Violence and Covid-19

Violence and Covid-19

An analysis of violence-related contacts with child helplines throughout the pandemic

Child Helpline International

Bruggebouw Suite 5.08

Bos en Lommerplein 280

1055 RW Amsterdam

The Netherlands

www.childhelplineinternational.org

Contact us at: data@childhelplineinternational.org

Written by: Andrea Pereira PhD, Anastasia Schuster PhD,

Data compilation: Andrea Pereira PhD, Anastasia Schuster PhD, Lorraine Dennis

Editing, design and layout: Steve Erwood

Disclaimer

Data presented and statements made do not capture the full scope of practices and policies of all countries and cases handled by child helplines and other child protection organisations at the national level. The exact data can be requested from Child Helpline International.

Acknowledgment

Child helplines have a unique insight into the gap between policy and reality, making them a key actor in advocating for children’s rights. They support millions of children every year. They respond to issues ranging from serious children’s rights violations, to children who just want someone to chat to on the way home from school. What brings child helplines together is the provision of an easily accessible, confidential system that allows children themselves to tell a counsellor what is going on in their lives. Child helplines also have an insight into the direct experiences of children and young people on a larger scale than any other organisations. Therefore, the value of child helplines’ data on contacts cannot be overstated in informing and guiding policy, learning and practice. We are grateful to all of our members who have dutifully submitted their 2020 data to Child Helpline International, allowing the present report to exist.

This publication was co-funded by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2022-2025). The content of this publication represents only the views of Child Helpline International. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

An analysis of violence-related contacts with child helplines throughout the pandemic

Introduction

Foreword

EVERY CHILD SHOULD BE SAFE AND HAVE ACCESS TO SUPPORT

Children’s exposure to various forms of violence and exploitation in all settings, both online and offline, continues to be exacerbated worldwide by multiple and overlapping crises. These include increasing poverty, social and economic inequalities, forced displacement, conflict, the climate crisis, food insecurity, widespread violence and political instability. This grim reality is also evidenced by the experience of child helplines worldwide: violence-related issues account for a quarter of all contacts made by children to helplines.

Helplines are essential services for children. They provide crucial advice, support and onward referrals to children in difficulty. They also continue to evolve and adapt their approach to ensure they reach those in need. One way this has occurred is through strengthening the online channels through which children can connect with them.

In a progressively connected world, children are increasingly turning to the online space when at risk of experiencing violence in person or online, including through accessing helplines, hotlines, counseling services, and reporting systems. They also use digital platforms to create solutions to address the protection needs of their peers.

But the potential of digital platforms to be a source of protection is not fully realized. There is still not enough information on how these systems operate and how their potential for protection can be optimized. Together with the Child Helpline International, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and multiple partners from UN agencies, civil society organizations, the private sector and academia, my Office launched ‘POP: Protection through online Participation.’ This is a collaborative initiative looking to better understand how children can seek safety and support thanks to their access to the Internet. Evidence collected by POP reaffirms how child helplines continue to be essential to protecting children, underscoring why efforts to ensure children worldwide are connected to the Internet should also be accompanied by ensuring their safety and access to online protection.

Although helplines are a crucial part of the child protection ecosystem, others must also play their part. Helplines must be duly connected to properly resourced and responsive protection services, that are accessible to the most vulnerable children and their caregivers, leaving no one behind.

I commend Child Helpline International for its ongoing work in supporting and protecting children worldwide, and look forward to continuing our close and fruitful partnership.

Najat Maalla M’jid UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Key findings

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives all around the world, and put some of the most vulnerable among us – children and young people – at increased risk of experiencing violence.

In this report, we have used data on the contacts received by our child helpline members from around the world, both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, to investigate the effects the pandemic has had on violence against children. We have used 2019 data as a baseline, and data for the years 2020 and 2021 for comparison purposes.

From those data, we can make the following observations:

There was a steady increase in counselling contacts from year to year.

There was an increase in violencerelated contacts after the pandemic broke out, to a level at which our child helpline members were registering, on average, 103 contacts a day during 2020. Of these, around a quarter were contacts being made due to the caller being exposed to some kind of violence. Most strikingly, contacts concerning neglect (or negligent treatment) spiked in 2020, doubling in frequency, and then returned to their pre-pandemic levels in 2021. In general, although the pandemic continued into 2021, violence-related contacts during the year subsided.

