Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation
Karachi 22 -24 March 2006
The second Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation was coordinated and hosted by Madadgaar child helpline. 42 participants attended the meeting. Participants were from the following 12 countries and special administrative regions: Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Korea, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan R.O.C, Thailand and Vietnam.
Although child helplines in the region have been connected via news updates, emails and list serves, this second Asia-Pacific meeting of child helplines provides the much needed face-to-face networking, for the sharing of resources, knowledge and skills amongst existing and new helplines in the region. It also allowed every participant to step away from the regime of daily tasks, providing the space creates a platform for twinning and setting up new helplines and to discuss common issues and challenges.
Sharing of best practices, understanding strategic planning for sustainability, child participation, fundraising and determining the role of child helplines in disaster situations were some of the topics covered during the sessions. The Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation was well received by all participants. CHI would like to thank everyone who made this meeting a success, especially Madagaar for their wonderful hospitality.
Helpline in the form of a post box
Since April of 2005, Plan Sri Lanka has implemented the Happy/Sad Letter Box Project to promote the mental health of school children affected by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of December 26, 2004. Happy/Sad Letter Boxes are boxes in which children can confidentially post their questions and concerns. The boxes have been implemented in 68 schools in Sri Lanka’s Hambantota District. The project is coordinated through Plan’s Tsunami Disaster Response Program Unit (TDRP) office in Ambalantota.
Recently, the project was evaluated, with a positive outcome. The report recommends that the project continue and be implemented in other schools interested in the project. The second phase should be a more general psycho-social support tool for the children rather than a tsunami –related tool. The report also made recommendations for improvement of the service for children by drawing up more policy guidelines and more collaboration for all stakeholders.
CHI would like to congratulate all of those involved in the Happy/Sad box project and wish you all the best for the second phase of the project.
CHILDLINE India secures a conviction of two pedophiles
This article was kindly submitted by CHILDLINE India
One phone call from a child on 1098 5 years ago finally resulted in a historic verdict, Additional Sessions Judge P.S Paranjpe on Saturday, 18 March 2006, convicted two ex-British Royal Navy members to a maximum sentence of 6 years of rigorous imprisonment for offenses related to unnatural sex and abuse of children in the Anchorage shelter homes that the two men ran in Mumbai.
The two men have been fined 20,000 pounds each, of which Rs 5 Lakh will go towards the rehabilitation of the two boys who were residents of Anchorage and whose testimony in court was crucial to the case.
The court also held the manager of the Shelter Home guilty for aiding and abetting the crime and assaulting the children. He has been sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.
In a thumping, landmark order Judge Paranjpe said that he intended the verdict to send a clear message to pedophiles all over the world that India is not a destination for them. He hoped that the sentence would go a long way in wiping India off the map of international sex tourism.
For Childline, the judgement marked the closure of a 5 year period of struggle , as we collaborated and wrestled in unpredictable turns with the law enforcement agencies of Mumbai to deliver justice to the children of Anchorage.
One of the convicted men set up the Anchorage Shelter Home in Colaba in 1995 which the other visited frequently. He lived with a group of 25-30 children (mainly those working on the streets) and over time he set up two shelters in the Murud and Badwar Park areas. Foreign tourists visited the homes regularly and boys would be sent off with them as city guides. The two men and their international network of friends gave expensive gifts to the boys.
While rumours were rife among NGOs, volunteers visiting the shelters and street children of the area of sexual abuse of boys in the shelter, there was no evidence that could have tipped off an investigation.
In October 2001, Childline received several calls reporting abuse of children from the Anchorage shelter home. In the same month, we along with our partners organizations, attended to critical medical emergencies, including a death, of children living in Anchorage. The events set us off on a tough and long journey of investigation and legal recourse, culminating in a landmark judgement against child sex abuse
