Beirut, Lebanon – July 2019: Following the alarming statistics regarding violence against children in Lebanon, himaya NGO launches another bold campaign on its 11th birthday to break the stereotypes around this problematic.
The TV Commercial portrays a familiar birthday scene of an 11 years old child surrounded by friends and family. The “picture-perfect” is suddenly shattered when someone close to the child inappropriately touches her body.
Statistics from a study published in 2008 show that 1 out of 6 children in Lebanon is still a victim of a form of sexual violence. This refers to only 1 out of 4 types of abuse a child can be exposed to: physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence, and neglect.
The most alarming part of it is that, according to himaya’s statistics in 2018, 67% of the time, the perpetrator is someone from the child’s family, or someone close to it.
The TVC was followed by an activation on social media led by the international social influencer and mom of 3, Karen Wazen, who supported himaya by initiating a crowdfunding campaign through her personal account.
Other influencers also took part in this campaign. Birthday invitation cards were distributed to invite them to raise their voice for children victims of abuse and encourage people to donate.
The donations raised will be allocated to offer personalized life plans, psychosocial guidance and legal support for children, victims of severe violence and their families.
Thousands of children still live in fear, silenced by the abuse they are being subject to every day.
Thousands of innocent childhoods and dreams are being ripped away from children in this very moment.
Not all celebrations are happy.
Together we can give them back their childhood.
Let children be children again.
Take part in our campaign by donating through this link: https://www.himaya.org/content/donate