CHILD abuse is a crime that damages generations. Before a person becomes an independent adult that can rationalize and determine their own futures, their minds and behavior are impressionable and are still being shaped. There is heavy external influence from the environment around them in shaping their personalities and characteristics. The same is also true of adults but a child’s first memories with parents, teachers, peers or strangers serve as a benchmark for what to expect in the future. When children are shouted at, beaten, locked up, starved or exploited in a sexual manner, they struggle to understand what is happening to them or why it is happening. A child is innocent and those who have experienced child abuse of a sexual nature require time, patience, counseling and a safe environment to recover.
World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence is a day set aside by the UN to examine how we as individuals and organizations can address the crime of child abuse, especially child sex abuse, and work on ways to both prevent the crime and help its innocent victims heal. Observed each year on November 18th, World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence was established during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the world went online more than ever before – including criminals who used social media to lure and trap child victims of sexual exploitation. When child abuse victims are from underprivileged communities, their access to support services are little to non-existent but the need is immense.
Here are 5 NGOs stopping child abuse and child trafficking:
Missing Link Trust
Songachi in Kolkata is one of the largest red light districts in Asia. In and around this area, girls often go missing and end up in the hundreds of brothels in Sonagachi where there is child abuse, sexual exploitation and a life of absolute hell. Leena Kejriwal grew up around Sonagachi and witnessed the horrors that children endure. So Leena, an artist by profession, started painting a black silhouette around Kolkata to raise awareness on the issue of child trafficking and save more girls from being trafficked. Her NGO Missing Link Trust has educated 1.75 lakh children in 620 schools for the past decade on how to recognize traffickers and keep themselves safe from child abuse and sexual exploitation. To support Missing Link Trust:
Society for Participatory Integrated Development
Child abuse, in particular that of a sexual nature, is a crime that most children cannot recover from without long-term care. This form of care is offered by Society for Participatory Integrated Development or SPID. For the past 30 years, SPID has rescued thousands of sexually exploited children and given them safe shelter, nutritious and regular meals, medical care and enrolled them in school so they can start rebuilding their lives on a solid footing. Founded by a social worker named Lalitha S.A., SPID was so horrified by the unbearable torture and abuse that children faced in brothels that the organization became a safe haven for at-risk children in and around the G.B. Road red light district in Delhi. To support SPID:
Inchara Foundation
The tragic stories of sexual abuse that children have narrated to counselors are more than heartbreaking; it is a wake up call to tackle the issue of child abuse, sexual exploitation and rape. The most vulnerable are girls who face sexual abuse at the hands of their own family members, friends or strangers. Inchara Foundation offers these girls a safe place to live away from their abusers as well as trauma counseling from trained and professional counselors. In time and with multiple therapies, the girls begin to share their experiences which is the first step toward healing from their trauma. With education and skills training offered by the NGO, they have a foundation on which to build stronger futures. To support Inchara Foundation:
Urja Trust
For many victims of child abuse, their first reaction is to run away as far away from the abuse as they can. Children are known to run away from home and get on trains or buses to flee from the fear of being abused in a particular place. But waiting at train or bus stations are traffickers who take advantage of vulnerable children who have nowhere to go and no one to help them. Urja Trust is an NGO who intervenes in these areas and takes the girls to safety before traffickers can get their hands on them. The NGO is founded by Deepali Vandana who grew up in the Kamathipura red light district in Mumbai. Her NGO rescues, feeds, rehabilitates and educates victims of abuse and helps them rebuild their lives. To support Urja Trust:
Guria
In the red light districts, children face a life of more than child abuse; their lives are filled with fear, terror and violence with no end in sight. Children usually end up in brothels when their mothers are sex workers or when they have been kidnapped and thrown into red light districts where they are tortured by multiple men, night and day. Guria believes that this is no life for a child. Founded in the 1990s by Manju Singh, Guria has conducted daring raids in red light districts, rescued more than 5,500 girls, brought them to its safe shelter, rehabilitated them, provided education, offered legal assistance to victims and their families and even prosecuted traffickers to make sure they never hurt another child again. To support Guria:
Support NGOs helping victims of child sexual exploitation
When you support an NGO, you help connect innocent victims of child abuse with experienced organizations who know exactly how to care for these children and help them recover from the horrors of sexual abuse and rape. This World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence, you can do your part in supporting underprivileged children who have no access to much needed support services.
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Shirley has been in the development sector for over 10 years and is passionate about making a change in the world around her, including adopting dogs and writing to make a difference.
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