Almost three quarters (72.7%) of the calls in 2023 to Child Helpline - 116 111 - exposed psycho-emotional problems, and of the total number of situations that required counseling, 24.3% referred to problems associated with suicidal ideation.

According to a press release issued by the Child Helpline Association on Tuesday to mark the 17th anniversary of the establishment of a single European emergency number for this child helpline, 42.6% of the children who expressed psycho-emotional problems were aged between 13 and 15.

"Child Helpline Association offers specialized counseling and collaborates with relevant institutions for those situations that require emergency intervention. The number of calls to 116 111 continues to grow every year. Moreover, cases in which children's lives were endangered found their solution just one call away, to 116 111. This proves that the single European helpline for children, also known among children in Romania as Child Helpline, is an essential support tool in a world dominated by challenges and the unknown for children," said the executive director of the Child Helpline Association, Catalina Surcel.

The European Commission's decision on the single European helpline for children 116 111 came following the European Parliament's Recommendation - "Declaration on Child Helplines in Europe" (January 17, 2006), which states that these services must be supported by the European Union as an essential tool for the protection of children's rights and must have a common number on the continent.

Romania was the third country in the European Union to make available to children the single helpline number 116 111, in accordance with the provisions of the European Commission Decision which made it mandatory for Member States and, implicitly, Romania to reserve the 116 111 telephone number for the Child Helpline service.

According to the data published by Child Helpline International, an alliance in which Romania is represented by the Child Helpline Association, every year Child Helpline services in Europe provide counseling to over one million beneficiaries. Since the pandemic, mental health problems have been the main reason why children seek counseling on the single European helpline 116 111. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Alexandru Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - editor: Simona Iacob)