Throughout the 3-year period, violencerelated concerns accounted for around one in every four of the contacts made by girls or young women. This ratio remained fairly consistent across the three years, implying that the incidence of violent-related concerns was not affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, for boys there was a steady decline in the proportion of violencerelated concerns being the reason for contacting a child helpline.

We observe substantial variations between child helplines in the amount of contacts made due to violence-related concerns compared to all counselling contacts across all three years. Some of our child helpline members report a decrease, some report an increase, and others report a relatively unchanged share of violence-related contacts out of the total number of counselling contacts they received.

...our child helpline members were registering, on average, 103 contacts a day during 2020.

“ ”

Violence and Covid-19

An analysis of violence-related contacts with child helplines throughout the pandemic

INTRODUCTION

According to data obtained by UNICEF, around the world approximately 6 out of every 10 children aged 2-14 years old regularly experienced physical violence at the hands of their parents or caregivers between 2005 and 2013. This means that more than half of the children in the world are victims of violence, not just occasionally but on a regular basis.1,2,3 Violence has severe consequences for children’s development and negatively impacts their mental and physical health.

In April 2020, a Leaders’ Statement led by End Violence Against Children and co-signed by Child Helpline International, among others, highlighted the increased risk to children posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and its related restrictions.4 Current evidence suggests that violence against children has indeed increased during the pandemic. A review of 48 studies has found an increase in family violence and in child abuse-related injuries in hospitals, despite mixed evidence regarding calls to police and helplines.5 This suggests that children might increasingly be victims of violence since the pandemic began, without always obtaining the support they need and deserve.

Child helplines provide safe and accessible support and care for children and young people. Violence is regularly one of the main reasons why children and young people reach out to child helplines, accounting for a quarter of all reasons for counselling contacts made with child helplines. In this report, we aim to better understand the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on violence-related contacts with child helplines around the world. We present data on the contacts received from children and young people by our child helpline members before the pandemic, using 2019 data as a baseline, and during the pandemic, using 2020 and 2021 data. Violence-related contacts should always be interpreted in light of the overall number of counselling contacts received, and so we provide information on both. We also look into any potential differences in the gender of those making contact, and into the different types of violence children and young people are experiencing. Finally, we look at regional differences and provide an overview of country-level data.

1. World Health Organization. Corporal punishment and health, accessed on 15 July 2022 at https://www.who.int/news-room/ fact-sheets/detail/ corporal-punishment-and-health

2. Hillis S, Mercy J, Amobi A and Kress H (2016). Global prevalence of past-year violence against children: a systematic review and minimum estimates. Pediatrics;137(3):e20154079

3. United Nations Children’s Fund, A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents, UNICEF, New York, 2017

4. https://violenceagainstchildren.un.org/news/leaders-statement-violence-against-children-hidden-crisis-covid-19-pandemic

5. Cappa, C., and Jijon, I. (2021) COVID-19 and Violence against Children: A Review of Early Studies. Child Abuse & Neglect. 116, 105053.

Violence is regularly one of the main reasons why children and young people reach out to child helplines...

“ ”

METHODOLOGY

Every year we invite our child helpline members to submit data about the contacts they receive from children and young people. They do this by filling in online annual surveys (using Qualtrics), which are available in English, French and Spanish (and Arabic for 2021). This report utilises data from the three most recent surveys, covering the years 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Data based on

child helpline members who submitted data in 2019, 2020 and 2021

In 2019, our data framework contained 15 categories relating to violence against children and young people. After a brief simplification of our framework in 2020, our final and current framework includes 14 categories6 relating to violence. For all categories, we requested that our child helpline members provided the number of contacts received each year, disaggregated by the gender of the child or young person concerned.

RESPONDENTS

We obtained data from 57 child helplines that submitted data on contacts relating to violence in each and every annual data collection covering 2019 to 2021. These child helplines represent 54 countries and territories across five regions around the world. The full list of respondents and the countries represented can be found at the end of this report (pages 16-19).

6. The categories in violence-related contacts are: Bullying, Child/Early/Forced marriage, Child labour, Commercial/sexual exploitation, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Gender-based harmful traditional practices (other than FGM), Harmful traditional practices other than child marriage and FGM, Mental/emotional violence, Neglect (or negligent treatment), Online sexual abuse, Online sexual exploitation, Physical violence, Sexual violence, and Unspecified/other.

