Social Work Teammaterial support and counselling for individuals and communities
A young mother in a relocation site given rice by the LICADHO social worker team
Victims of human rights abuses and their families are often traumatized and vulnerable, particularly when a relative is incarcerated. Often deprived of an additional source of income, a family may struggle to contact a relative in prison or provide for itself. Victims and families may face reoccurring harassment from the police or, in cases of land grabbing, from corporations trying to evict them from their land. Victims of human rights abuses, their families and their communities are often in desperate need of basic assistance including material support (food, water and shelter) and counseling.
What we do
LICADHO believes that victims of human rights abuses require not only legal and medical assistance, but also material and psychological support. The Social Work Team's general activities include:
- Working to provide both victims and their families with material support such as food, water and shelter
- Cooperating with child care centers to ensure that child victims of human rights abuses, including child labor, are provided with long-term assistance including education, shelter and food
The Social Work Office also provides additional support to incarcerated victims of land grabbing, their families and relocated communities. These activities include:
- Coordinating with the Medical Office to ensure that inmates accused in land grabbing cases are provided with medical treatment and adequate food, water and other basic materials support while in prison
- Ensuring that the families of these victims have access to food, shelter, blankets, phone cards to call imprisoned relatives and transport to and from prisons
- Providing at least six months of support to a victim and his family after his or her release from prison, including counseling services
- Supporting communities living on relocation sites for one to three months by giving the most vulnerable families free health care, counseling, food, shelter and other basic material support
