Terre des Hommes Suisse

India – From despair to hope: a story of courage and solidarity

Deniz Ates — Wed, 22 May 2024 09:32:10 +0000

The photo used to illustrate this article is a borrowed photo and is not a photo of Rumki.

In many parts of India, young girls face severe social stigma due to societal norms and cultural prejudices linked to premarital relationships, early marriage, teenage pregnancy or accusations of misconduct. Girls are often victims of bullying, abuse, neglect, mental health problems, lack of understanding and acceptance, or a host of other risk factors in the home.

To avoid these situations and find new opportunities for a better life, teenage girls leave home and become easy targets for human traffickers. Once on the streets, the traffickers exploit them by tempting them with false promises of employment, marriage or a better life. But what’s alarming today is that the number of cases of girls disappearing from their families is on the rise. According to India’s National Crime Records Bureau, the percentage of missing girls has risen from 65% in 2016 to 75% in 2022 nationwide.

“According to the National Crime Records Bureau in India, the percentage of missing girls - compared to boys - has risen from 65% in 2016 to 75% in 2022 nationwide. In all, there are nearly 115,000 missing children in India.”

Cyberbullying and running away: when technology drives girls to flee

Technological advances have multiplied social interactions, leading to negative consequences such as cyberbullying in both urban and rural areas. Studies show that teenage victims of cyberbullying are at increased risk of mental health problems, including low self-esteem, loneliness, depression and suicidal thoughts. Adolescent girls are more often victims of cyberbullying than boys, reinforcing the link with mental health problems. Fearing social dishonor, some girls may choose to run away rather than face oppressive norms, often lured by false promises of a better life and opportunities. The case of Rumki (name changed) illustrates this growing trend of girls running away to escape cyberbullying and social harassment.

After the death of her father, Rumki (20) stayed with her older brother and mother in the maternal home in the village of Borjumla in Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. Living conditions in the maternal home are difficult, characterized by financial constraints.

Rumki’s eldest brother is the sole breadwinner, with a monthly income of barely 100 Swiss francs. His mother, who works as a bidi (local cigarette) mender, earns no more than 10 Swiss francs a month. Despite financial constraints, Rumki managed to complete her schooling and then enrolled at university to obtain her degree. She has been a member of the Murshidabad Youth Group (under the aegis of the Indian Youth Council or IYC) since 2021, supported by Shripur Mahila O Khadi Unnayan Samity (SMOKUS), and has shown remarkable enthusiasm and active participation in social actions.

Love turns to nightmare, Rumki victim of violence

Rumki’s journey took a worrying turn when she became romantically involved with a young boy from a neighboring village. This relationship became a major source of concern, as her partner adopted a rigid behavior, limiting her freedom to interact with others and move around freely. The situation worsened when she was physically assaulted by her partner.

To add to Rumki’s distress, she was also the victim of cyberbullying, as the boy took photos of her without her consent and posted them on social media platforms, exposing her to harassment and social embarrassment. Rumki suffered from severe depression, and her family had to cope with taunts and insults from neighbors and the community, compounding her mental anguish.

In this situation, Rumki telephoned someone from her village who lived in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, and promised to help her secure a promising career. Convinced by this assurance and other factors, she took the radical decision to run away from home.

Rumki on the run

With a limited amount of money, Rumki left her home on December 30, 2023, intending to travel to Hyderabad. She took a train from her hometown to Sealdah, but it only went to Berhampur, a nearby station, where she spent the night alone in the station’s waiting room. On December 31, she took another train to Kolkata. Arriving in Kolkata in the early hours of January 1, 2024, she stayed at the station.

Unable to book a train ticket to Hyderabad on her own, she contacted a local young man, Sourabh Kumar Shaw, in Kolkata, by phone in the evening, asking for help.

Sourabh is a young member of TdH Switzerland’s partner organization, the Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) in Kolkata, and an active member of the Indian Youth Council (IYC). After receiving the call, Saurabh and other young members went to the railway station to meet her.

After meeting Rumki, the IYC members understood the circumstances and her intention to leave the state by any means necessary to escape her predicament. The young members perceived the potential risk of her falling prey to a human trafficking network if she decided to settle alone in the unknown city of Hyderabad.

Support from the Youth Council

In order to give Rumki’s family time to get to Kolkata the next morning, IYC members acted while they were arranging his ticket to Hyderabad the following day and persuaded Rumki to stay at the residence of Shashi Ojha, a teacher at the Support Education Centre.

DRCSC team members organized a counseling session for Rumki, providing her with professional support to help her overcome the difficulties she was facing. During this session, she revealed that she was a victim of cyberbullying, which was causing considerable mental stress for her and her family. To protect her family from distress, she chose to leave her home and start a new life in another city.

However, the advisor stressed the potential risks of trusting strangers and the danger of being trapped in human trafficking. It was mentioned that any cases of cyberbullying should be promptly reported to the police, so that the perpetrators can be held accountable.

The importance of community support in Rumki's comeback

On January 2, 2024, Rumki’s brother, accompanied by a female member of the SMOKUS team (a Terre des Hommes Suisse partner), arrived in Kolkata. After a brief counseling session and conversation with her brother, Rumki was convinced of the risks and the wrong decision she had taken, but agreed to return home. This episode highlights the crucial role of community support, especially for children and teenagers facing difficult circumstances. IYC members played a commendable role in preventing Rumki from suffering significant harm, underlining IYC’s commitment to upholding children’s rights and providing a protective environment for its young members.

Terre des Hommes Suisse in India

The incident highlights the pressing need to address issues related to personal safety, consent and responsible media consumption. In November 2023, virtual capacity-building sessions were organized by TdH Switzerland India NC to improve the skills of selected youth and community leaders.

As part of the IYC, TdH Switzerland supports 60 youth groups with over 1,100 members in four states of India, offering them a platform to address and combat challenges while fostering an environment conducive to the empowerment of young individuals.

