SEXUAL ABUSE AND EXPLOITATION OF BOYS IN SOUTH ASIA A ...

give up their ‘freedom’ and enter shelters, which they equate with prisons. In response, some
state governments and municipal corporations have established open-access night shelters and
drop-in services for boys. The Pune and Kolkata Municipal Corporations provide shelter and
drop-in services for boys living on the street. Similarly, the Department of Education,
Government of Delhi, in association with the NGO Centre for Equity Studies, has a project to
refurbish government schools and other buildings to accommodate children living on the
street. However, due to resource and personnel constraints, services such as counselling and
crisis response for sexual abuse are limited.
In India, the bulk of open-access night shelters and drop-in services for boys are operated by
NGOs. The quality of care varies widely. As mentioned above, many operate in relative
isolation. Most NGO facilities appear able to provide adequate physical protection, nutrition
and shelter as well as adequate referral to medical care, including for HIV/AIDS. However,
counselling, crisis response, preventive education and children’s participation in shelter
activities are generally inadequate, despite the fact that model programmes and training
facilities exist throughout the country.
5.4.7.3 Psychosocial care
India excels in the quality of its psychosocial counselling training and practice, although most
activities are provided by a few urban organizations and training institutions and are
insufficiently spread throughout the country. Services focus on the sexual abuse and
exploitation of girls and women and the psychological needs of adult survivors.
The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in Bangalore provides psychiatric
care for girls, boys and adults who have been sexually abused. It conducts training,
counselling and awareness and prevention programmes on child sexual abuse, as well as
gender sensitization and masculinity programmes. The Centre for the Prevention and Healing
of Child Sexual Abuse in Chennai provides counselling and therapy to survivors of child
sexual abuse. Saarthak, a counselling centre aligned with the Department of Psychiatry and
Psychotherapy at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in Delhi, provides counselling to adult male
survivors of sexual abuse. Saarthak has developed comprehensive training manuals on
counselling and psychosocial care. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, in
collaboration with the National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development and
UNICEF, has developed the Manual on Counselling Services for Child Survivors of
Trafficking.
However, few counselling training programmes are designed to address the needs of boys,
and few professionally trained counsellors are available to boys at the street level, except
those working on HIV/AIDS. Throughout India’s major cities, HIV/AIDS counsellors work
with vulnerable boys, primarily those having sex with males and those engaged in
prostitution. The Naz Foundation (India) Trust is dedicated to reducing the risks of HIV and
other sexually transmitted infections for boys and men (as well as girls and women). It
conducts awareness and empowerment programmes for boys and men of alternative sexual
identities. The Foundation also supports NGOs across the country that address the needs and
issues of men having sex with men. HIV/AIDS preventive awareness activities include sexual
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