The CCI in a few words

Who are we?

Established in 2000, the CCI is a non-profit international cooperation organization which stands out with its twofold mandate: the organization works to free the children and their families from poverty and labor exploitation; in parallel to this, it increases the public awareness of the Quebecers on questions related to the children’s work and encourages them to join in concrete actions of solidarity.

The CCI is a member of the Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI), of the Comité québécois femmes et développement (CQFD) and of the Coalition québécoise contre les ateliers de misère (CQCAM). The CCI is intent on playing its role in the construction of more equal and interdependent relations between the peoples. It favors interventions which respond to fundamental needs in the areas of health, education and social and community organization. It encourages initiatives which integrate fundamental dimensions such as human rights, equality between the sexes, and microfinances as instruments of development. In 2010, CCI’s engagement for peace has earned it a nomination as a finalist for the Peace Medal of the YMCAs of Quebec.

What is our mission?

The CCI is born out of the passion and the engagement of a young Quebecer, Roxana Robin, who after having worked at an orphanage in India, decided to dedicate her life to defending the rights of the children in the world. In 2006, Roxana Robin was awarded the Peace Medal of the YMCA of Greater Montreal as well as the Medal of Merit of the Order of the Knights of Saint Catherine of Sinai, for her engagement in the fight against the exploitation of children.

Projet 1: Support the social reintegration of the youngsters liberated from debt bondage in Andhra Pradesh
In 2003, the CCI founded the Arc-en-ciel House, which by 2009 has accomodated around one hundred children in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Trapped in a cycle of slavery in order to reimburse the debts contracted by their parents, they work as fishers, cattle keepers, house servants or workers in factories, in conditions which endanger their security and development and decrese their chances to go to school. Thanks to the support of the local partner and the village elders, the parents got engaged in talks and exerted pressure on the local authorities and the employers to liberate their children from exploitation. Accommodated at the Arc-en-ciel House, the children benefited from an access to education and received physical and psychological health care. Eight years after the creation of the Arc-en-Ciel House, the CCI continues to support these children and their close ones in order to insure their social reintegration and to reduce considerably the risk for these families to fall again in the pitfall of exploitation. The CCI has started microcredit programs and the families have opened small fish, salt or rice businesses. Pursuing their studies these children are closer than ever to the realization of their dream of having one day a decent, paid job in conditions of equality, security and dignity. Ammorru has recently been admitted to college and Yerrama and Dhanalakshmi have started their studies to become certified nurces.

Project 2: Protect the working children from the violence and the exploitation in the suburbs of Bangkok
In 2009, in partnership with the Fondation Mathieu-Lafond based in Montreal, the CCI has acted as a lever in the reopening of the Centre Santikham in the suburbs of Bangkok (Thailande). The centre is administered by the Foundation for Child Development (FCD), an organization dedicated since 1982 to the protection and the defense of the rights of the working children. The Santikham Center’ mission is to facilitate the social reintegration of the children exploited at work, who are mainly children without documents. This is a large-scale project offering a variety of services, from primary and professional education, to health and assistance services and programs aiming at saving the children from the exploitation and the life on the street. The Santikham Center takes care of more than 300 youngsters and families and aims primarily at giving a secure place to these children and their close ones, where they can relax, play, rest, read, socialise with other children who are in the same situation and confide in adults if they need to. The success of the FCD can be explained by being anchored in the local environment and having privileged relationship and genuine engagement with the groups in question. Pleading in favor of the improvement of the living conditions of the young workers, the organization multiplies its initiatives for popular mobilization: political mobilization, campaigns targeting the parents and the employers of the region, mediatised activities, promotion of voluntary work and social engagement, networking with universities and researchers, etc.

Project 3: Increasing the chances of access to education of the young girls saved from sexual exploitation in Mumbai
Since 2010 the CCI supports the mission of the Rescue Foundation which is an Indian non-governmental organization fighting against sex trafficking. The CCI helps to finance the construction of a school in Mumbai(India) by the Rescue Foundation for young girls who are sex-trafficking survivors. The CCI will make annual donations to support the activities and the services provided by the school. Some of the young girls who will benefit from access to free and professional education have participated in Wendy Champagne’s feature film Bas! Au-delà du Red Light. The movie leads us to the most disreputable neighbourhouds of Mumbai and introduces 13 girls saved by the Rescue Foundation after having been forced into prostitution. «I was sold at the age of 13» tells one of the girls in the beginning of « Bas! Au-delà du Red Light ». This short sentense summarises the hidden side of life in India and tells just one of thousands similar stories. La Rescue Foundation organizes rescue operations in the brothels of Mumbai and Puna. Its three houses can accommodate 300 young girls who can live there until the age of 21. At the centre of the Rescue Fondation where they have been taken in, the girls have learned to smile again, but their recovery is slow and their future uncertain. The biggest challenge for the girls who have survived remains their social rehabilitation and reintegration. Besides having been subjected to serious traumas, very often they are also rejected by their families, even though they are still very young. Having nowhere to go, they become a perfect target for the dealers. Indeed, if they don’t have any support in the two years following their liberation, 65% of the girls end up by returning to prostitution or by being exposed to upduction again.

Advocacy and Awareness Raising

The CCI takes very much to heart its mission to sensibilize the public, particularly here in Quebec. We believe that the dissemination of information is indeed a basic necessity which contributes to make the Quebecers conscientious and responsible citizens. This first step is essential to strive for getting involved, taking action and building a better future. We want to make the people from here agents and defenders of peace, justice and respect of human rights. Thus, our action of sensibilization takes place in schools with our conferences in school environment which affect more than 5000 youngsters annually. In addition, we maintain many privileged partnerships with schools or teachers who talk about the exploitation of children in their classes, organize pedagogical activiities or projets to raise money. According to our vision of development, fostering the engagement of the citizens is an essential aspect of our mission.

How we work?

The CCI works on a global scale for a viable human developement. It fights against poverty and child exploitation and promotes social justice and human dignity. The CCI works in association with local partners, acts as a mission guide and a lever to boost the dynamics of development.
The CCI understands this partnership as a long term process of guidance which supports the right of the people to determine the direction of their developement and to carry out activities in accordance with this direction. It conceives its support as complementary to the efforts, to the know-how and the resources of its partners and the population.