President calls for stern action:

Cracking down on child abusers

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Government's endeavour of eliminating all forms of abuse against children has been highly appreciated by school principals, teachers, parents and social organisations in the country.

It is also reported that many organisations including Government and private educational institutions highly commend the recent statement made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 'child abuse' at an opening of a new school building at Henry Ariyaratne Maha Vidyalaya in Narawelpitiya North, Hakmana.

At the meeting, the President called upon law enforcement officials countrywide to take stern action against those who are directly or indirectly involved in child abuse cases.

The President said children are the most valuable assets of the nation and the present day children and the new born generation are the leaders in the next century.

"Therefore, protecting the future generation is a social responsibility of all in the country," he stressed.

President Rajapaksa also directed responsible persons to extend their co-operation towards the Government's endeavour of stopping child abuse and directed authorities to crackdown on child abusers without showing any mercy.

He said his main objective is to make our motherland free of child abuse and it could be done easily with the co-operation given by others.

Meanwhile, statistics in the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), show that over 1,750 child abuse cases have been received from various parts of the country.

NCPA, Chairperson, Anoma Dissanayake told the Junior Observer that a 24-hour hotline service, ("The Child Line - No. 1929") was introduced recently to receive complaints of child abuse. He said the objective of introducing this hotline is to bring to light various forms of child-related problems, harassment of schoolchildren by the authorities and also abuse of domestic servants by employers, by giving the public an opportunity to complain about them.

The Aadivasi community of our land.

Tomorrow is special for indigenous people

In many parts of the world there are a group of people who were the first inhabitants of the land and are now confined to a separate section of the country because of their inability to intergrate with the rest of the people of the land. They are called indigenous people.

In our country too there are the aadivasies or the Veddhas as they were formerly called. As these people in our country are faced with numerous problems a special committe was set up recently by the Government to look into their needs and take remedial measures to sort them. Indigenous people all over the world are having a difficult time in this modern world and it is in recognition of this that the United Nations set aside a special day to focus world attention on this problem. The United Nations (UN) International Day of the World's Indigenous People is observed on August 9 each year to promote and protect the rights of the world's indigenous population. This event also recognises the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues such as environmental protection.

People from different nations are encouraged to participate in observing the day to spread the UN's message on indigenous peoples. The first UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations meeting in Geneva was also held on August 9,1982. On December 23, 1994, the UN General Assembly decided that the International Day of the World's Indigenous People should be observed on August 9 annually during the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People.

In 2004 the assembly proclaimed the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (2005-2014). The assembly also decided to continue observing the International Day of Indigenous People annually during the second decade. The decade's goal was to further strengthen international cooperation for solving problems faced by indigenous peoples in areas such as culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and social and economic development.In April 2000, the Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution to establish the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that was endorsed by the Economic and Social Council. The forum's mandate is to discuss indigenous issues related to culture, economic and social development, education, the environment, health and human rights.

Holy Month of Ramadan

Starts on August 12:

Every healthy adult Muslim man or woman must fast during the holy month of Ramadan which is the fourth principle of Islam. Fasting in the month of Ramadan is for 29 or 30 days according to the visibility of the crescent moon.For Muslims the month of Ramadan is unique, as it is a month full of blessings. In this month lies the night that is better than a thousand months.

Regarding the breaking of fast, Allah has said anyone who invites a person to break their fast will be provided with forgiveness of his sins and will be sarved from hell fire.

During the first 10 days one should pray for Allah's mercy (Rahmath), second 10 days for (Magrifath) and third 10 days for Allah's to save us from hell fire.

Fasting is obligatory during the month of Ramadan alone, because it is the blessed month of the Islamic Calendar and in this month the Holy Quran was revealed to mankind, through the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

The merits during fasting is seventy times greater when compared with other months.

-Text and Pic. Ruzaik Farook