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Concrete measures to combat bullying at school

Deniz Ates — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:15:39 +0000

Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partners have set up a large number of initiatives to combat bullying at school. These initiatives have a common denominator: to lay the foundations, from the earliest years of schooling, for a culture of peace and the search for understanding by focusing on prevention, dialogue, non-violent communication and mediation.

Mediation that is less focused on judgement and blame than on the objective of maintaining peace, for the good of all. By setting up “peace brigades”, self-protection groups and other measures designed to curb the phenomenon of harassment, Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partners are trying to make the school environment a place of harmonious collective life, characterised by balance, by the wellbeing and well-being of pupils, and by their full development.

This article follows on from the article entitled "Dealing with bullying at school".

Read the article

Bolivia: Developing a culture of peace in schools

The efforts of the Peace Brigades set up in Bolivia by the PASOCAP organisation in Potosi and the Estrella Foundation in Cochabamba are a perfect example of how to create protective environments for children, with the aim of reducing violence and harassment in schools. Made up of pupils from the same school, the Peace Brigades look after the environment and general atmosphere in which lessons and school life take place. The members of the Peace Brigade are trained in bullying issues and know how to identify the signs of bullying among their classmates, passing on any warnings to teachers and school leaders. The prevention work carried out by the brigades goes well beyond the role they have taken on of being watchdogs for peace and good school coexistence. They also provide information and raise awareness: their members help other pupils to build up their self-esteem so that they are better able to deal with the dangers that harassment poses for its victims.

Boosting self-esteem

Self-protection groups have been set up by the Ayni Foundation in the Cochabamba region with the aim of disarming and thwarting violence at school. The aim is to equip children against the onslaught of enmity and malice by making them aware of their rights and teaching them practical ways of defending themselves.

Making your voice heard

Harassment at school or by digital means (cyberbullying) has emerged as one of the major concerns of Swiss children and pre-adolescents. This was highlighted at the 4th Children’s Conference for French-speaking Switzerland, held in Geneva in November 2023. One of the effects of this was to spur public discussion on what the canton is doing, and what it still needs to initiate and undertake, to deal with bullying.

Haiti: developing a non-violent non-violent pedagogy

Within the framework of positive discipline and non-violent teaching, various behaviour management strategies are established. These include identifying emotions, understanding them and becoming aware of the need to regulate and calm them. Exercises are suggested to educators, and hence to pupils, to help them practise active and empathic listening with others, but also to help them rediscover peace and serenity. This is what is covered in the memento “Discipline positive et pédagogie non-violente” (Positive discipline and non-violent teaching) published by the National Coordination of Terre des Hommes Suisse in Haiti in 2023. The document is presented as a support programme for the training of educators in rights, sustainable development and solidarity (EDDS). It deals with a number of subjects that should be an integral part of any education designed to encourage children to acquire knowledge of their rights, and which seeks to promote the values of sustainable development: respectful communication in the classroom, conflict management and resolution, building positive discipline, and the application of non-violent teaching methods.

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Peru: Sheltered by the peaks, human trafficking is a reality

Deniz Ates — Sat, 20 Apr 2024 14:08:43 +0000

Human trafficking is rife in Peru, particularly in remote regions where poverty and lack of opportunities encourage exploitation. Children, men and women are regularly tricked by false promises and become victims of sexual exploitation, forced labour and other forms of trafficking. Prevention and awareness-raising, particularly through educational initiatives in schools, are essential to combat this scourge and protect vulnerable communities. Report (Emmanuelle Birraux, Head of Communications, Terre des Hommes Suisse / Cover photo: Carmen Barrantes).

It takes several hours from the city of Cusco to reach the municipality of Ccatcca. The road is winding and bumpy, with majestic mountains towering above. I feel lost in this immensity. One pass hides another, then another. There aren’t many settlements, but you can see a few herds of llamas and a few donkeys, reminders that men, women and families must live here. I can make them out. Without necessarily meeting them, without necessarily being able to understand the extent to which these arid, craggy, isolated expanses are their lives, their worlds.

It will take more than 4 hours to reach the municipality of Ccatcca, where Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partner Yanapanakusun are active. A large tarmac road runs through a village, deserted at this time of day. Most of the inhabitants have long since returned to their fields, agriculture being the main activity in the region. We have to get to the school high up in the village. Dirt has taken the place of tarmac and we set off along improbable paths, not without getting lost before being guided by a “motorbike taxi”, one of the locals’ preferred means of transport.

Schoolchildren from the local area are waiting for us to take part in one of their awareness-raising activities on human trafficking. I ask myself. Why talk about human trafficking in an area where everything looks so peaceful, where the snow-capped peaks in the distance seem to be watching over the souls of the people? Such tranquillity is deceptive.

Human trafficking is a reality in Peru. At national level, 1,908 victims have been reported by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, including more than 600 people in the southern corridor alone, where Ccatcca is located.

Un atelier dans le cadre d'une journée de sensibilisation à la traite des êtres humains

Des enfants dans le cadre d'une journée de sensibilisation à la traite des êtres humains

In this Andean region, women, men and children are regularly “captured” and exploited. A poor, remote region, job opportunities are rare. Many of the children at the school live with a “godfather” so that they can study. Their parents and families live in remote areas, hours away from the school. The only option for guaranteeing them an education is to entrust them to acquaintances. Leaving them alone and on their own, they are particularly vulnerable to “dream sellers”. When you’re 14 or 15, don’t you want a better life? Of a world where money would be easier? How can you refuse these tempting offers promising idyllic salaries and working conditions? It’s so easy to be fooled. And the traffickers know it. So, on the basis of false promises, fraudulent attentions and attractive job offers, many victims allow themselves to be tricked.

Carmen Barrantes, head of advocacy for Terre des Hommes Suisse in Peru, has worked extensively on the issue of trafficking in the country. She explains that trafficking is still considered a crime under ordinary law. It is all the more insidious because it is often committed by people from the same community (Quechua, for example), from the same family, or by friends. The very victims of trafficking often become perpetrators of the same acts and deceptions.

