Children at the Centre!
Together with our child helpline member Lifeline Childline Zambia, we're counting down to the opening of the 11th International Consultation of Child Helplines (IC 2025) in Livingstone, Zambia. The event, which runs from 24 to 26 June, is proudly endorsed by the Government of the Republic of Zambia, and will be opened by the President of Zambia, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema.
International Consultations are organized every three years, together with a hosting child helpline member, with the objective of creating an international platform to discuss child protection systems and how child helplines are integral to them. The theme for the 11th International Consultation is: Children at the Centre! A Global Voice for Mental Health, Violence Prevention & Response: Envisioning Child Helplines for 2030 and Beyond. Child helplines are already well established as key services in response to violence against children, and now they’re becoming increasingly central to addressing the mental health crisis affecting children and young people around the globe.
Building on the energy and the Call to Action of the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, IC 2025 will be an opportunity for our members to meet, deliberate and share experiences and good practices with each other, and with key partners. We're expecting more than 300 participants from child helplines around the world, as well as the UN, CSOs, INGOs, government officials, industry partners, the telecommunications and technology sectors and others. The IC 2025 promises dynamic discussions, powerful partnerships and innovative solutions. From regional insights to global strategy, the meeting will explore how to strengthen child helplines and integrate them more deeply into child protection systems around the world.
This International Consultation marks the 11th occasion on which our network of child helpline members has come together, with previous conferences being hosted by BRIS Sweden, Kids Help Phone Canada, Childline Thailand, NSPCC Childline UK, Childline South Africa, Fundación ANAR Spain and the Jordan River Foundation. Now, the International Consultation returns to the African continent, and Zambia joins the small group of countries who have risen to the challenge of hosting the event.
Many significant achievements have been made possible thanks to past International Consultations, including enhanced recognition of the role of child helplines as essential services to any national child protection system, providing real-time and frontline support, often web-enabled to children and young people, expanding the assistance provided to children, and creating new child helplines.
During the IC 2025, we will commit to ensuring that every child and young person has access to a national, toll-free, 24/7 child helpline service. Recognizing that children and young people in over 50 countries currently lack such essential services, we're pledging to collaborate with governments, civil society and international partners to establish and strengthen child helplines where none yet exist, ensuring they are accessible across the communication channels used most by children and young people.
We'll also be reaffirming our commitments to prioritizing children’s mental health and wellbeing, combatting violence against children and addressing online harms.
This International Consultation will be the first one we'll get to discuss Artificial Intelligence at length. As the ongoing AI revolution is rapidly transforming every aspect of our lives, we'll advocate for the ethical and responsible use of these technologies within child protection systems, and for the careful integration and regular evaluation of AI tools to ensure they enhance – rather than compromise – child safeguarding.
There's now less than a week to go before the IC 2025 begins, and we're truly excited by what promises to be an informative, innovative and inspirational event. We can't wait! This consultation means so much to me, and I'm more determined than ever to sustain and grow our phenomenal network of child helplines!
Executive Director
Technical Team Lead - Capacity Strengthening at Health and Development Communication Specialists
3moThank you Phillip and other child protection colleagues running helplines. As we deliberate calls registered through helplines and their respective responses, we need also to develop strategies of reaching out to children who are in remote areas whose rights are time and again violated, but cannot access such a service so that we create alternative solutions that will help them realize their potential and thrive in life.
Active Chidren's Rights advocate doing all I can to help children live the rights they are entitled and living safely and freely as who they really are
3moHow can children be protected and live the rights they are entitled to if political leaders and decision makers do not know the reality of the plight of children in their own country? If they do not ensure that they actually see for themselves what is happening and not only make sure children’s voices are heard, but listen to the children, take what they say seriously, discuss with them what is happening to them; all with respect, so children will say out loud what needs to be heard and known.