Children's Rights Advocacy Officea participatory approach to promoting children's rights
Children are one of Cambodia's most vulnerable groups, facing numerous threats to their safety and livelihood. Available healthcare is poor and infant mortality rates are high. Literacy levels remain low across all sections of society and access to education is limited. Children are also subjected to violence and exploitation, such as sexual abuse and trafficking. Despite lethal working conditions, poverty drives parents to send their children to work in brick factories and other high-risk industries as child laborers. Child laborers make less than $2 a day and regularly suffer debilitating injuries.
What we do
In response to these issues, the Children's Rights Advocacy Office aims to prevent child labor through education and advocacy campaigns and provides services to child abuse victims. The Office's activities include:
- Educating children, youths, local authorities and other community members on the existence and prevention of children's rights abuses through regular trainings
- Helping communities from Child Protection Groups which disseminate knowledge on human rights abuses at a local level, offer support to victims and report instances of child abuse
- Conducting mass media campaigns on child labor issues using radio and TV programs, billboards and newspaper articles
- Working in partnership with other NGOs to publish research on child rights issues, including child labor in brick factories and the use of child labor by parents to pay off debt
- Helping communities organize local events such as concerts and marches to raise awareness on child rights issues
