October 27, 2011
A lack of protection policies is putting Nepal's children at risk
Business is booming for volunteer placement organizations attracting adventurous altruists to public service throughout Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. But a severe lack of regulation has made Nepal particularly vulnerable to the pairing of philanthropy and travel, experts say, as reported yesterday by IRIN ( a service of the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“A lot of times we find that in Asian countries, child-serving organizations lack child protection policies, and procedures hence do not have systems in place to protect themselves from potential abusers,” Junita Upadhyay, programme deputy director of ECPAT, an international organization campaigning for the protection of children, told IRIN from Bangkok.
“Many organizations don’t require volunteers to have police checks, even when they have child protection policies… There is not enough dialogue in realizing the importance of such a policy, and the government regulations, if any, are weak.”
Indeed, Anish Neupane with VolNepal, a Kathmandu-based organization which matches volunteers with local NGOs, said in accepting their ever-increasing international placement requests - this year it will reach about 200 - his company proceeds on the grounds of “trust and faith” that volunteers have the best of intentions when requesting to work with children.
Similarly, Volunteer Nepal, established by American Michael Hess to place visitors primarily in Nepali orphanages and schools, does not perform background checks. “We should, but we don’t,” Hess said.
Hess added informal systems are in place in which volunteers are monitored with a sensitivity to any “red flags” that might arise.
While the vast majority of volunteers have the best of intentions, some do not, and child protection experts say unregulated volunteering is happening at the risk of everyone involved. Until the government implements regulations, the burden of protection falls on the organizations and the volunteers.
“At the very least there should be vetting procedures in place,” Aarti Kapoor, child-safe tourism manager with World Vision in Bangkok, told IRIN. “It can be relatively easier to start up a children’s organization in developing countries where the regulations aren’t yet fully developed.”
Take the case of Jean Jacques Haye, for example, a French paedophile who set up an orphanage in Nepal and sexually abused its inhabitants between 1985 and 2001.
He was extradited in 2010 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison in France. Variations of such abuses are sprinkled throughout other countries like Cambodia and Thailand, but a lax or nonexistent legal framework make such successfully tried cases rare.
Of Nepal’s 602 child care homes housing 15,095 children, four are run by the government and nearly 60 percent are operating without evaluation.
A coalition of international organizations is working with the government towards a policy which incorporates best practices for any organization caring for children, but the trend of volunteers going into the child care homes continues mostly unnoticed.
“We know that child care homes are not running properly,” said Raghu Adhikari, programme manager of the Child Welfare Board. He explained the board is awaiting the government's approval of a rights-based national child protection policy which will enhance Nepal’s Children's Act of 1992. But without even a national constitution, this could take years, experts say.
In the meantime, ECPAT conducts child protection policy training in Nepal, emphasizing that an organization must protect itself just as much as the children it serves.
“When the government is not very good at regulating these institutions, the responsibility lies within the organization,” Upadhyay said. “It is fundamental to running a good institution that is serving children.”
Volunteers are lumped in with the more than half a million tourists entering the country every year, de-regulating the experience even further.
“When you don’t have a law then so many things can go wrong, but if we have a law then we can regulate - we could have codes of conduct for volunteers,” said Sumina Tuladhar, executive director of Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN), a Kathmandu-based child advocacy organization. “But when you say volunteering is not legal, then you are not entitled to seek references, or check the background of volunteers coming to your organization. Then it becomes so much easier to come and go.”
Western Volunteers should be asking questions
International organizations like World Vision, Save the Children and Plan International, all partner with local NGOs and require criminal record checks for potential employees and volunteers. They also cycle through fewer people than those whose primary focus is the placement of tourists in volunteer experiences. In the last year, Save the Children Nepal took on five volunteers, against Volunteer Nepal’s 150.
Experts say volunteers seeking placement should ask a few key questions, starting with: “Would this be allowed in my own country?”
The more questions a volunteer asks, the more an organization will start to think about protecting the children involved.
Recommended Child Protection Procedures and Systems
The Charity Commission in UK has offered guidelines for child protection, which, in my opinion, could be beneficial for all child-serving organizations in Nepal.
The procedures and systems should include:
1. A named person (and deputy) with a clearly defined role and responsibilities in relation to child protection, appropriate to the level at which s/he operates.
2. A description of what child abuse is, and the procedures for how to respond to it where there are concerns about a child’s safety or welfare or concerns about the actions of a trustee, staff member or volunteer. Relevant contact details for children’s services, police, health and NSPCC helplines should be available.
3. A process for recording incidents, concerns and referrals and storing these securely in compliance with relevant legislation and kept for a time specified by your insurance company.
4. Guidance on confidentiality and information sharing, legislation compliant, and which clearly states that the protection of the child is the most important consideration.
5. A code of behavior for trustees, staff and volunteers. The consequences of breaching the code are clear and linked to disciplinary and grievance procedures.
6. Safe recruitment, selection and vetting procedures that include checks into the eligibility and the suitability of all trustees, staff and volunteers who have direct or indirect (e.g. helpline, email) contact with children. In the case of trustees, because of their position within the charity, we take the view that whenever there is a legal entitlement to obtain a CRB check in respect of such a trustee, a check should be carried out. This goes beyond circumstances where the trustee comes into contact with children.
7. A complaints procedure which is an open and well publicized way in which adults and children can voice concerns about unacceptable and/or abusive behavior towards children.
8. Systems to ensure that all staff and volunteers working with children are monitored and supervised and that they have opportunities to learn about child protection in accordance with their roles and responsibilities.
9. Requirements for trustees, staff and volunteers to learn about child protection in accordance with and as appropriate to their roles and responsibilities.
It is important that each charity’s safeguarding policy and procedures are tailored to the type of contact that the charity has with children and it also needs to take into account any particular vulnerabilities of the children with whom the charity has contact; for example disabled children who are at increased risk of abuse; babies and toddlers who are vulnerable due to their age and dependence on adults.
……………………………………………………………………….
