The Story of 116 111

Let’s begin by exploring the beginnings of the 116 xyz numbers. On this day, 15 February, back in 2007, the European Commission published its decision to reserve national telephone numbers beginning with the digits 116, to allow for harmonised numbers across the EU that would provide EU citizens with harmonised services of social value.

This major achievement was the result of intense lobbying for the reservation of harmonised, easy-to-remember and toll-free numbers, both in the EU and across the wider European region, by the then still relatively young Child Helpline International network and our child rights partners. Our team visited Brussels at the end of 2005 to lobby Members of the European Parliament for a petition supporting child helplines in the EU. With the assistance of MEP Lissy Gröner, we obtained around 200 signatures of MEPs.

A defining moment following this advocacy by our network and our partners came on 17 January 2007, when the world’s First Ladies met in Paris to call for international action to protect children from abduction and sexual abuse. The meeting coincided with the imminent launch of a pan-European number ­– 116 – and the launch of the 116 000 number for missing children on 15 February 2007. The 116 111 number for child helplines was reserved later in that year, on 29 October 2007, followed by the harmonised number 116 006  for helplines for victims of crime on November 30, 2009. Two other numbers – 116 123 for emotional support helplines and 116 117 for non-emergency medical on-call service were also reserved.

116 111 is currently operational in 23 out of 27 EU Member States, and additionally in seven other European states – see the list here. Child helplines, trusted by the children and young people who rely upon their services, are an essential part of national child protection systems, integration of services, and key in promoting and protecting children’s rights. You can find out more about the reasons why children and young people contact child helplines in our data reports.

While many child helplines in Europe have access to the resources they need in order to provide free, accessible, high-quality support directly to children and young people, this isn’t the case for all of them. There are also several technical issues with 116 111 that must be resolved. Furthermore, the awareness of 116 111, and the importance of child helpline services among national and regional policy makers, is lacking in some countries.