Where gold flows

All this traffic has one main destination: Madre de Dios. Situated in south-west Peru on the border with Brazil and Bolivia, in the heart of the Amazon region, this sparsely populated and isolated region is extremely rich in gold and timber. Peru is the world’s sixth largest producer of gold, and over the last few decades the country has seen extraordinary growth in small-scale gold mining. Legal and illegal mining activity is intense, at the cost of uncontrolled deforestation and irreversible environmental damage. And at the cost of an explosion in all kinds of trafficking: forced labour in the mines, sexual exploitation, domestic exploitation. Here, another form of parallel growth has developed. In some areas, along the inter-oceanic route, there are bars (prostibars) and young girls enticing the miners after a hard day’s work, a visible sign of how mining has stimulated trafficking.

The inhabitants of Ccutacca don’t talk much, testimonies are rare, out of fear, fear of reprisals, shame. Yet it’s no secret that their community is located right on the traffic route: 7 hours, 395 km on the inter-oceanic route to get from the cold zone (the Andes) to the hot zone (the Amazon). It’s a route that can easily lead to hell for these children, men and women.

Prevention as a tool in the fight against disease

Amelia tells me that her sister was 11 years old when she went to work in a house, even though she was promised that she would be able to continue her studies while helping a family with some domestic chores: “In fact, she had to do everything in this house, she didn’t go to school any more. She was treated like a slave, wasn’t paid and didn’t get enough to eat. Amelia won’t say any more. Embarrassed. As if she’d said too much.

In these areas, one of the ways of combating trafficking is through prevention. Educating, informing, talking about the mechanisms of capture, the consequences of trafficking on physical and psychological integrity, these are all essential points to be able to take concrete action against this scourge.

Today, at Ccatcaa school, a whole event is being organised by the pupils around the theme of child trafficking, and a fresco is being unveiled for the occasion: “No to trafficking! The message is clear. At each of the stands, the pupils inform their peers about the risks associated with trafficking, the forms it takes in the region where they live, and the consequences for people’s physical and psychological integrity.

"It's important for us to understand what's going on. It's important to be educated about the issues. Our parents often don't know what it's all about. They often let themselves be taken in and let us go, thinking we'll be able to live a better life away from the hardship and poverty of our village. So we can also explain to them what's going on. The risks are real. Thanks to this knowledge, we too can take action and defend ourselves. I'm really grateful for all the training I've received on the subject, and the workshops organised around these issues. It makes me feel stronger.

Alejandro

14 ans

He knows that prevention alone may not be enough to eradicate the problem, so difficult are the living conditions in his region and so strong can be the lure of profit, but he also knows that this step is key in the fight to protect children and young people.

Carmen Barrantes, explains that the resources made available at government level are insufficient, and the stereotypical prevention campaigns (innocent victims trapped by cruel and ruthless men) do not allow the full extent of the problem to be grasped. In all this complexity, not every effort is in vain. Terre des Hommes Suisse thus stands out as one of the first civil society institutions in Peru to work on the prevention of trafficking within the framework of a rural community programme, involving Quechua girls, adolescents and women. A stone in the building.

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Terre des Hommes Suisse was founded on the basis of a book

Deniz Ates — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:19:47 +0000

Terre des Hommes Suisse would like to thank Dessy Damianova, a literature enthusiast and the author of this text, who worked with the Geneva Communications team to produce this text.

Terre des Hommes Suisse takes the name of its organisation from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel “Terre des Hommes”. We have just celebrated the 75th anniversary of the publication of this novel, and this is an opportunity to look back at it and how it has shaped the spirit of the organisation.

A great reader of Exupéry, the founder of Terre des hommes did more than simply borrow the powerful, evocative and meaningful title that the French writer had chosen for his third novel; Edmond Kaiser has taken on board the general spirit of the novel, as well as several of its key ideas.

But what is the philosophy behind this story like no other? What are the main ideas behind a work that, like the swirls of sand burning in the middle of the Sahara that its author was almost familiar with, presents itself to its readers as a whirlwind of images, diverse impressions, thoughts and questions? An autobiographical essay, written in a fragmentary, even impressionistic way, halfway between prose and poetry, Saint-Exupéry’s Terre des Hommes is, despite its emblematic title, which sounds like a programme – anything but a manifesto, anything but a programme.

And yet, as the pages turn, we discover a common thread, a very specific philosophy that makes this astonishing essay-novel perfectly coherent and very much in keeping with its title. The philosophy in question is none other than that of a responsible and demanding humanism which, however poetically it may be expressed at certain points in the book, wants to see Man grow through concrete actions, full of meaning and useful to others.

But above all, the novel Terre des Hommes expresses the conviction of its author – an aviator– that something essential, major and superior must come to animate human life, which is otherwise doomed to mediocrity, a debasing routine, or even a kind of nothingness.

L’humanisme terre-à-terre de l’auteur français admet que l’être humain peut échapper à la médiocrité existentielle en vivant pleinement son appartenance à ce qu’il appelle “la communauté des hommes“, en assumant pleinement son rôle au sein de cette communauté, en se sentant utile, efficace et responsable. C’est aussi travailler avec d’autres, dans un même esprit de solidarité, de compagnonnage et de camaraderie, voire de fraternité, à la réalisation d’un objectif commun.

Here are a few sentences from the novel Terre des Hommes where Saint-Exupéry talks about all this:

"To be a human being is precisely to be responsible... It's to feel, by laying your stone, that you are helping to build the world."

So it is only by reaching for some summit, with full awareness of their own role and responsibilities in the common action, that men and women can escape the existential mediocrity in which the daily routine tends to envelop them, often made up of a lack of meaning, a loss of vision, a lack of purpose, and all the temptations of the easy way out.

"Only then do we breathe, and experience shows us that to love is not to look at each other, but to look together in the same direction. Comrades are only comrades if they are united in the same climb, towards the same summit...".