Counselling contacts at the global level

Focusing specifically on the 57 child helplines who submitted data on their violence-related contacts consistently throughout the 3-year period, we find that the overall number of counselling contacts has steadily increased since 2019. This suggests that children and young people have been increasingly reaching out to child helplines with their concerns. We observe an almost 24% increase in 2020 and another 11.5% increase in 2021. Overall, this constitutes a 38% increase from 2019, and thus before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Counselling contacts are situations in which a child helpline was able to provide assistance to the caller.

2020 2021

“ ”

It’s important to differentiate between contacts for which a child helpline was able to provide assistance to the caller (counselling contacts) and contacts for which it was not due to the nature of the contact (non-counselling contacts).

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COUNSELLING CONTACTS

Globally and historically, girls contact child helplines more frequently than boys. Looking into the change in frequency of contacts over the past three years, we see a similar trend across genders. Both boys and girls contacted child helplines more often in 2020 compared with 2019, but less so in 2021.

The findings regarding non-binary children and young people are difficult to interpret as there are limited available data points, and not all child helplines have been recording this information. The substantial increase in the number of contacts received from non-binary children and young people suggests that either they are contacting child helplines more often or that child helplines are now increasingly recording this modality of gender.

The decrease in the frequency of contact by boys and girls in 2021 was offset by a staggering increase in contacts from children and young people whose gender was not known, more than doubling between 2019 and 2021. One possible reason for this could be the increased use of webchats as a method of making contact; in this case, counsellors cannot always rely on the sound of a caller’s voice in order to be able to identify their gender. However, there may be additional reasons for this finding.

Both boys and girls contacted child helplines more often in 2020 compared with 2019, but less so in 2021...

“ ”

Counselling contacts

Counselling contacts at the global level

VIOLENCE-RELATED CONTACTS OVER THE 3-YEAR PERIOD

When looking specifically at violence-related contacts, there is a significant increase in frequency from 2019 to 2020, and a subsequent decrease in 2021, almost returning to the pre-pandemic baseline established by the 2019 data.

This decrease is further amplified when considering the overall increase in counselling contacts between 2020 and 2021. Indeed, the share of violence-related contacts out of all counselling contacts has reduced from 23% in 2019 to 18% in 2021 (a 24% decrease across this time period). The fact that counselling contacts have continued to increase from 2020 to 2021, but violence-related contacts have declined, suggests that the additional contacts in 2021 relate to reasons other than violence.

...additional contacts in 2021 relate to reasons other than

Generally, both boys and girls (and children and young people whose gender is unknown) exhibit an overall trend of an increase in violence-related contacts between 2019 and 2020 followed by a decrease in 2021. However, we observe gender differences in the magnitude of this pattern. The increase in boys’ violence-related contacts in 2020 is not as extreme as the increase for girls (9% and 20% respectively), and the decrease the following year is much larger (8% and 3% respectively). This decrease is further amplified by the overall increase in counselling contacts, such that the proportion of violencerelated contacts out of all counselling contacts from boys reduced by 18% across the 3-year period, while the proportion of violence-related contacts from girls remained relatively stable at 24%.

SUB-CATEGORIES OF VIOLENCE-RELATED CONTACTS

Examining violence-related contacts more closely, we can observe several trends in the six main categories of violence-related contacts. The same six categories were the most frequent reasons for violence-related contacts made to child helplines over the entire 3-year time period.

Firstly, the occurrences of two of these categories are in steady decline – bullying and sexual violence, dropping by 14% and 12% respectively across the entire 3-year period. The four other categories of violence-related concerns show a pattern similar to that of the overall violence-related contacts – an increase from 2019 to 2020, followed by a decrease in 2021. Importantly, the occurrence of mental/emotional violence-related contacts in 2021, even after the drop between 2020 and 2021, is still much higher than in the pre-Covid baseline provided by 2019 (almost 22% increase across the entire time period). Additionally, neglect-related contacts more than doubled between 2019 and 2020 before returning to the pre-Covid baseline in 2021.

