Case Study - Child Club in Kandal Village in Thnout

On the 29^th of July, CCPCR met with the Child Club of Kandal village located in Thnout commune in Svay Rieng Province. This Child Club, which comprises 15 children all enrolled in public school, was established in December 2014 with the support of CCPCR, in order to empower the children from this area and include them in the defense of their own rights.

 The children living in this remote area are particularly vulnerable as many of them are not enrolled in public school and sometimes have to migrate to Vietnam with their parents. Indeed, many families from this area, which do not have any land to farm or rely on very small incomes, sometimes decide to migrate illegally to Vietnam so that their children can beg or sell lottery tickets. CCPCR tries to meet with the members of this Child Club each month to teach them about children’s rights, child abuse and illegal migration and how to report to the relevant stakeholders – village chief, police officers, commune committee for women and children, commune council.

The leader of this Child Club is the young girl at the center of the picture. She is 14 years old and is studying in 7^th grade. The younger boys are studying in 4^th grade while the other members are between 12 and 14 years old and study in 5^th grade. The children from this Child Club are active in the promotion of their rights. They talk about children’s rights to their friends at school and to the children in the village. When asked what they were hoping for they said that they wanted more children to be able to go to school. According to them, many children want to go to school but cannot go because they are too poor and have to stay at home to help their parents with their work.