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Report on the work of the SOS line for children and youth at FCEW - Megjashi from 01.01.2007 to 31.12.2007 

The SOS line for children and youth (080012222) which operates within the frames of the First Children’s Embassy in the World - Megjashi is the first free helpline for children and youth in the country which has been working continuously for 15 years. More than 16 000 calls have been received from children and youth about violence related problems (physical, sexual and mental), problems in the family, with their friends, problems on the street, love problems, personal problems etc. Since the beginning, around 120 young people have volunteered (psychologists, pedagogues and social workers).

The SOS helpline is sponsored by the Macedonian Telecom and Stopanska Banka.

361 calls have been registered during this year. Although our line is open for all generations, the adolescents were the best interlocutors to the children and youth this year, like in the past. Greater parts of the calls were made by female juveniles although the difference between the number of calls made by male and female juveniles is small. 

     The highest rate of the phone calls were related to family relationships (24.62%), followed by abuse and violence on children (13.43%), commercial exploitation - prostitution, pedophilia, beggary (9.32%) and financial problems (7.46%). It is interesting to note that this year there have been calls on sexuality and sexual information, unlike the previous years where there were none.

      The greatest number of phone calls related to and incited by the family life were: domestic violence, divorce, misunderstandings between the parents, misunderstandings between parents and children, disturbed family relationships because of alcoholism of the parents, difficult economic situation etc.

       The violence as the reason for the phone calls usually occurred in schools, in the family, on the streets. The cases that asked for support for children’s rights from the SOS service, the FCEW - Megjashi cooperated with the Ombudsman, and for certain cases when necessary, we contacted the police, the courts, the centers for social work and other institutions.

 

In comparison with the previous year, the number of the following calls has increased: family relationship (for 15.36%), commercial exploitation of children (for 7.43%), sexuality and sexual information (there were none in 2006, and in 2007 there were 5.49%), problems on the streets (for 3.57%) etc.

The rate of the following phone calls have decreased this year: love relationships (for 13.12%), information on the SOS line (for 7.93%), abuse and violence on children (for 6.95%), psychosocial and mental health (for 4.56%) etc.

Regarding to the other types of problems there are also differences, however they are slight and insignificant.