“

Violence-related contacts at child helpline and regional levels

We additionally examined the data at the regional level. When looking at trends, it is important to consider the number of violence contacts in the context of the overall number of contacts received by the child helplines. The plot alongside presents the percentage of violence-related contacts out of the overall number of counselling contacts each year by region. The most striking finding is probably the drastic increase of the portion of violence-related contacts in the Middle East & Northern Africa (MENA) region; however, it is important to keep in mind that this region only includes data from three child helplines (see also the note on Palestine below). In the Africa region, the portion of violence-related contacts has decreased in 2020 and again in 2021. In the Americas & Caribbean region, the portion of violence-related contacts has increased in 2020 and then decreased in 2021 below baseline levels in 2019. In the Asia-Pacific and Europe regions the portion of violence-related contacts has remained relatively stable over time.

When examining the changes in the frequency of violence-related contacts across the entire time period (2019 to 2021) at the child helpline level, we observe a wide range of patterns, as can be seen in the bar plot opposite. On the one hand, some child helplines did not report a substantial change in violence-related contacts (for example, CWIN in Nepal, with a small 3% increase, Austria’s Rat auf Draht with a small 2.5% decrease, and Luxembourg’s Kanner Jugendtelefon with a virtually unchanged number of violence-related contacts). On the other hand, many child helplines reported a significant increase in violence-related contacts (for example, Chile’s Fonoinfancia –with a 268% increase – received almost three times the number of violence-related contacts in 2021 that it did in 2019; Childline South Africa saw a 199% increase, and Romania’s Telefonul Copilului saw a 334% increase in violence-related contacts). Some child helplines report such staggering increases that we were unable to plot them on the same graph with the others. These include the child helplines SAWA in Palestine7, the ISPCC Childline in Ireland, Childline Thailand and Aruba’s Telefon pa Hubentud (increases of 3,405%, 6,103%, 5,049% and 2,656% respectively). Finally, several child helplines have seen a large decrease in the frequency of violence-related contacts across the time period (e.g., Malta’s Kellimni.com and Lifeline/Childline Namibia with decreases of 82.5% and 74%, respectively). In conclusion, the number of violence-related contacts received varied greatly from child helpline to child helpline between 2019 and 2021.

7. In 2021, counselling contacts as well as violence-related contacts increased significantly in Palestine. This dramatic increase may be related to the Israel-Palestine conflict that occurred during May 2021.

Percentage change (by region), violence-related contacts 2019 and 2021

South Africa

Tanzania

Kenya

Zambia

Ethiopia

Zimbabwe

Namibia

Aruba

Chile (Fonoinfancia)

Uruguay

Curaçao

USA (Boys Town)

Costa Rica

Chile (Línea Libre)

USA (Childhelp)

Thailand

Australia

Singapore

Hong Kong

Nepal

India

Philippines

Cambodia

New Zealand

Ireland

Romania

Macedonia

North

Albania

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sweden

Switzerland

Latvia

Spain

Finland

Greece (Smile of the Child)

Belgium

Luxembourg

Netherlands

Austria

Italy

Croatia

Czechia

Norway

Portugal

Germany

Denmark

Serbia

Poland

Slovenia

Lithuania United Kingdom

Greece (Together for Children)

Azerbaijan

...the number of violencerelated contacts received varied greatly from child helpline to child helpline between 2019 and 2021.

“ ”

Conclusion and recommendations

CONCLUSION

The Covid-19 pandemic has put children and young people at an increased risk of violence. The child helpline data presented in this report confirms that children and young people are increasingly turning to child helplines for support and guidance – the number of counselling contacts has increased steadily over time. Overall, child helplines have seen an increase in the number of violence-related contacts received in 2020, although this slightly decreased in 2021. What our data makes clear is the huge variation in the number of violence-related contacts received by the child helplines.

