CAMELEON PHILIPPINES

CONTEXT IN THE PHILIPPINES

1 in 5
children below 18
or 19%
have experienced sexual violence
during their upbringing.

The highest occurrences of sexual violence take place within homes and communities, with family members or close relatives commonly identified as the perpetrators for victims aged 13 to under 18. Alarming figures can be attributed to socio-economic, political, and cultural factors. Poverty, gaps in government services, the increasing incidence of sexual exploitation of women and children, particularly through sex tourism and cybercrime, as well as the cultural taboo surrounding incest in a misogynistic society, contribute to a culture of silence and stigmatization of victims.The pandemic and frequent encounters with disasters exacerbate unsafe conditions. Lockdowns have confined many young girls in close proximity to male abusers.

UNICEF ranks the Philippines as the world’s number one country in online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), with reported cases of OSEC increasing by 280% in 2022. The country’s visa-free policy, widespread use of technology, and exacerbated poverty amidst the pandemic are the three primary drivers behind the continued rise of OSEC in the Philippines

ABOUT CAMELEON

Our programs

CAMELEON’s programs are founded on three major components: healing, building and preventing. Working together, these programs serve as catalysts for CAMELEON to continuously realize its vision of a world without sexual violence.

DISCOVER THE INVOLVEMENT OF CHL (COOPÉRATION HUMANITAIRE LUXEMBOURG) IN OUR PROGRAMS

Our story

LAURENCE LIGIER was only 25 years old when she saw an enormous need to help girl survivors of sexual abuse in the Philippines. After years of travelling and volunteering in the country since she was 20, she left her family and friends in France to found a non-government organization in Iloilo (Western Visayas Region) in 1997, which she named as CAMELEON Association Inc.

Quickly, her initiative grew and became an important actor in the Philippines. A few years after its foundation, CAMELEON Association Inc. was accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the country; opened two shelters for girl survivors of sexual abuse, organized several events gathering communities and developed the administrative core of the Association by opening branches and partnerships in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Andorra, United States and Belgium.    

In 2019, CAMELEON celebrated the official inauguration ceremony of the third center in Silay City, Negros Occidental together with its committed local and international partners. A milestone for Laurence and her team, as it emphasized the importance of their actions and the seriousness of their work. In 2022, CAMELEON celebrated its 25th anniversary. 

Our promise

“Changing Colors, Changing Lives” 

From a hostile environment to a warm and safe life, children change over the years. Like our multi-colored CAMELEON, they move slowly but surely, hesitating, sometimes tumbling but never falling. 

We are building safe structures dedicated to survivors, helping them overcome their trauma and making it into a force for their rehabilitation. We offer a necessary cocoon to prepare their metamorphosis. 

We aim to change minds and behaviors and are working to change societies and mentalities in order to protect childhood. 

Children are at the heart of our action: changes are made by them, for them and around them. 

Our status

CAMELEON Association Inc. is a non-stock, non-profit corporation duly registered on September 16, 1997 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under number E19970078., with TIN number 005-277-133-000. The association is licensed and accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) under number DSWD-FO VI R-00044-2020 for the Rehabilitation, the Post-Residential and the Community Development programs. 

CAMELEON Association Inc. was recognized as a non-profit association by the Philippine Council for NGO Certification in March 2013 and the accreditation was renewed on April 26, 2023 and is valid for 5 years. As a result, the association issues a tax receipt to each contributor supporting its actions. 

The association complies with national laws and regulations in force related to children. It includes the PD 603, or Child and Youth Welfare Code, such as amended; the Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act; as well as the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC), 1989, by the UN Assembly and ratified by the Filipino Government on September 2, 1990. 

OUR NETWORKS AND IMPACT

Implementing impact

CAMELEON’s Executive Director is the Co-Chair of the Regional Development Council / NEDA’s Social Development Committee (SDC). The RDC is the highest policy making body in the region and the primary institution that sets forward development directions across the different sectors.  

CAMELEON also became a Vice Chair of the Area Based Standards Networks-Panay Cluster and Region 6 (ABSNET), an Advisory Council of the Iloilo Province Police Office, Chair of CODE NGOs in Iloilo Province, member of the Provincial Development Council of Iloilo, as well as a member of the Iloilo City Council for the Protection of Children, the Iloilo Provincial Council for the Protection of Children (IPCPC), the Iloilo Children’s Welfare Foundation (ICWF), Bata Muna Network, and the UGSAD Regional Gender Resource Center based in UP Visayas (UPV). 

CAMELEON’s presence in these networks carries a strategic advantage. It can provide empirical evidence and practical inputs in policy advocacy and lobby at the national level to reform existing policies, craft new ones or strengthen the mechanisms for policy enforcement. 

CAMELEON’S TEAM

The voluntary team

Each year, more than 35 foreign volunteers and 50 Filipino volunteers join and support our team. They have multiple profiles : students in engineering, psychologists, nurses, artists and circus teachers, IT, Community development workers etc… 

The Volunteer’s House was built for the only purpose of receiving and housing them in the CAMELEON complex, near the Center. 

BECOME A VOLUNTEER!

Share your skills, expertise, and time for a good cause. Our volunteers accomplish their missions with a sense of purpose and fulfillment, fully knowing that they not only contribute to the manpower of our association but are also instrumental in creating opportunities for vulnerable children to better their lives.