The human being behind the man

But the Men in Terre des Hommes are also Man, the Human Being with a capital letter – the man or woman who, at a critical moment, in a time of trial, will approach us and, in a spirit of total empathy and solidarity, will offer us his or her help. Saint-Exupéry had experienced this, and he recounts it in what appears to be the climactic episode of his novel – the providential appearance of a Bedouin at a time when the writer-pilot and his mechanic Prévost, thirsty and exhausted after days of walking in the desert, thought they were lost, far from any human presence, forgotten in the middle of the sands.

To complete this article, we invite you to listen tothe France Inter podcast “In extremis, histoires de survie” (In extremis, stories of survival), which gives a magnificent account of this episode in the desert.

Saint-Exupéry immortalised this encounter withMan, which saved the two men from a death as painful as it was certain to be, in words full of emotion:

"As for you who are saving us, Bedouin of Libya... you are Man and you appear to me with the face of all men at once. You have never stared at us and yet you have already recognised us. You are my beloved brother. And, in my turn, I will recognise you in all men".

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s high opinion of human beings, his faith in their potential for generosity and empathy, and his refusal to see men and women wallow in mediocrity and a life devoid of meaning – any more than he would agree to be transformed into robots in a society that is increasingly automated, dehumanised and, more often than not, idolised by gain – are, above all, what make him one of the greatest humanists of his time.

Edmond Kaiser and Terre des hommes

Far beyond its title alone, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel Terre des Hommes has left its mark on the children’s rights organisation with its responsible and demanding humanism – right from the start.

An avid reader of Saint-Exupéry, Edmond Kaiser, founder of Terre des Hommes, shared the French writer’s reluctance to speak of pity and charity (“I hardly believe in pity… What ails me, soup kitchens cannot cure. “) when it came to making himself useful to people shaken by concrete events or – in the Exuperian perspective – by certain living conditions or specific working conditions that debase the “human quality” in men and women.

And if, as reticent about “charity” as the French writer was, from 1980 onwards, E. Kaiser would definitively give priority to urgent and direct action in favour of children (by devoting himself, in particular, to his new “Sentinelles” project and to the problems ofchildren who have suffered), his first creation, “Terre des Hommes”, would, for its part, come even closer to the type of humanism professed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in his work on children’s rights, even closer to the type of humanism professed by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in all that this humanism, although less focused on urgency and the immediacy of action, dreamed of and hoped for as the advent of man/woman towards a life increasingly full of meaning, significance and responsibility towards others.

Terre des Hommes Suisse not only works to defend the fundamental rights of the child in the 10 countries where it is active, but also, through its local partners, supports all institutions and initiatives that work for the development of children and young people, to open up new prospects for them, to help them take flight towards new horizons.

Un enfant au Sénégal lors d'un atelier de sensibilisation au développement durable

Un bénévole et une marcheuse à la Marche de l'espoir 2023

Une jeune fille lors d'un atelier en Colombie en 2023

In this sense, the school, the place where the sense of discovery and knowledge is cultivated and where vocations are awakened, is at the centre of Terre des Hommes Suisse’s attention. TdH Switzerland is working for a school that is accessible to all and for quality education that is integral and holistic, taking into account all the dimensions of a child’s development – cognitive as well as civic, relational, emotional and psychological.

The taste for responsibility and commitment that Terre des Hommes Suisse tries to instil and encourage in the young people it supports is also very “exupérien”. Thus the participation of children and young people has been placed at the centre of the organisation’s activities. The Children’s Conference in Switzerland and the Youth Councils in Latin America are just two examples.

Enabling children and young people to assert their desire to play an active role in tomorrow’s society by committing themselves, in particular, to a safer and fairer future that respects their rights.

High-flying pilot and poet of the earth

The Earth is everywhere in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novel. The man who, prey to the “inexplicable love of flight”, had spent a significant part of his life in the air, loves the earth with a very special love. When he, the pilot, talks about it, it is always to touch on something universal, sometimes even something fundamentally original.

Saint-Exupéry celebrates the earth in all its forms: it is the “clay” and “human clay” that breathe so strongly of creation, origins and genesis, but it is also quite simply the native soil that the author-aviator and his companions received in three boxes when, during one of their missions, they were thousands of kilometres away from France: “Three green leaves grow there, and we caress them with our finger like jewels”.

For Saint-Exupéry, the earth was also the sand that inspired images of moving poetry: “Under the moon, the sand is pink”, at sunrise it is “the colour of honey” and has a “mysterious radiance”. Saint-Exupéry was also very poetic when he sang of the fruits of the land he loved so much.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry also celebrates planet Earth – one among millions, the only one, ours. And even though he sometimes uses troubling words to describe its mysterious march through space, seeing it alternately as “a planet that carries us away” or as a “wandering planet”, the intense feeling of familiarity and emotional attachment dominates above all else. If we fly away from Earth, driven by a spirit of exploration and adventure, we will feel lost “in interplanetary space, among a hundred inaccessible planets, in search of the one true planet, the one that alone contained our familiar landscapes, our friendly homes, our tenderness”.

When Edmond Kaiserchose to name his organisation after the novel Terre des Hommes, he definitely did not think he was doing so well: in many respects, his project proved to be visionary. In recent years, Terre des Hommes Suisse has made significant progress in integrating ecological considerations into its activities, particularly in the context of its education for sustainable development and solidarity (EDDS) activities. Terre des Hommes Suisse, an NGO that defends the rights of children, has never ceased to be an organisation that works for the balance, well-being and fulfilment of young people. This development being closely linked to a clean, sustainable and healthy environment, children’s rights are now recognised.

In June 2022, on the occasion of World Environment Day and echoing the United Nations’ recognition of the right to a healthy environment as a fundamental human right, Terre des Hommes Suisse launched the “Save my planet, save my rights” campaign: calling for environmental management that is more respectful of planetary limits and in favour of any action that contributes to the survival, sustainability and viability of our Earth and therefore of children’s rights.

Take action with Terre des Hommes Suisse to protect children around the world

Every donation makes a difference to a child’s life.

Thank you for your support!

