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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. Since 1998, AP has supported 117 community-based organizations in 52 countries.

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Bureau pour le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et de la Sante (BVES)

The Bureau pour le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et de la Sante (BVES) operates with the the mission of promoting, protecting, and defending the rights of the children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and in the region of the African Great Lakes).  BVES works with child victims of economic and social marginalization along with child victims of armed conflict (street children, child refugees or displaced non-accompanied minors, child victims of exploitation or rape and sexual violence, children released from prison, demobilized child soldiers, etc.). 



BVES, a non-profit organization, was created in 1992 to provide food, medical care, and shelter to the children fleeing the nearby Rwandan genocide.  Since its inception, the organization has grown to become an important organization addressing child-focused human rights in a region riddled with violent conflict, which has resulted in high numbers of child enlistment as soldiers, porters, and sexual slaves.



BVES coordinates programs in support of health, education, and the protection of children.

• Protection of the rights of the child
  • Dissemination of international and national legal instruments related to the protection of children;
  • Training of moderators (defenders children’s rights (DCR)), military commanders, and civil authorities about the rights and the protection of children;
  • Community surveillance and documentation of violations of children’s rights;
  • Regular analysis and evaluation of the situation of children’s rights;
  • Identification of, temporary housing for, humanitarian assistance to, familial tracing of, reintegration of, and follow-up for child victims of rights violations.

• Non-formal education for child victims of rights violations
  • Pyschosocial support;
  • Functional literacy program (for children older than 15) or professional training;
  • Remedial educational program (for children younger than 15 who have not attended school) and reinsertion into the formal education system;
  • Documentation (library) project for children (and moderators/DCR)
  • Education of children about children’s rights, human rights and man’s fundamental freedoms, peace and peaceful coexistence, tolerance and democracy;
  • Education about life and future responsibilities.

• Health care for child victims of rights violations
  • Health care and nutrition complex (HCNC);
  • Referral of complicated cases to formal medical structures;
  • Educating children about voluntary tests of HIV/AIDs (and other STIs);
  • Educating children about hygiene;
  • Educating children about alcoholism, smoking, and drug use;
  • Educating children about environmental protection and accident prevention;
  • Struggle against food insecurity for child victims of rights violations (small farms, revenue generating agriculture activities).

• Security and protection of the defenders of children’s rights and human rights (DCR/DHR)
  • Meetings evaluating the situation of the security of DCR/DHR;
  • Educating the state authorities about the security of DCR/DHR;
  • Training about the security and the protection of DCR  

Furthermore, BVES works to protect child rights through the following mechanisms:

• Monitoring and reporting about the violations of children’s rights (girls and boys)
• Active participation of children, families, and community leaders at all levels of actions;
• Advocating for and educating the leaders of armed groups and military and civil authorities about the protection of children’s rights;
• Services (temporary housing, humanitarian assistance, non-formal education, economic assistance, etc.) offered to child victims in the BVES’ centers (for girls, for non-accompanied minors, for former street children, for demobilized child soldiers or children released from prision) in their villages and in rural areas;
• Advocating locally and internationally against the impunity of children’s rights violators;
• Advocating locally and internationally for effective (economic) assistance to child victims of rights violations;
• Advocating for the free and obligatory education of all children affected by armed conflict;
• Advocating for a durable peace and democracy;
• Coordination with other associations (or NGOs) for the protection and the defense of children’s rights through the country and the region;
• Mobilizing human(volunteers) and financial resources at the local and international level;
• Close collaboration with the communities, the UN agencies and the missions (UNHCR, UNICEF MONUC, PAM etc.), the international human rights NGOs(Amnesty International, FDHM, Human Rights Watch etc.), the diplomatic missions (EU, US, etc.), and the community media for the protection of children’s rights;
• Regular evaluation of the impact of these activities.

Reports

• http://www.societecivile.cd/node/920

The BVES is one NGO of a network. It inspires the creation of not only many other associations but also networks, working groups, and community cores for the protection of children’s rights, acting in different corners of the DR of the Congo:

• The creation of a children’s network in the particularly difficult situation in Sud-Kivu (1994)
• The creation of a league against the trade in and slavery of children in the region of the Great Lakes (1995)
• The creation of a coalition to put an end to the recruitment and the use of child soldiers in the DRC (2000)
• The BVES’ participation in the creation of network of human rights associations in Sud-Kivu (member, since 2000)
• The creation of the Coordination of the NGOs defending children’s rights in DRC (2005)
• The creation of working groups focused on street children (1997), DDR children (2002), and non-formal education (2006)
• Founding member of Congo Global Action-US

• Every year since 1994, on average 1,500 child victims (former street children, children released from prison, or demobilized child soldiers) and non-accompanied minors have passed through the BVES’ centers seeking familial and communal reintegration;
• The BVES’ coordination with community structures, local NGOs, UNICEF, and MONUC in terms of monitoring, reporting, and advocacy have reduced the recruitment of children by armed forces and groups, since 2002;
• Thanks to the BVES, these coordinated actions also reduced, each year, the number of children (girls and boys) whose liberation or demobilization was prevented by the armed forces or groups. Thousands of former street children, children released from prison, or demobilized child soldiers now reunited with their families and communities have returned to formally schooling, and others pursue professional training in order to become useful members of society;
• Positive measures (and laws) for the protection of children’s rights are constantly taken (or elaborated), thanks, in part, to the educational action and advocacy lead by the BVES and its numerous partners in the DRC;
• Certain known violators of children’s rights have been arrested and convicted thanks to the struggles against impunity lead by the BVES and its numerous partners targeting the Congolese and international legal authorities.
• In short, each day that passes, the situation of children’s rights improves thanks to the contribution of the BVES, thanks to its actions targeting the children themselves, their families, and their communities, thanks to the collaborative work, thanks to the advocacy targeting the armed forces and groups, but also thanks to international solidarity.

Contact:
Murhabazi Namegabe, Director
Bukavu,Sud-Kive RD Congo
c/o B.P. 529 Cyangugu, Rwanda
Phone : +243 813 18 5450
Email : BVES

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