Contact
Phnom Penh Office (Regional Office)
Friends-International
9a, Street 178, P.O. Box 597, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel: (855) 23 986 601
Email: info(at)friends-international.org
www.friends-international.org
Background:
Friends-International offers creative and exciting projects involving the children, their families and their communities, to reduce the number of children living on the streets in South East Asia and beyond. Since 1994, Friends-International has been running projects worldwide for and with street children, attempting to reintegrate these children into their society. Friends-International works with street children in a developmental and sustainable perspective in accordance with the Convention of the Rights of the Child (UN-CRC). Support Offices are located in Europe and the USA with a Field Office located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Tourism related programs:
Child Safe Program
ChildSafe was started in 2004 in Cambodia. The pilot project has quickly expanded from Phnom Penh (Cambodia’s capital city) to Siem Reap (Angkor Temples) and Sihanoukville (beach city in the south of Cambodia). The concept of ChildSafe is adapted to the situation of other countries in the region: ChildSafe is starting in Loa PDR, Thailand and Indonesia in 2007/2008.
Friends-International support offices all over the world are supporting and promoting the campaign. Overall, we see ChildSafe as a worldwide program – a concept with the potential to involve communities all over the world in order to protect their children from all forms of abuse.
Foreign residents who live in a country where children are at high risk of child abuse often function as “role models” for travelers passing through a country. By many locals and children, they might be seen as tourists but often foreign residents have a better understanding of the local circumstances than tourists who only come for a short period of time. Understanding ChildSafe behavior and adopting it – maybe explaining it to tourists or locals – will have a huge impact on the way children are treated in the specific area or city.
For further information, visit www.childsafe-international.org/CSworld.asp.