In Leaving Violence Against Children Behind, a brief overview of key achievements in 2021 and the way forward8, the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretariat-General on Violence Against Children states that “investing in child protection and violence prevention services is needed more than ever”. In a recent report9, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights the importance of child helplines in mitigating this risk, especially due to their nature as a service provided remotely. As a result, WHO suggests strengthening child helpline services as part of the policies and practices necessary to address adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on violence against children, stating that child helplines should be reinforced and their funding increased. This is in line with Child Helpline International’s recommendations. Indeed, child helplines provide crucial preventative services, often being the first entry point of children in the child protection system. Child helplines are free, accessible, confidential, child-friendly and multi-channel services from which every child and young person in the world should be able to benefit.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings presented above and on our network strategy, Child Helpline International makes the following four general recommendations for governments, policy-makers and all those involved in child protection:

1. Every child should have free and unrestricted access to child helpline services.

2. Quality and sustainability of child helplines are crucial to ensuring children’s rights.

3. Child helpline data and youth participation should inform policy and decision-making that affects children’s lives.

4. Structured partnerships are needed to eradicate violence against all children.

8. https://violenceagainstchildren.un.org/sites/ violenceagainstchildren.un.org/files/2022/brief_overview_key_ achievements.pdf

9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8477433/

Child helplines are free, accessible, confidential, child-friendly, multichannel services from which every child and young person in the world should be able to benefit.

“ ”

Endword

All children have the inherent right to protection from violence and all forms of violence cause harm, reduce children’s sense of self-worth, affront their dignity and hinder their development.

Using data to make violence against children more visible will bring about a fuller understanding of its nature and offer clues to its prevention. While estimates of the number of children experiencing violence are necessary and can only be generated by surveys that rely on statistical methods, child helplines represent an important complementary data source that can offer rich insight into other aspects of violence above and beyond documenting its magnitude and characteristics. Data collected by child helplines can, for instance, shed light on the access, utilization and demand for violence prevention and response services, be used to explore patterns in identifying and reporting violence over time, and to assess service capacity, resource allocation and service costs. When administrative data derived from helplines are analyzed and interpreted correctly, they hold great potential to contribute to the understanding of violence against children. Countries should invest in collecting prevalence data through population-based surveys as well as in strengthening administrative records like those produced by child helplines in order to build a robust national monitoring system for VAC.

Through a child helpline, a child experiencing violence or at risk of violence can receive frontline counselling and psychosocial support. If specialist support is required, child helplines can facilitate referrals to other services which may include the formal child protection system. More efforts are needed to ensure that functioning referral mechanisms are in place in all locations. Even if helpline operators identify a child in need of support or specialised assistance, services may not exist in the child’s locality or at all. Child helplines should be recognised as a vital service and central component of a national child protection system, resourced sufficiently, and promoted widely for uptake by children. Child helplines can continue to leverage the benefits of technological development including by connecting with children in forms that they prefer and using technology for managing workflows and data, while protecting children’s privacy. At the same time, child helplines need to continue to adapt and ensure their expertise is up to date to support children in the multi-faceted challenges they face in the digital age.

Stephen Blight

Child Protection Section, Programme Group

Claudia Cappa

Data and Analytics Section, Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson

Child Protection Section, Programme Group

Nicole Petrowski

Data and Analytics Section, Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring

Acknowledgements: Child Helplines

We would like to thank the following child helpline members who submitted their data on contacts in each of the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, upon which data this report has been based.

AFRICA REGION

Ethiopia Adama Child Helpline (ECFA)

+251221 - 117575

http://ecfaethiopia.org/index.php/ 2015-12-14-20-32-53/84-about-us

Kenya Childline Kenya

116

http://www.childlinekenya.co.ke

Namibia Lifeline/Childline Namibia

116

http://www.lifelinechildline.org.na

South Africa Childline South Africa

116

http://www.childlinesa.org.za

Tanzania Tanzania National Child Helpline

116

http://www.sematanzania.org/ child-helpline

Zambia Childline Zambia

116

http://clzambia.org/

Zimbabwe Childline Zimbabwe

116

http://www.childline.org.zw

AMERICAS & THE CARIBBEAN REGION

Aruba Telefon pa Hubentud Aruban Youth Telephone Line

131

https://131.aw

Chile Fonoinfancia

800 200 818

http://www.fonoinfancia.cl

Línea Libre

1515

http://www.linealibre.cl

Costa Rica Patronato Nacional de la Infancia (PANI)

1147

https://pani.go.cr/

Curaçao Telefon pa mucha i hoben

918

https://918.cw

Uruguay Línea Azul

0800 5050

http://www.inau.gub.uy/content_page? item/512-linea-azul-denuncias

USA Boys Town National Hotline

1 800 448 3000

http://www.yourlifeyourvoice.org

National Child Abuse Hotline (Childhelp)

1 800 422 4453

http://www.childhelp.org

ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

Australia Kids Helpline

1800 55 1800

http://www.kidshelpline.com.au

Cambodia Child Helpline Cambodia

1280

http://www.childhelplinecambodia.org

Hong Kong Parent-Child Support Line

2755 1122

http://www.aca.org.hk

India Childline India

1098

http://www.childlineindia.org

Nepal Child Helpline 1098

1098

http://www.cwin.org.np

New Zealand 0800 What’s Up?

