Who are trying to fix some of the world's most difficult problems but today we're actually meeting a cartoon character that's being used in Mexico to try to help children who've suffered from abuse and neglect and violence so we've been able to Mexico how does this all work so this is a animated cartoon character which is operated by a psychologist so the child sits in a room and talks to the character on the screen actually being observed by a psychologist who is trying to get to the bottom of their deep that problems Ok and the children actually think that they're talking directly to a to a cartoony and so they think it's being controlled by someone but they think that having this private conversation will meet the cartoon and the people who came up with it on World x. That's coming up after the b.b.c. News Hello I'm Gerri Smith with the b.b.c. News the Israeli government has decided to remove controversial metal detectors from a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem the Temple Mount or her amo Sharif the detectors will be replaced by less intrusive surveillance they've been reports the scanners were installed nearly a fortnight ago after 2 Israeli police officers were shot dead as they guarded the Al Aksa compound the sites noted uses the Temple Mount Israel insisted it was a necessary security measure as the guns were smuggled in but Palestinians and get at what they saw as a threat to the longstanding access agreement to their holy shrine refused to pass through them and instead prayed in the streets outside violent clashes followed in which 4 Palestinians died and on Friday 3 Israelis were stabbed to death by a Palestinian man in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Syrian monitoring group says 8 civilians have been killed in airstrikes on the last rebel held enclave close to the capital Damascus 30 other people were injured which the Syrian Observatory said had been carried out by either government or Russian planes they're the 1st civilian casualties since the truth came into effect on Saturday. The u.s. House of Representatives is expected to vote today on the dislocation that would punish Russia for its alleged interference in last year's presidential election it includes a clause that would stop the president from unilaterally lifting sanctions but report our share reports President Trump came into office dangling the possibility of a deal with Russia to lift sanctions in Congress though the broad and usually bipartisan response has been to expand them to extend the measures taken after Russia's annexation of Crimea but also to punish it for human rights abuses and for its alleged meddling in the u.s. Election this includes new restrictions on oil and gas projects but crucially lawmakers want to limit the president's traditional right to unilaterally waive sanctions that Bill says he'd have to consult them 1st it shows how much they just trust his friendly approach to Moscow and how much the investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign has damaged him politically. India's minister of culture has told Parliament that 24 of the country's protected historical monuments have disappeared in recent years John would give very large pieces of India's rich cultural heritage is simply disappearing the culture minister Mahesh Sharma listed a series of buildings many ruined which have been obliterated in recent years they include the copper temple in our natural Pradesh which dated back more than a 1000 years and once saw human sacrifices cemeteries and tombs some European others older ruined fort and an ancient rock inscription in central India India's rapid urbanization has swallowed them up and structures which stood for centuries and now untraceable. News from the b.b.c. . Police in Vietnam have arrested a prominent dissident accusing him of attempting to overthrow the government Laden Luong was part of a group of bloggers who criticize the actions of Taiwan's Formosa still plant which led to chemicals along the coastline causing a major environmental crisis last year. The mining multinational Rio Tinto has said it will cooperate with an inquiry by Britain's Serious Fraud Office into suspected corruption in the development of the world's biggest untapped iron ore deposit in Guinea Rio Tinto reported itself to the authorities last November after being alerted to unexplained payments it sold its state last October to the Chinese company with whom it had been developing the mine. Research is out of British universities at least 10000 lives could be saved every year people who receive HIV treatment late also given a bundle of drugs to prevent other illnesses their study focused on 4 countries in Africa Uganda Zimbabwe Malawi and Kenya. The 2 artists behind the Latin head to desperate Seato have criticized the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for using a version of the of their song to promote a controversial assembly which will be elected on Sunday to rewrite the constitution Leonardo Russia reports. The modified lyrics of this pursuit to urge people to go to the polls on Sunday and replace the bullets with their vote more than 100 people have been killed since the current batch of anti-government protests began in April the Puerto Rican musicians Luis Farsi and their Yankee said Mr McDougal had never sought permission to use the song responses said that his music was meant to be used as propaganda by a government trying to deceive its people while their day Yankee accused Mr model of leading a dictatorial regime b.b.c. News. A quick word of warning before we get started some of the stories that you'll hear in this program are quite disturbing dealing with issues of child abuse and violence. Hi Folks welcome to world hacks on the b.b.c. World Service I'm Tom Coles this is the program where we find the people who are looking for solutions to some of the world's most difficult problems this week we're talking about a device that does something fascinating though some would argue controversial to get children traumatized by some kind of harm or abuse to open up and talk about what's happened to them and the device in question is this. That's the voice of antennas a cartoon alien character on a t.v. Screen the idea is to get the children talking to it and then once it's gained their trust use it to explore the child's hidden thoughts and I think that is the true. Father any secrets that really hurt your heart and the child said yes I had one of my dad got really angry because my brother went to bed again and he grabbed him and threw him on the floor and I hear his bones crack. Mexican