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Preventing bullying in schools

Deniz Ates — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:15:30 +0000

Until recently, bullying at school was a problem whose scale and seriousness were unknown. Over the past fifteen years or so, this phenomenon has finally been recognised as a worrying problem, with complex and far-reaching societal consequences, particularly in terms of children’s rights. A welcome recognition!

From knowing winks and wry smiles to physical violence, the full range of verbal stigmatisation (mockery, insults, derogatory remarks) and more subtle and secret means of psychological destabilisation (blackmail, coercion, rumours, silence, isolation): nothing is enough to humiliate a peer who has been singled out as a target. What is the actual reason for the stigmatisation? It can be anything from a social marker that is interpreted as demeaning to an unusual character trait that harassers consider “odd”. Or from a physical characteristic that is a little too distinctive to an original interest that is different from that of others. For example, a slightly extravagant hobby or the fact that you don’t wear the “right” brand of clothes can, in the same way as obesity, disability, acne spots or red hair, trigger systematic displays of adversity and aggression from several pupils or a single individual.

Des enfants sur un quai de gare dans le cadre de la visite du palais fédéral à Berne en 2024

Serious effects

According to UNICEF’s new definition of bullying: “Bullying in schools is a harmful social process characterised by unbalanced power dynamics that stem from social (societal) and institutional norms. Harassment is often repeated and takes the form of undesirable interpersonal behaviour by pupils or school staff, causing physical, social and emotional harm to the individuals or groups targeted and to the school community as a whole”.

What this definition emphasises is that the effects are serious for the victim. As a child or young person going through the fragile period of adolescence, they do not have the necessary tools either to face up to the hostility of their peers, or to draw from within themselves sufficient self-confidence to allow themselves to remain indifferent, showing themselves to be impervious to the attacks and insults of others. At this age, we don’t really know how to deal with the differences or take on the specificities for which we find ourselves stigmatised. We also don’t know how, at the very least, to compensate for our originality by valuing another quality, a characteristic that is likely to be approved of and praised, interpreted in terms of advantage. Bullying at school is often associated with poor concentration, falling motivation and even dropping out of school.

Un enfant au Sénégal lors d'un atelier de sensibilisation au développement durable

Des enfants d'un child club dans la banlieue de Dakar

Defeating the mechanisms of harassment

A group phenomenon based on asymmetry of power and numerical inequality, bullying encourages several people to lash out at a single victim. The most distressing thing for the victim is to see friends, usually young people themselves struggling to fit in at school or trying to please their more ‘popular’ peers, join the harassers.

A group phenomenon based on asymmetry of power and numerical inequality, bullying encourages several people to lash out at a single victim. What is most distressing for the victim is to see friends, usually young people themselves struggling to fit in at school or trying to please their more ‘popular’ peers, join the harassers. Fortunately, over the last fifteen years or so, what might previously have been regarded as simple joking or teasing between pupils has now been condemned by schools as serious acts that impede the right to a high-quality, inclusive and equitable education.

Alongside all the intelligence, information and awareness-raising work, appropriate solutions are being sought to deal with cases of harassment and prevention strategies are being drawn up. School communities as a whole, children’s aid organisations and poFormatlitics are becoming increasingly involved in this search for solutions and in the effort to thwart the cruel game of harassment and bullying. The problem of harassment is a global one, which makes no distinction between the standard of living and the level of economic development. As a place of education, school is also the place where we learn the basics of living together and where we receive our first lessons in tolerance and respect for others, our first lessons in citizenship. It is now inconceivable that this space should lend itself, as is still sometimes the case today, to dynamics that run counter to these essential objectives of the school.

Putting a stop to bullying, recognising its signs and preventing it, teaching pupils to refuse to assert themselves by humiliating and trampling on others – these are the goals to which the school of the 21st century is striving and aspiring, alongside its concrete objectives linked to the transmission of knowledge. To meet this challenge, schools are far from alone: children’s rights organisations are there to support the fight against harassment at school and enable all pupils to grow and learn in healthy, protective educational environments, free from violence.

Concrete measures

Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partners have set up a large number of initiatives to combat bullying at school. These initiatives have a common denominator: laying the foundations, from the earliest years of schooling, for a culture of peace and the search for understanding by focusing on prevention, dialogue, non-violent communication and mediation. Mediation that is less focused on judgement and blame than on the objective of maintaining peace, for the good of all. By setting up “peace brigades”, self-protection groups and other measures designed to curb the phenomenon of harassment, Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partners are trying to make the school environment a place of harmonious collective life, characterised by balance, by the wellbeing and well-being of pupils, and by their full development.

Find out more about the concrete measures that have been put in place by reading the rest of this article "Concrete measures to combat bullying at school".

Read the article

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“There’s no need to explain: his school is closed”, says Haiti

Deniz Ates — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 14:02:30 +0000

The latest violence in Haiti has highlighted the power of gangs, which often take advantage of institutional negligence to extend their power. This is a well-known phenomenon in America’s poorest country, where gangs thrive on a backdrop of racketeering, trafficking, kidnapping and looting. Armed to the teeth, they create terror, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince.

The situation in the country is complex, judging in particular by the difficulties in deploying an international mission to help the nation. Today, whole lives are being destroyed, with children at the forefront of this horror.

Guerty Aimé, national coordinator for Terre des Hommes Suisse in Haiti, gives her own account of the current situation. Report.

Mario stands perplexed in front of the school gate. He waddles, hesitates and glances round in search of an answer to his silent question. What’s going on this morning at Argentine Bellegarde?

A group of hurried women jostle him as they pass. They each carry a bundle from which a saucepan, the heel of a shoe and even a piece of bread can be seen here and there. Mario looks at the gaping gate and beyond it at all the people in the courtyard who are busy, walking around or sitting on the ground, surrounded by all sorts of objects, their faces closed.

Mario was there at 1pm, running after his friend Jefferson to catch the football. Where were all the children, the teacher and even the Headmistress, Mrs Hollant, still standing by the staircase, keenly observing how each child presented himself and whether the uniform shirts had been properly fitted inside the trousers?

