); Madeleine Guyot (44 years old), adviser to the current Delegate for Children’s Rights and president of the Macadam association, which accompanies young people on the move; David Lallemand, also adviser to the General Delegate for Children’s Rights; Séverine Acerbis, head of the early childhood unit in the office of Minister Ecolo Bénédicte Linard and Virginie Cordier, director of La Vénerie.
The six people selected by the parliamentary committee had all been deemed suitable by the college of experts (appointed on the basis of one per political group) which had interviewed the 21 initial candidates (some withdrew).
The experts had to classify them as A (“suitable for the position”), B (“could possibly be suitable for the position concerned”); C (“not suitable for the function concerned”) or D (“withdrew”).
No draft
Of the seven candidates classified in A, the parliamentary committee took over 6. There was therefore no political “draft” of candidates who were not considered suitable by the college of experts.
According to our information, a trio (Joëlle Milquet, Solayman Laqdim and Madeleine Guyot) came out on top, without any negative comments from the experts.
For six years
Parliament will have to approve this opinion next Tuesday, July 19, during the last plenary session before the holidays. It will then be up to the French-speaking government to make its choice for the start of the school year.
And this is where the file (re) becomes very political. On what basis will Pierre-Yves Jeholet (Minister-President MR), Frédéric Daerden (Vice-President PS), Bénédicte Linard, Vice-President Ecolo) Valérie Glatigny (MR) and Caroline Désir (PS) decide?
On the ground, the associations involved in the defense of children’s rights in French-speaking Belgium, say they are worried. Whatever the competence of the people, questions arise about the independence of certain candidates from the political world – a fundamental element of the function of General Delegate for the Rights of the Child.
The Delegate for the Rights of the Child will be appointed for a term of six years.