The Voices of Children and Young People In Asia Pacific

Ravi R. PrasadHead of Policy and Research

Child Helpline International

Giving a voice to children and young people

Child Helplines around the World

• Child Helpline International is a unique, global network of national civil society and government organisations providing counselling, care and protection to children and young people in their countries.

• CHI has 173 members in 141 countries.• Established in 2003, CHI is marking its 10th anniversary this year.• Over the past 10 years more than 126 million contacts have

been made with child helplines around the world by children and young people seeking care and protection.

• In ten years, 45 million contacts were made in the Asia Pacific Region.

Child Helplines In the Asia Pacific?

• CHI has 34 members in 29 countries.

• 19 out of 23 countries have child helplines that operate free of cost.

• Contacts increased from 3.7 million in 2003 to 5.4 million in 2012.

• The most common issues that children and young people contacted child helplines concerned:

*Family relationships (21%)*Psycho-social mental health (15%) *Problems with peers (15%)*Abuse and violence (14%) *School related problems (7%)

1% 1% 1%

2%

2% 3%3%

4%5%

7%

8%

8%

11%

50%

Reasons For Contact 2003-2012Discrimination

HIV/AIDS infected/affected children

Substance use and abuse

Commercial Exploitation

Legal matters

Physical health

Sexuality and sexual awareness

School related

Homelessness/runaways/basic needs

Abuse and Violence

Peer relationships

Psycho-social, mental health

Family relationships

During disasters children experience: injury, loss of family, displacement, upheaval and sometimes violence

During these time, child helplines step in and provide special services, counselling and support.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

3%6% 6%

26%

5%3%

40%

4% 6%

Family Relationships

Friendships and Peer Relationships

36%

9%8%

15%

18%

15%

School Related Issues

Academic problems

Homework

Other adult related problems

Performance anxiety

School drop-outs

Teacher problems

34%

22%

12%

8%

7%

11%

3% 3%

Contacts on abuse and Violence

Physical

Bullying

Sexual

Emotional

Neglect

Domestic Violence

Witness to Violence

Cyber bullying

Emerging IssuesPsych-social Mental Health

Homelessness and Basic Needs

The Exploitation of Children and Young People

Psycho-social Mental Health Issues - in Very High HDI levels

Homelessness And Basic Needs – HDI Levels

The Exploitation of Children

Bonded child labor

Child sexual exploitation/prostitution

Child trafficking

Children in armed conflict

Children used for begging

Children used for criminal activity

Domestic child labor

Kidnapping

Other child labor

Unspecified / Other

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000

14711

18897

24066

12580

15346

10380

27924

20624

32344

14288

You Can Make a Difference• Listen to children and young people – they speak to child

helplines

• Support and strengthen child helplines

• Child helplines are the key access points for children and young people to reach services

• Use child helpline data as evidence for policy making

THANK YOU

for

Listening

to

Children and Young People

info@childhelplineinternational.orgwww.childhelplineinternational.org