GUWAHATI, May 22 - Abhinandan Foundation India, a group of youths residing in the slum areas of the city, has started a campaign called �Full-Stop Campaign against Child Sexual Abuse� in the city.
As part of the campaign, it has been carrying out a series of programmes like procession, poster pasting and interaction with the slum children in different parts of the city from past one month.
Chiranjit Chakravarty, founder of the group and a resident of Bhaskar Nagar slum area, explaining about the aim and objective of the campaign, said, �Sexual abuse is a common issue for every child living in the slum areas of Guwahati. But there is a serious lack of mass awareness, due to which most of such cases remain unreported. So we have taken the initiative in this regard.�
The Abhinandan Foundation India, which has been trying to curb sexual abuse being faced by children and child trafficking cases in the city, was established in 2016. The group comprises 60 children, most of who are below 16 years of age and all are slum dwellers.
�There are lots of challenges in front of us in continuing the campaign, but we will never stop,� the founder of the group said.
He said, �We have already got good response from local children,� adding that around 200 children from different slum areas took part in the rally carried out on April 28 at Dighalipukhuri against sexual abuse, child labour and child marriage. Around 100 adolescent girls participated in the meeting to raise awareness on eve-teasing, held recently at Bhaskar Nagar.
�Through those awareness meetings, we will collect opinion of every child and prepare an action plan,� Chiranjit said.
According to Chiranjit, they will also discuss the issue of children facing sexual abuse, child marriage and child labour with the students of every government schools in the city and will take their opinion on how to stop those social evils. �We will also screen animation movie on children facing sexual abuse and distribute books on eve-teasing in the schools,� he said.
�Further, we will also visit every police station in the city and review the implementation of juvenile justice system,� he said. Mukul Bora from World Vision India, which used to provide assistance to the Abhinandan Foundation India in different forms, said, �From last year, our NGO has started a programme called �India End Child Sexual Abuse� and an awareness meet has already been organised in Guwahati in which representatives from different government departments took part.�
