Don't exploit children's inborn talents - Minister Karaliyadda

by Ananda KANNANGARA

Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda has focused attention on children and said that nobody should exploit their inborn talents and skills by using them for commercial advertisements in newspapers and on television. Children irrespective of caste, creed and religious affiliations have inborn talents which should not be exploited by anybody under any circumstances.

"They should not be used for commercial advertisements as it will badly hamper their education and future prospects". He said not only grown up children, but also infants are being used for commercial advertisements by certain people and added that legal action should be taken against those who exploit children for commercial purposes.

Minister Karaliyadda was addressing a meeting held in Colombo to mark the 10th anniversary of the annual `International Labour Day against Child Labour'. A large number of school children participated in a walk to create awareness of elders on the importance of checking child labour.

The walk commenced from Independence Square to Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo.The Minister said that child labour could be seen from various angles and added that even using underaged children in commercial advertisements would adversely affect their lives apart from education.

Minister Karaliyadda told the Sunday Observer that over 200 million children the world over are still struggling survival and half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour including slavery, prostitution and armed conflicts.