Mario rubs his forehead and wonders if he’s the victim of a bad dream, like the one in the fairy tale where Adelina is transported in her sleep to the land of a thousand eyes. But no… he’s not dreaming. His school is no longer a school…

It's Friday 1 March 2024. Everything is real.

The day before, at around 16:30, more than 800 people invaded the premises of the Argentine Bellegarde school. Internally displaced persons. 827 people to be exact, including 23 boys and 41 girls aged between 0 and 12, among the 15,000 registered in this never-ending race that has been taking place in Port-au-Prince since 29 February 2024.

The armed gangs, re-federated for the occasion, have decided to launch a final offensive in the capital. Their stated aim: to put an end to the government of Dr Ariel Henry. Since then, morning, noon, evening and even night, the clatter of machine-gun fire has marked the movements of two million people trapped in the hell of Port-au-Prince. These armed attacks have caused massive population displacement in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. 3,204 households, or 14,740 people including more than 5,000 children, have been forced to move. Carrefour feuilles, Ruelle Alerte, Poste Marchand, Rue des Miracles: one by one, the neighbourhoods in the lower part of the city have emptied, leaving a few dogs to roam the rubbish heaps.

"Only 17% of displaced people were able to find refuge with a relative, friend or Samaritan.

Only 17% of displaced persons have been able to find shelter with a relative, friend or Samaritan. For the rest, 83%, it was a matter of finding a wall to take shelter in, any wall and as quickly as possible. And so, in this race to the bottom, we see the emergence of “spontaneous sites for internally displaced persons”, as they are modestly called, where the remnants of families dislocated by wandering try to imprison time. Hold on, survive… at all costs.

Schools become refuges... where to go to school?

After the buildings cracked during the 2010 earthquake, schools have become the new focal point and last resort for the population in distress. Two weeks earlier, it was the lycées: Lycée Antenor Firmin, Lycée Jean Jacques, Lycée des Jeune filles, Lycée Marie Jeanne… But in this new wave, it’s basic and primary schools:

Ecole Colbert Lochard
Virginie Sampeur National School
Caroline Cheveau National School
Argentine Bellegarde National School
Darius Denis National School
Charles Dubé National School
Colombia National School

The latter four are partner schools of Terre des Hommes Suisse through its education programme on rights, sustainable development and solidarity. More than 1,800 children attend these 4 schools in Port-au-Prince, and like Mario this Friday morning, their world is coming to an end because the schools are closed.

"More than 1,800 children, like Mario on this Friday morning, are having their world turned upside down because the schools are closed.

Gone are the laughter, the games, the food, the pictures in books. All the things that make children’s daily lives normal in the midst of chaos: no more.

A thousand images run through Mario’s mind. The GRD club, which last month organised evacuation drills where we learn what to do if the earth ever shakes. The never-ending taps in the courtyard where you can drink germ-free water. The football pitch. The teacher, always cheerful and ready to answer questions. François, who is in charge of the class committee and pouts when he collects the homework books. And Chantale, who makes all sorts of faces to get the class laughing while reciting. And then there’s Robert, the caretaker, who’s always there, sitting by the fence on an old stool. And all the games and songs we play in class in the Wednesday workshop.

Mario took one last look at the fence and slowly, very slowly, made a U-turn. There’s no need to say it, write it or explain it: the school, his school, is closed.

Gone are the football games, the guaranteed meals, the rules and instructions, the jokes and quibbles, the timetables and, above all, the people to talk to. His school, the one quiet, safe place where he could feel secure, play and even cry, his school is closed.

Places where you have the right to be a child

Mario strides away. He will have to pass in front of the base again to take the corridor to his “home” in the shanty town next door. He will have to summon up what dignity he has left to move forward without looking at the men posted outside the base, with their rifles and balaclavas.

Terre des Hommes Suisse in Haiti is working to ensure that Mario, Chantale, François, Jefferson and all the others each have access to a place where they have the right to be children.

The Argentine National School, located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, more specifically in the ruelle Vaillant in Lalue, is one of the places to which we are providing support through facilitation measures for children in highly vulnerable situations. This double-shift school caters for children from the first year of pre-school through to the sixth year of primary school.

Since 29 February, when the site was occupied by IDPs, 437 children, including 241 girls, aged between 5 and 16 have not attended school, as the school is currently not functioning. The management has taken steps to secure the children’s identity papers and school equipment. Educators continue to visit the site every day to ensure that it will not be vandalised and to receive parents who come every day to check on the situation.

Over and above the emergency aid provided to the displaced, Terre des Hommes Suisse joins its voice to that of all the parents of the pupils and to that of ONAPE and MENFP in calling for a rapid solution to be found, enabling pupils like Mario to return to a safe and protective environment.

Guerty Aimé

13/03/2024

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Terre des Hommes Suisse has never been involved in adoption processes

Deniz Ates — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:41:19 +0000

The adoption of children in Switzerland from various countries around the world has recently been the subject of a number of investigations and reports, in Switzerland and in Europe, questioning in particular the role, legality and ethics of Terre des Hommes in these processes.

Founded in Lausanne in 1960, Terre des Hommes has been a key player in international adoption. However, for historical reasons, there are now several legally independent organisations working together under the umbrella of the “International Federation of Terre des Hommes“, but headquartered in different cantons or countries. Most of these restructurings took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s.

While the “Terre des Hommes – Aide a l’enfance ” fundation, based in Lausanne, continued to be involved in adoption activities until the 2000s, “Terre des Hommes Suisse“, based in Geneva and which separated from the Lausanne structure in 1972, immediately gave priority to direct aid to beneficiaries on the ground, forging its specificity from that moment on by working with local partners on the ground.

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“One photo, one project”: Rural Aid and the protection of children in tea gardens in India

Deniz Ates — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:47:35 +0000

As part of the “One photo, one project” initiative, members of our NGO share a photograph to showcase the work of a partner.

