• Thrust Areas

Human rights based on equality and justice, child rights based on the rights for food, shelter, health and education, labour rights based on equality of opportunity and remuneration, justice and recognition and adherence to ILO standards, women’s empowerment based on financial self reliance and social equality, health and hygiene education, environment protection and relief and rehabilitation of victims of natural calamities are the main thrust areas of the Trust.

Human rights as enshrined in our constitution and in the declarations of United Nations have to be respected in the case of every human being of whatever class, caste, creed, social strata or political leanings. Everyone should be able to exercise its fundamental rights without fear of reprisal from fellow human beings, government authorities or any other individual or institution. Campaigning for human rights and against violations of such rights will be the primary duty of the Trust.

Child rights are threatened most by child labour and consequent deprival of education. Raising the economic status of poverty-stricken families, liberating child labourers from their employers, especially from industries with hazardous work conditions, re-educating the children and training the adolescents to take up better avenues of gainful employment, campaigning with the employers to release child labourers and lobbying with the authorities to provide necessary assistance in the mission are the main activities in this thrust area. Formation of Child Rights Groups, running Peace Industrial School as a training centre, conducting motivation camps for child labourers and their parents, introducing a short course on child rights education at schools and formation of advocate committees for child labourers are some of the specific methods used.

Labour rights are under threat in a developing nation with long queues of job seekers. Emigrant labour always suffers the harshest injustice everywhere. Getting the authorities to respect ILO standards, educating the emigrant labourers on their legal rights, emigration pitfalls and grievance redress machinery, campaigning with the employers to respect labour laws and lobbying with the authorities to bring to book those who break labour laws are the methods employed by the Trust in this thrust area.

The burden of the family budget weighs heavily on the shoulders of women members of the family as the male members often spend their earnings on their personal gratifications. The income earned by the women members will be utilized for the whole family as a rule. Therefore women have to be given opportunities for financial self reliance through gainful employment. Organising Self Help Groups (SHGs), arranging loans and technical assistance for entrepreneurship, imparting capacity building training and technical skills training, etc., are the modus operandi for this thrust area.

Conducting awareness campaigns on health and hygiene among the general public, helping health education programmes in schools and industrial units, spreading AIDS prevention message, especially among migrant workers’ families, and ensuring regular medical service in the project villages are the strategies employed in this thrust area.

Environment protection and conservation of natural resources are the foundations for the sustainable development of any locality. Integrated Watershed Management Programmes (IWMP) with scientific measures for sustainable agricultural operations doing away with chemical fertilisers and pesticides and conserving the precious natural resources including soil and water are the techniques employed.

Relief work was taken up in Nagapattinam district, the worst Tsunami affected area, supplying immediate necessities like food, clothes, medicines and temporary shelters. Prolonged counselling to overcome the psychological repercussions of the havoc, awareness campaigns to withstand such mishaps in future, construction of a Support Centre for Children at Velankanni, home for the children and 25 houses at Vellapallom are the already completed rehabilitation projects.