Paraná, May 17, 2016 – Klabin, in partnership with Childhood Brasil, has concluded the first stage of training on the Children’s Rights Guarantee System of the Puma Project, an initiative whose mission is to prevent and combat sexual violence against children and adolescents in the cities of Paraná located within the area of direct influence of the Puma Project: Imbaú, Ortigueira and Telêmaco Borba.

The purpose of the training is to help improve the services provided by different areas – health, social welfare, education, civil society organizations, child protective services, the judiciary, the public prosecutor’s office and public safety – to children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence, and to help in preventing the problem. The program, which has a duration of 40 hours, was conceived by professionals specializing on the issue of violence against children and adolescents and covered topics such as childhood and adolescence, family, sexuality, network action, violence against children and adolescents, and others.

The Puma Project for Childhood is part of a plan drawn up by Klabin when the Puma Unit, the Company’s new pulp plant in Ortigueira, Paraná, was under construction, together with a Social and Environmental Action Plan that identified opportunities and points of attention regarding the company’s social investments. The multistage Project aims to reach out to as many people as possible, bringing information and raising awareness about protecting children. The initiative hopes to bring together a large number of protection agents and improve the services offered in situations of sexual violence against children and adolescents in these cities.

The first two stages of the Program were completed in 2015. In the first stage, Klabin and Puma Project employees received guidelines on the cause and their work as child and adolescent protection agents. In the second phase, the Child and Adolescent Rights Guarantee System (SGDCA) of the three cities was analyzed to learn about the services offered to children and adolescents, their potential and their needs.

“Fighting sexual violence against children and adolescents, whether it is abuse or exploitation, is the duty of everyone and goes beyond social responsibility. This is a human rights issue that must be addressed by companies, governments and society. For us at Childhood Brasil, the growing engagement of the private sector in respect of these rights shows the growing understanding among companies that no business can evolve without also protecting children and adolescents,” pointed out Rodrigo Santini, CEO of Childhood Brasil.