270 acts of violence against children have been reported in first half of 2017.

Axar.az reports citing Azercell.

Azerbaijan Children Helpline, supported by Azercell Telecom LLC, has released the report for the first half of 2017. During this period, the helpline service received 1458 appeals which were categorized as follows: legal appeals – 53, psychological – 28, health care – 15, educational – 350, sosial – 634, violence – 18, physical – 5, negligence – 40, other – 315.

The appeals came through various methods of communication, calls from landline numbers (667) and mobile numbers (781), mobile SMS (10) and e-mails (10). It is reported that since the beginning of its activity, 1257 appeals related to psychological, physical, sexual violence and 270 of them were received in the first half of 2017. 189 victims of violence were females and 81 were males.

Gandja Regional Children Helpline received 434 calls from January till June, 2017, 369 of them came through landline numbers and 65 via mobile numbers.

Azerbaijan Children Helpline has conducted a number of events during the 6 months as well. Thus, the service organized the training events on “Identifying violence against children and improving the health care and psycological support”, “Self-confidence and problems related to it” and “How to manage aggression”. At the same time, Gandja Regional Children Helpline organized an event among the 8th-11th forms and gave presentation of Children Helpline service at secondary school No.1 and met with the children.

Children Helpline service is primarily aimed at providing children with preliminary psychological assistance, emotional support, emergency aid, advise on problem-solving and direct them to the relevant rehabilitation centers or other services as needed. 24-hour hotline service is available for free with both landline and Azercell numbers. Children can reach hotline service any time at (012) 480 22 80; (051) 880 11 80 və (050) 680 22 80; (088) 480 22 80 in Baku, and at (022) 256 20 40; (051) 880 22 80; (051) 580 22 80; (088) 256 20 40 in Gandja.