Constituency Served

boys, 6-20 years; street children, children in observation homes, bonded child labour.

Details of Work

ECHO (Empowerment of Children and Human Rights Organization) concentrates on securing the human rights of street and working children and those in conflict with the law. It works with the government at the observation homes visiting the boys home thrice a week and the girls home twice a week. During these visits it provides counselling, undertakes legal proceedings such as bail or release, conducts home visits and rehabilitates the children. It is also a member of the Home Committee, helping to trace the addresses of the children and sending them home. It provides free legal aid and counselling at the Central Jail for children imprisoned there. It also conducts awareness programmes and works towards organizing street children and rag-pickers by meeting with them twice a week at the railway station and the slums of Fraser Town, KR Puram, Majestic and D.J. Halli. During these programmes they check if there have been any human rights violations. ECHO also runs a transitional home for 25 boys. Those children from the remand home who don t go home are brought here and put through a reformative programme such as Traffic Policeman Assistant s Programme (TPAP), ITI training and school education. In Hoskote taluk, ECHO works in 80 villages freeing bonded child labourers.