World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse Award

Chennai-based NGO Tulir awarded International Prize for Child abuse Prevention

The Chennai-based non-governmental organization Tulir-CPHCSA (Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse) has been awarded this year’s prestigious WWSF’s First Prize for “Prevention of Child Abuse” among over 600 organizations from 110 countries. This award is given every year by the Geneva-headquartered Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) to four organizations that carry out innovative child sex abuse preventive initiatives in their countries.

The first Indian organization to be conferred with this award, Tulir ( which in Tamil means the first leaves of a plant or leaves after a period of adversity), was set up in August 2004 with a vision of propagating the awareness that it is the right of every child to feel safe from sexual abuse at all times, and also to equip children, families and other stakeholders to prevent and deal effectively with this fundamental violation of childhood that is not uncommon in India.
Besides undertaking a research study on the Prevalence and Dynamics of Child Sexual Abuse among School Going Children, Tulir has also pioneered the concept of Personal Safety Education in India, which is a direct initiative with children to empower them to protect themselves for abusive situations or people. Capacity building and assisting other organizations to work on the issue is also an important focus area of the organization.

Says Vidya Reddy, whose disappointment at the lack of resources and general apathy to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse led to the setting up of Tulir: “We are delighted at receiving the award, especially as it is by and among peers. It is an affirmation of a journey which tends to get very lonely, at times. We hope this award will lead to an increase in the visibility of the problem and raise public discourse around it, besides motivating and encouraging others to work in this area of preventing violence against children, for which there appears no end in sight.”

The WWSF is a non-profit, non-confessional empowerment NGO with the UN consultative status that helps implement women’s and children’s rights and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) globally.

In 2000, the WWSF launched the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse that is commemorated on November 19 every year to create awareness and build a culture of preventing child abuse - emotional, physical and sexual - and violence against children and was a response to a movement which decided to mark Apr. 25 as the World Day fro Pedophilia. It is organized in synergy with the anniversary date of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (November 20).

The awards ceremony, which will be held on Nov.17th, 2006 in Geneva, will honour Tulir with a citation and a prize money of $ 3000. The other three organizations selected for this year’s award are the Queen Rania Family & Child Center at Jordan River Foundation; the Association Najdeh in Lebanon, and the Cercle de Réflexion et d’Action pour Christ, CRAC, Togo.

For further details about the award and Tulir contact:
Tulir-CPHCSA - L Block, 57 A, 27 th Street, Anna Nagar (East), Chennai - 600 102. Tel : 044-26632026 tulircphcsa@yahoo.co.in; http://www.tulircphcsa.org/