In this video, Anahy Gajardo from Terre des Hommes Switzerland describes the work of Rural Aid, an association based in India which provides support for the education and protection of children working in tea gardens.

English subtitles can be activated for this video

Rural aid: ensuring the protection of tea garden children through access to quality education

The lack of infrastructure and the poor economic situation of families living in the closed/semi–closed tea gardens of West Bengal force them to withdraw their children from school, which increases the drop–out rate and the number of child workers in these regions.

This situation also encourages dangerous migration and child trafficking. Rural Aid provides educational support through supportive education centres in 5 tea gardens in the Alipurduar district, to ensure the education and protection of the most vulnerable tea garden children.

Capacity-building for children and young people on children’s rights, violations of these rights and protection mechanisms is also part of the project to ensure their active participation in the child protection mechanism at community level.

Taking action with Terre des Hommes Suisse

Every donation makes a difference to a child’s life.

Thank you for your support!

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Exploitation of domestic workers in West Africa

Deniz Ates — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 12:45:34 +0000

The exploitation of domestic workers – the vast majority of whom are women – has slipped under the radar, leaving the barometers of human rights observers virtually indifferent, and is definitely a problem that the media do not like to dwell on too much.

Let alone tackle it.

They go so far as to claim that the problems of domestic staff (cleaners, nannies, gardeners, drivers) are just that: domestic problems, or even family problems, since the employees are supposed to be – as is naively or hypocritically claimed – part of the employer’s family, and therefore likely to settle their disagreements with the employer inside the employer’s home.

A difficult subject that Terre des Hommes Suisse and its partners do not intend to neglect

An unloved subject, an “orphan” issue, the problem of the often unfair treatment of domestic workers is an acute one both in the so-called “developed” countries and in many other countries around the world.

The situation is particularly worrying in West Africa, one of the areas in which Terre des Hommes Suisse works. Supporting the Association pour la promotion du droit et du bien-être de la famille (APSEF) since 2012, it is through this Bamako-based NGO that TdH Switzerland is tackling the risks faced by young African women who leave school and home to work in the city as ‘helpers’.

The reasons for this real rural exodus of women, the first negative effect of which is to keep these young Malian women away from school (many of them do not finish their education), are often very concrete. If they are not forced to go and work in the city by their own families, who are destitute and often lack the essentials, these young women, often teenagers, decide to do it themselves, and for the same reasons – to buy equipment that is essential for their parents’ work or to make up a wedding trousseau, the latter being an old tradition that young girls make a point of respecting. Then there’s the naivety: these young girls believe that their “chance” is imminent, that a good marriage in the big city or the sudden prospect of a prestigious job (even though they’ve just left school!), far better than that of the cleaning lady they’re about to become, will open the doors to a dream life and lift their family out of poverty for good.

The illusion of a dream life

But the hopes pinned on these young African women by films and TV series quickly fade, and the reality that unfolds before them is quite different. In some cases, they are even subjected to degrading treatment ranging from humiliating insults and verbal harassment to physical assault (including sexual assault) and food deprivation, not to mention false and abusive accusations of theft.

And all this within four thick walls and hushed interiors from which nothing leaks. Or very little.

Young Malian domestic workers discover their rights their rights

The problem of young Malian women is a complex one, combining several vulnerabilities that Terre des Hommes Switzerland combats in the countries where it intervenes: dropping out of school, risk of exploitation at work and violence against women.

APSEF’s first aim is to discourage the trend towards voluntary school drop-out and migration to the city, by warning young people of the risks involved. For those who have already taken this step, APSEF provides information and advice to help domestic workers understand and exercise their rights, thus avoiding as far as possible the danger of exploitation and the series of abuses that accompany their work. This is all the more imperative as many of them are children…

In 2021, a study on the rights of domestic workers in West Africa found that 31.37% were aged between 12 and 15, and 64.7% between 15 and 25. Conducted by the Senegal-based Centre de Recherche et d’Action sur les Droits Economiques, Sociaux et Culturels (CRADESC), this study officially reaffirmed the critical situation of “maids” in West African countries: overwork, lack of security, degrading treatment and very low wages.

That said, not all employers of domestic help are unscrupulous people who take advantage of their subordinates’ vulnerable condition – far from it! A good number have a respectful attitude towards their household staff or simply respect the law.

This is because serious labour legislation exists in many African countries and covers most aspects of the problem of domestic staff. This legislation is clear: it requires a written contract setting out a minimum wage for the domestic worker, days off and legal protection. The problems described above stem rather from the lack of systematic checks to ensure that the law is applied without fail, and from the fact that, at this stage – again due to a lack of resources – there are not enough initiatives to make employers aware of the rights of their helpers.

The mission assigned to Terre des Hommes Switzerland and its local partners is all the more valuable. Advising, guiding and enlightening employees about the legislation and the rights they enjoy as a result, these organisations are also working to raise awareness among employers who have been trained to treat their domestic helpers as employees with their own place in the home, their own rights and their own value. Their dignity.

Work like this puts a stop to abuse. More than that: it brings about a profound change in habits. A transformation of mentalities.

Taking action with Terre des Hommes Suisse

Every donation makes a difference to a child’s life.
Thank you for your support!

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Major forums and small steps for the environment

Deniz Ates — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 09:00:48 +0000

The 28th World Climate Conference in Dubai ended on 13 December with the adoption of a joint agreement. At the same time, Terre des Hommes Suisse continues to work to raise young people’s awareness of the need to protect the planet. From the COP to the awareness-raising activities for children organised by Terre des Hommes Switzerland in the classroom, the fight against global warming is gaining ground every day.

The latest edition of the major annual COP 28 forum impressed with record figures – no fewer than 85,000 participants, pledges of funds totalling USD 12.8 billion from 31 of the 198 countries represented, 160 of them by their heads of state. The agreement finally adopted by COP 28, after several days of often heated negotiations, heralded the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era and proclaimed the transition of societies to carbon neutrality, with the No. 1 objective being to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees.