psychologist Julia Bobo you came up with the I did it she believes that these hidden thoughts can be harmful I think children keep silent. That hurt. So we won them to tell that sequence because if you keep quiet until you are now all the girls and heard to you a lot and that I know that if I can tame the mind then the heart of a little boy he will be a great adult Lizzie Kassin you've been out to Mexico City where all of this is happening yes so when children suffer from abuse and neglect they can often struggle to talk about it the World Health Organization says left untreated child abuse can lead to serious problems later in life things like depression anxiety drug abuse but Julia claims to found a shortcut a way of accessing that information much more quickly so help or treatment can start sooner using this character that comes to life on screen so the children think they're talking to an alien from another planet but actually the animation is being controlled by trained people like her from the room next door right so this sounds 1st glance like quite an eccentric way of approaching this problem yeah this might come across as being quite extreme but it's actually a development of a technique that's been used for a while psychologists have been using one put in therapy for nearly 90 years to help children communicate their feelings apparently even older children feel more comfortable revealing their problems 100 puppet than a psychologist this project in Mexico takes fact a step further this is like a modern twist on the hand puppet Yes it's the 21st century version a computer generated puppet but before we explain how it works exactly I'm going to probably introduce you to this character. Sitting on a tiny wooden stool. In a blue room covered in paper stars and planets I met I'm 10 is in a children's hospital is stop a lot but Mexico City. Hello. Looking out for to the screen in the corner is an alien The looks like an orange but with endless big round eyes and smiley mouth. It was your name. And tenors. And. They're nice What do you use them for al. Gore. Ok so it's called antennas because it has is that like satellite dishes which is meant to show that they are good listeners yet but the actual person listening is the psychologist and in this case it was a Danny Calvo who works for Julia she showed me how they operate the character from behind the scenes so this is really where the child sit and talk to them and then what's through here Ok this is how I was Christa or her. And here we are where we have the tools we work in here with their computer and most and then as we give the life here to do so you'll sit here with these headphones on and talk through this microphone and then the voices disguised by the time it reaches the next room my vote with this microphone goes for like. And I can hear their children and I can see them. Using the computer keyboard the psychologist can control how the animation moves and change the expressions on its face Julia came up with this idea 12 years ago and it's been passionately telling people about it ever since and 10 assists and Ian from another planet is from Antonopoulos he or she because it doesn't have a gender doesn't know anything about life in earth he or she doesn't know what is the mother father all and he children tell me do you think it's good to have a father on Aunt I don't have a flower the father makes the mother cry. They start telling me all that kind of things because the alien is not from this planet it can ask naive questions about life on Earth what this does is give the child a sense of power because it allows them to teach the alien about what goes on here from their own perspective and without fair of being judged right so this is called the naïve inquiry technique and it's been used before by psychologists in traditional forms of therapy even on adults yes but Julia believes deploying the technique through a cartoon character is really effective on children because it feels less threatening for them especially for those that have been emotionally or physically abused by an adult close is something also appealing about the alien itself it's playful and moves on screen and does stuff like the children for high fives and Juliet says building report is a key part of therapy and children born very quickly with antennas some of them are really excited to meet it. And this is something I observed myself that Julie is private practice in a leafy upmarket part of Mexico City so we're now in a room where antennas operated from next door to the kind of main dining here in the child's it's in and a little girl. Is about to go in and she's 8 years old yet she's 8 years old. On a computer monitor I watched the girl walk into the room with a psychologist. Who works with Julia. Thank him back into the room to operate antennas were using an actor's voice to keep the child anonymous. As Had I said Candace and Candace were. Brought out. There. Tell me what have you come here. To say hello. It was amazing to see the girl sit and have an engaged conversation with the a and she talked about how she wanted a hamster further day and explained how pet dogs are like brothers but you have to look after them. Then we came to the movement the psychologist had been building up to the moment she got on tennis to ask the child to reveal something that was hurting her feelings she asked the girl. Friends you heart of a fella and the girl replied I like parents fight when your parents fight. And. When your parents fight sometimes I'll just tell my parents just instead of fighting that we should go out to play. Fair. After the session so I went to collect the child. Psychologists who go back next to and we are staying in here because the child is not meant to know it's been operated from the next room it's at this point the children undergoing therapy actually go and have a face to face appointment with the psychologist it's standard procedure at the psychologist pretends not to do anything about the child's conversation with antennas but they use that information to figure out the best way of approaching the therapy session Julia says that in the rat cases the child suspects psychologists think control they usually choose to continue speaking to antennas anyway. Ok let's pause for a moment to explain how all this kind of out because Lizzie and tennis didn't start as a animated culture it just started after the drawing in the basement of a school Yes Julia put it there when she was helping children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the school the children would go down and leave notes from tennis and each