0800 942 8787

http://www.whatsup.co.nz

Philippines Bantay Bata 163

163

https://foundation.abs-cbn.com/ bantay-bata/about

Singapore Tinkle Friend Helpline

1800 2744 788

http://www.tinklefriend.sg

Thailand Childline Thailand - Saidek 1387

1387

http://www.childlinethailand.org

EUROPE REGION

Albania ALO 116

116 111

http://www.alo116.al

Austria Rat Auf Draht

147

http://www.rataufdraht.at

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Child Helpline

116 111

https://childhelpline.az/index.php/az/

Belgium Jongerenlijn AWEL

102

http://www.awel.be

Bosnia & Plavi Telefon

Herzegovina 080 05 03 05

http://www.plavitelefon.ba

Croatia Hrabritelefon

116 111

http://www.hrabritelefon.hr

Czech Republic Linka Bezpeči

116 111

http://www.linkabezpeci.cz

Denmark BørneTelefonen

116 111

https://bornetelefonen.dk/

Finland Lasten ja Nuorten Puhelin ja Netti

116 111

http://www.nuortennetti.fi

Germany Kinder- und Jugendtelefon

116 111

http://www.nummergegenkummer.de/ kinder-und-jugendtelefon.html

Greece The Smile of the Child

116 111

http://www.hamogelo.gr

Together for Children

115 25

http://www.mazigiatopaidi.gr

Ireland ISPCC Childline

116 111

http://www.childline.ie

Italy Hello Telefono Azzurro

19696

http://www.azzurro.it

Latvia Uzticibas Talrunis

116 111

https://uzticibastalrunis.lv

Lithuania Vaiku Linija

116 111

http://www.vaikulinija.lt

Luxembourg Kanner Jugendtelefon (KJT)

116 111

https://www.kjt.lu/de

Malta Kellimni.com

http://www.kellimni.com

Netherlands De Kindertelefoon

116 111

http://kindertelefoon.nl

North Macedonia Alo Bushavko

+389 70 390 632

https://alobushavko.mk/mk/

Norway Kors På Halsen

800 333 21

https://korspaahalsen.rodekors.no

Poland Telefon Zaufania (Trust Phone for Children & Youth)

116 111

http://www.fdds.pl

Portugal SOS Criança

116 111

https://iacrianca.pt/intervencao/ sos-crianca/

Romania Telefon Copilului

116 111

http://www.telefonulcopilului.ro

Serbia NADEL Nacionalna Deĉija Linija

116 111

https://www.116111.rs/o-nadelu.html

Slovenia National Telephone Helpline - TOM

116 111

http://www.e-tom.si

Spain Télefono ANAR de Ayuda a Ninòs y Adolescentes

116 111

http://www.anar.org

Sweden BRIS

116 111

http://www.bris.se

Switzerland Pro Juventute Beratung + Hilfe 147

147

http://www.147.ch

United Kingdom Childline UK

116 111

https://www.childline.org.uk

MIDDLE EAST & NORTHERN AFRICA (MENA)

Jordan JRF 110 Helpline

110

http://www.jordanriver.jo

Palestine Sawa

121

http:// www.sawa.ps

Qatar Hotline 919

919

http://www.aman.org.qa

Child Helpline International is a collective impact organisation with 159 members in 135 countries and territories around the world (as of March 2023).

We coordinate information, viewpoints, knowledge and data from our child helpline members, partners and external sources. This exceptional resource is used to help and support child protection systems globally, regionally and nationally, and to help our members advocate for the rights of children and amplify their voices.

Child Helpline International

Bruggebouw Suite 5.08

Bos en Lommerplein 280 1055 RW Amsterdam

The Netherlands

www.childhelplineinternational.org

Every child has a voice. No child should be left unheard.