In response to the COP 28 agenda, a number of UN agencies and NGOs have published documents in the run-up to the conference or in response to its calls, with strong messages and exhortations to action, calling for urgent action. Omar Abdi, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Programmes, pointed out that

"The climate crisis is jeopardising every child's fundamental right to health and well-being. It is our collective responsibility to listen to and put children at the centre of urgent climate action, and that starts at COP 28. The time has come to finally put children on the agenda in the fight against climate change.

Omar Abdi

Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF

For its part, the International Federation of Terre des Hommes (TdH) issued a press release calling on “States to commit to decisive climate action aligned with their obligations on children’s rights and informed by children’s views and perspectives”. In a statement, TdH International Federation also urged COP participants to place children and their rights at the heart of decision-making processes and commitments, and to give young people a seat at the table in decision-making processes on climate in a sustainable way – at global as well as local, national and regional levels.

Working for better interaction between people and their environment

Terre des Hommes Suisse, an organisation that proudly bears its name, which is highly significant of its mission, has always worked for better interaction between man and his environment and for greater awareness among young people of the need to protect the planet.

Making children aware of the Earth’s limits, making them aware of the finiteness of its resources and training them to adopt a more responsible approach to the environment is, among other things, the aim of Terre des Hommes Switzerland’s Programme for Education for Sustainable Development and Solidarity. TdH Suisse sees education for sustainable development as one of the pillars of its activities, and promotes this programme in the 10 countries where it operates. In several of these areas, TdH Switzerland has done pioneering work in introducing people to sustainable development, particularly in terms of raising awareness of the risks of global warming.

Horacio Augstburger, national coordinator of the Programme for Sustainable and Inclusive Education in Bolivia, explains:

"Most people in Bolivia don't understand the scale of the problem of global warming, even though they are feeling its negative effects more and more".

While promoting EDDS in Bolivian schools, Mr Augstburger became aware of the insufficient level of knowledge of environmental issues among teachers:

"During our work, we noticed a certain lack of knowledge among teachers about the problem of climate change. They confuse the terms. Without a proper understanding of the risks posed by climate change, we can't effectively combat its negative effects.

And it is precisely where there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of environmental issues that it is essential to be creative, subtle and inventive – abilities that are all the more essential when it comes to raising awareness among young people and educating them about sustainable development. Ensuring an interrelationship between ESD and the teaching of subjects in the school curriculum, by presenting the various aspects of the environment through their points of intersection with the subjects traditionally studied at school, is not something that is immediately obvious, and the development of original methods for building bridges between the two areas of learning can only be encouraged and welcomed.

Environmental boxes are a subtle and creative way of tackling the climate problem.

In this sense, Horacio Augstburger’s idea of offering teachers in Bolivia environmental boxes containing objects and devices that can be used to link education for sustainable development with typical ‘school’ subjects is a really good one. Also known as discovery boxes, these “boxes” will help teachers in Bolivia to explain the main issues in sustainable development by integrating its themes and terminology into those of other subjects.

“These are teaching kits that teachers can use to teach their maths, science, language and literature lessons, while talking to their pupils about the causes, consequences and solutions of atmospheric change, and asking them to write a project or solve a problem related to this issue”, explains Horacio Augstburger. – explains Horacio Augstburger, adding that “in language lessons, the teacher can ask the students to write a letter (an email) to the mayor of the town asking for permission for a reforestation project, while in maths, they can be asked to calculate the amount of CO2 a tree absorbs over a given period”.

A key formula: planetary limits

There are nine discovery boxes (environmental boxes), corresponding to the nine most salient aspects of environmental problems, also known as planetary limits. At the top of the list, climate change is perhaps the most worrying of these limits, but not the only one. The other eight relate to biodiversity, the phosphorus and nitrogen cycles, the ozone layer, freshwater, ocean acidification, changes in land use, chemical pollution and air pollution.

Launched two years ago, the first Discovery Box addresses the issue of climate change. Already 40 copies of this first “box” have been distributed and 1,500 pupils have had access to it in Bolivia. The idea is that these numbers should increase each year and that, despite the fairly high cost of manufacturing the boxes, by 2025 the “Bolivian” experience of Terre des Hommes Switzerland, which is currently at the pilot stage, should also be extended to schools in Colombia and Peru.

Through this original and inventive way of raising young people’s awareness of important aspects of Terre des Hommes Switzerland’s Programme for Education for Sustainable Development and Solidarity, Horacio Augstburger hopes to contribute to a change in consciousness in this region of South America and to greater awareness of the consequences of global warming.

Bolivia and Peru - two countries severely affected by climate change

In Bolivia and Peru, these consequences are being felt even more urgently than elsewhere: melting glaciers that are struggling to refill, creating water supply problems; disruption of the rainy season, which is becoming rarer and less plentiful, even though many crops depend on it in the absence of a modern, reliable irrigation system.

Quand on prend en compte aussi la sécheresse dans l’Altiplano andin et, résultant de ce cataclysme, le dessèchement de Titicaca, entre la Bolivie et le Pérou – situation exceptionnelle qui voit l’eau de ce bassin considéré comme le lac le plus haut du monde (3812 m d’altitude) atteindre son plus bas niveau depuis 1943 – on obtient le tableau complet des conséquences du réchauffement climatique dans cette partie du globe, conséquences qui appellent une action urgente et face auxquelles toute indolence devient inexcusable.

In this part of the world, as elsewhere, climate change is shaking up the planet’s equilibrium and bringing with it all sorts of disturbances and disruptions. Once again, the group most vulnerable to its harmful consequences are young people, especially children – children who need to be protected as much as possible, but who also need to be made aware of the need to take action.

Acting at their own level, learning to love the Earth, carrying out actions that contribute to its survival – this is the essence of the training that Terre des Hommes Switzerland wants to give young people through its Programme for Education for Sustainable Development and Solidarity. The often very creative and original ways in which the national coordinations of TdH Switzerland decide to apply EDDS in the various countries where our organisation is active (we have already seen the very successful experience of our representatives in Bolivia) help to make this programme even more attractive, as well as effective.

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