time they came back and tennis or Julia had written them a reply very good did it very good and. Then the father of one of her clients mentioned to her that he worked in animation Junior asked Can you make antennas to talk to laughed too bad all course I can do it let's try they got it ready by 2005 and she started using the tool in her private practice and was surprised early on by how well it worked and the 1st time I used it with a 5 year old girl she came in and she. Talked with antennas they get instantly they feel free and with whom will you leave. Well I live with my father my mother my little brother and I'm 8 what's made because I'm done as doesn't know anything oh I'm a bit of a lady that things up and when your parents don't see she hit. That was the 1st time she's been a psychologist since 1983 but the Ghanta realize Antanas could get the kind of information she needed within a matter of minutes information that previously it would have taken her a couple of hours to get I have 35 years working as a psychologist and I can't do that as quick as something so she set up and tennis policy in us which means and tennis the children a charity which promoted the use of in tennis and now this isn't just used in her private practice anymore a whole range of other antenna characters were created and they're now being used in public hospitals women's shelters in care homes all places where vulnerable children are. So lazy The idea is that this tool is quicker than a psychologist sitting with a child revealing important information but it's efficiency something to aim for in therapy is quicker necessarily better that is the interesting question I've spoken to various psychologists who argued sometimes more time is needed to build up a child's coping strategies before discussing a difficult subject matter but Julie argues that psychological care is a look Sheree in Mexico being offered this session might be the only psychological care they would otherwise receive so quickly establishing report and revealing any underlying problems could be really beneficial in the 1st assessment and as we've already heard in cases where the child. Might be in immediate danger you need to sort something out sooner rather than later so they're arguing that this method is helpful in places with limited resources but that kind of brings us to the most fundamental question of all is there any evidence that this method is actually effective Not really no. They've got lots of anecdotes about it working well but it's not been rigorously tested in any academic settings a tool there are no published studies and I did begin to wonder at this point whether it's wise to keep promoting the tool when the benefits or its possible harms have not been assessed yet close hang on until as have been put in public hospitals but they haven't been properly tested in academic studies are there any plans to do that there is some independent research being done at the moment but the results will be published until later this year but the organization themselves say they haven't got the money to fund their own research they say it's too expensive and they don't want to take money away from expanding the use of antennas also they feel that the proof is in how useful professionals have found on the ground and from what I saw the psychologists that work with Julia seemed genuinely enthusiastic about using it was knocking me about all of this is that it just seems like such a powerful tool it could be really damaging or potentially dangerous in the wrong hands yes and they are aware of that but they don't just let anyone use it it's just qualified psychologists and they train them on how to use it 1st monitor how they got on and if they feel like they're using the system irresponsibly they take it away. You're listening to World hacks on the b.b.c. World Service where we're talking about using cartoon characters to help children deal with traumatic experiences of living there is so much more to this the antenna's have now escaped from the clinic and have taken a role in Mexico's criminal justice system actually prosecuting criminal behavior yes using antennas Julie was unearthing all these really disturbing stories things that might of otherwise never come to light she told me about one of them it was about a boy who came to have practice and in his session with Antanas he suddenly revealed he was being sexually abused by the family's driver. It all came out when antennas asked him what a driver was the man that plays with you game is not good you have to take up your pen for that game and where in the bathroom the the toilet near the living room and the driver was outside waiting for the boy and 10 I said you're very brave that you tell the and the little boy said I tell you because you don't talk with adults because the driver told me if I say something he will kill my mother that's why I am telling you. So I said oh my God I was in the control room and I said with my antenna I can send the information to Julia the lady who brought you here do you let me she knows what to do and she knew she was she will protect you. Know the worry nobody says know anything only my antennas is going to send information so he said Ok and I came into the room and said you are Ok with me you never going to see that people again. This was one of the cases that made you think the recordings like these could be used as evidence in court and 6 years ago she met Mexico City's Attorney General Gal and come on Sara showed him the antennas and he agreed they should use them and since then they've been used in about 100 court cases involving children I think tennis is very special and this is a great great told for for work great kids Mr Mancera is now the mayor is Mexico City I went to visit him in his office. When the countdown would get. It's a long process when you have a criminal case you do more against time also if you have antennas and they feel confident to talk the truth that. It's different if they keep talking with you and I have to. Act and have the police or temple. So now if a child witnesses or is a victim of crime they could end up talking to antennas instead of a police officer yes and the person listening into the conversation would be a psychologist working for the police and they'll be having that conversation not in Julian's office but in a special groups that have been side law enforcement officers one of the people who operates antennas inside those offices is well and he told me how they got a boy to reveal who killed his brother I should warn you this is quite a graphic account in that moment do you kn