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Summary: A lack of protection policies in children's organisation offering volunteer placements in Nepal, such as criminal record checks, means that children are at risk of coming into contact with potential abusers.
[KATHMANDU, 26 October 2011] - Business is booming for volunteer placement organisations attracting adventurous do-gooders to public service throughout this poor, picturesque country. But aesthetics and needs aside, an almost complete lack of regulation has made Nepal particularly vulnerable to the pairing of philanthropy and travel, experts say. âA lot of times we find that in Asian countries, child serving organisations lack child protection policies, and procedures hence do not have systems in place to protect themselves from potential abusers,â Junita Upadhyay, programme deputy director of ECPAT, an international organisation campaigning for the protection of children, told IRIN from Bangkok. âMany organisations donât require volunteers to have police checks, even when they have child protection policies⌠There is not enough dialogue in realising the importance of such a policy, and the government regulations, if any, are weak.â Indeed, Anish Neupane with VolNepal, a Kathmandu-based organisation which matches volunteers with local NGOs, said in accepting their ever-increasing international placement requests - this year it will reach about 200 - his company proceeds on the grounds of âtrust and faithâ that volunteers have the best of intentions when requesting to work with children. Similarly, Volunteer Nepal, established by American Michael Hess to place visitors primarily in Nepali orphanages and schools, does not perform background checks. âWe should, but we donât,â Hess said. Hess added informal systems are in place in which volunteers are monitored with a sensitivity to any âred flagsâ that might arise. While the vast majority of volunteers have the best of intentions, some do not, and child protection experts say unregulated volunteering is happening at the risk of everyone involved. Until the government implements regulations, the burden of protection falls on the organisations and the volunteers. âAt the very least there should be vetting procedures in place,â Aarti Kapoor, child-safe tourism manager with World Vision in Bangkok, told IRIN. âIt can be relatively easier to start up a childrenâs organisation in developing countries where the regulations arenât yet fully developed.â Take the case of Jean Jacques Haye, for example, a French paedophile who set up an orphanage in Nepal and sexually abused its inhabitants between 1985 and 2001. He was extradited in 2010 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison in France. Variations of such abuses are sprinkled throughout other countries like Cambodia and Thailand, but a lax or nonexistent legal framework make such successfully tried cases rare. Regulation Of Nepalâs 602 child care homes housing 15,095 children, four are run by the government and nearly 60 per cent are operating without evaluation. A coalition of international organisations is working with the government towards a policy which incorporates best practices for any organisation caring for children, but the trend of volunteers going into the child care homes continues mostly unnoticed. âWe know that child care homes are not running properly,â said Raghu Adhikari, programme manager of the Child Welfare Board. He explained the board is awaiting the government's approval of a rights-based national child protection policy which will enhance Nepalâs Children's Act of 1992. But without even a national constitution, this could take years, experts say. In the meantime, ECPAT conducts child protection policy training in Nepal, emphasising that an organisation must protect itself just as much as the children it serves. âWhen the government is not very good at regulating these institutions, the responsibility lies within the organisation,â Upadhyay said. âIt is fundamental to running a good institution that is serving children.â Off the record Though a walk down Thamel, Kathmanduâs backpacker area, yields relentless questioning from eager guesthouse owners as to whether or not a passerby is a volunteer, all non-tourist activity in Nepal is unofficial. Volunteers are lumped in with the more than half a million tourists entering the country every year, de-regulating the experience even further. âWhen you donât have a law then so many things can go wrong, but if we have a law then we can regulate - we could have codes of conduct for volunteers,â said Sumina Tuladhar, executive director of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), a Kathmandu-based child advocacy organisation. âBut when you say volunteering is not legal, then you are not entitled to seek references, or check the background of volunteers coming to your organisation. Then it becomes so much easier to come and go.â Asking questions International organisations like World Vision, Save the Children and Plan International, all partner with local NGOs and require criminal record checks for potential employees and volunteers. They also cycle through fewer people than those whose primary focus is the placement of tourists in volunteer experiences. In the last year, Save the Children Nepal took on five volunteers, against Volunteer Nepalâs 150. Experts say volunteers seeking placement should ask a few key questions, starting with: âWould this be allowed in my own country?â The more questions a volunteer asks, the more an organisation will start to think about protecting the children involved, Upadhyay said.  Further Information: