The Child Rescue Nepal (formerly Esther Benjamins Trust) is a UK registered charity that promotes children's rights in Nepal. As a result of the work of the Trust it is now illegal to imprison Nepali children alongside their parents or for them to work in Indian circuses. It has recently become one of the pioneers of deinstitutionalisation in Nepal.
| Industry | Child rights |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Philip Holmes In memory of Esther, his first wife |
| Headquarters | Beulah Family Church, Beulah Crescent London, CR7 8JL. 0207 183 0353 |
Area served | Nepal |
Key people | Joanna Bega, Chief Executive |
| Website | childrescuenepal |
Initiatives
editPrison Children Project
editIn 2002, the charity's first projects in Nepal involved the rescue of innocent children from prison; these were children who had been jailed alongside parents upon whom they were dependent and in the absence of any family members who were willing to look after them. The children were rescued with the agreement of the parents and looked after in community-based refuges[1] where they could attend school and associate freely with their peers.
The story made several headlines,[2] and in November 2001 the Nepal government outlawed the jailing of innocent children. Although it still happened on a small scale, having highlighted the issue and brought the numbers down, a number of local NGOs were able to manage the vastly reduced number of children.[3][4]
Circus Children Project
editIn 2002 one of the trust's Nepali partners heard about the trafficking of children from Nepal into Indian circuses where they were ostensibly employed as performers. The reality – as revealed by research commissioned by the Trust in 2002[5] – was slavery and extremes of abuse inside circuses that existed as de facto prisons. In conjunction with the Indian and Nepalese authorities, the Trust launched a rescue program for the children with great success, and a child trafficking route was closed. The program was instrumental in the release of around 700 children and young people, half of whom were freed by circus raids and the other half released by the circuses to avoid adverse publicity.[6] The Trust's co-workers in Nepal tracked down the traffickers and 20 of them were imprisoned.[7]
In 2006 a Nepalese court first recognized the Indian circus as being a potential trafficking destination and this set a legal precedent. In April 2011 the Indian Supreme Court ruled that performers inside circuses could not be under 18.[8][9][10][11][12]
Disability projects
editThe Trust has also supported the School for Deaf Children in Bhairahawa and the Disabled Day Care Centre in Butwal. When the Trust started working with the school for deaf children it only offered a primary education, it now offers School Leaving Certificate. Just six deaf schools operate across Nepal but the trust has built new classrooms, extended the hostel for boarders, employed the first deaf teacher, and funded a number of scholarships. The Trust supported the development of the disabled day care centre, installed play equipment and sent physiotherapy volunteers.[13]
Deinstitutionalisation
editThe children freed from the jails, the circuses (and from a smaller street children project who could not be immediately reunited with their families) were originally housed in a small community home. Gradually this grew into something of an institution. The trust is one of the first charities in Nepal working through the programme of deinstitutionalisation[14] to support families to improve their own circumstances so that they can be reunited with their children without the children being at risk of further trafficking.[15][16] The trust have now completed the closure of the large home, many children have been reunited with strengthened families with the remainder housed in three small, family-like homes.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Construction of a House for Children of Prisoners". The Nando Peretti Foundation. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ^ "ALasting Legacy: Change a Nepali child's life for good" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
- ^ "Patrons : Prison Me! No Way!!!". www.pmnw.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ "NEWLYWEDS Pete and Lucy Stockall have started married life with an unusual honeymoon". Bristol Post. 7 October 2010. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Children prohibited to work in Indian circuses". Nepali Times. 18 April 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ^ "Reports on Nepal | Embassy of the United States Kathmandu, Nepal". Nepal.usembassy.gov. 20 June 2012. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (19 June 2012). "2012 Trafficking in Persons Report - Nepal". Refworld. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Walsh, Vincent (2011). Supreme Court on Children -. Socio Legal Information Cent. ISBN 9788189479725. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Nepal's lost circus children". Al Jazeera English. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20130121221500/http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/showtext.aspx?boxid=4952828&parentid=11832&issuedate=2852011. Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Clare Harvey. "Circus slave". Nepali Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ Fran Littmann. "Castaways". Nepali Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "EBT enable Higher Education for Deaf Children in Bhairahawa". AllDeaf.com. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Tdh Nepal - Ten steps to deinstitutionalisation". Slideshare.net. 19 September 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Reunification". The Esther Benjamins Trust. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
- ^ Paavan Mathema. "Take me home". Nepali Times. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Help Nepal's Children - the Esther Benjamins Trust". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.