An Africa Fit for Children begins with Child Helplines
In 2020, Lifeline Childline Zambia recorded a case of a 14-year-old girl who had lost her mother about two months earlier. For the purposes of this blog, I won’t call this girl by her real name, of course – so, let’s just call her “Hope”… Hope was struggling to accept that her mother was gone, […]
Child Helplines: a vital part of building resilience against trafficking
On 12 December, I delivered an intervention at the European Centre for Legal Education and Research’s conference “Together Against Human Trafficking: Prevention of Child Trafficking in Europe in the Current Practical Context” in Bucharest, Romania. The event was held in celebration of the 74th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights […]
Supporting survivors of sexual and gender-based violence during the Russia-Ukraine War
The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a yearly campaign organised by international civil society. It aims to highlight the continued role of GBV as the most pervasive and widespread human rights violation worldwide and to galvanise action to prevent and respond to these crimes. Like every year, the campaign kicked off […]
United by One Vision
“Children should be seen, heard and believed.” That’s what it says on the business card of the assistant director of media and information of the Sri Lankan Child Protection Authority, and that’s what they all truly believe and fight for at this child helpline. Not only does the Authority have a hotline that is open […]
Mental health: helping the child helpline counsellors to help children and young people
Child Helpline International launches eLearning on Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support A teenage girl called the child helpline, seeking help on behalf of a friend who is 16 years old: “My friend says she just wants to die … please, can you help her?” The girl reveals that her friend has behavioral problems. She has […]
Working Together with Zain!
There’s always a lot of things happening on and around World Children’s Day (20 November), and this year has been no exception! Yesterday we strengthened our partnership with Zain, a major telecommunications services company in the Middle East. Zain is a pioneer of mobile telecommunications in the Middle East. Beginning in 1983 in Kuwait, it […]
A Vision for Victims’ Rights
On 16 November, I attended Victim Support Europe’s presentation of their Vision for a Revised Victims’ Rights Directive at the EU Commission in Brussels. This event included a Keynote Speech by the EU Commissioner for Justice at the European Commission, as well as two panel discussions led by Saskia Bricmont, (MEP at the European Parliament) […]
Child helplines and children who run away
On 15 November 2022, our partner organisation Missing Children Europe celebrated its 20th anniversary and hosted the conference Under the Radar – Towards More Integrated Child Protection Responses for Children who Run Away from Home or Care. I was kindly invited to share the perspectives of child helplines and child helpline data in the Plenary […]
Ukraine Crisis Response
Hearing the Voices of Ukrainian Children and Young People: Child Helplines Responding to the Ukraine Crisis The escalation of hostilities in Ukraine has worsened the humanitarian crisis and resulted in numerous violations of human rights. Millions of children are displaced within Ukraine and millions are displaced in neighbouring countries. Displaced children are at great risk […]
Today we celebrate 15 years of 116 111!
In celebration of 15 years of 116 111, we must ensure that child helplines are protected through proper resourcing and their recognition as essential services for children.