Laws to screen unsupervised contact with children soon- NCPA chairman

By Manjula Fernando

Sri Lanka has a proven track record in taking care of children. The country earned accolades for having the child-friendliest Government in South Asia last year according to research conducted by the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children - a SAARC apex body. The project was funded by Save the Children and a number of other child rights bodies.

That placed Sri Lanka above the rest of the SAARC countries in regards to child protection. However there are children in Sri Lanka who still get abused, molested, raped and beaten within closed doors, disturbingly in most instances by their own parents, guardians according to statistics.

As much as we celebrate and accept accolades for child protection, there is much to be done to ensure that the country is a safe place for children untill they become balanced and useful grown ups who can contribute to country's prosperity. This is a saving in everyone's interest.

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), the state watchdog protecting child rights, has embarked on a mission that could go a long way in setting the seal on this objective.

Keeping in mind that children are most vulnerable and exposed to those whom they come across every day, the NCPA has proposed a Bill to screen every person whose work or service involves unsupervised contact with children.

The proposed Bill titled' Working with Children Act' has provisions to assist in protecting Sri Lankan children from sexual or physical harm.

NCPA Chairperson Anoma Dissanayake said the Act will make it a legal requirement to ensure that people who work with or care for them have suitability to do so checked by a government body.

This Act will broaden a range of sexual offences which may cause a perpetrator to be treated as a 'serious sexual offender' under the Act.

"We have received 8914 child abuse complaints from January to October this year. Already 600 cases of them are being investigated," she said adding the numbers of children being abused by people whom they trust most is disturbing.

Dissanayake said the proposed law will barricade access to abusive men and women to children.

Partly the Act will establish a process for assisting in determining whether a person is suitable to work in child related work. "Nothing in this act will take away or remove the need to comply with any requirement imposed by or under any other Act in respect to child related work," she stressed.

Training

Child related work will include voluntary work, practical training as well as paid employment. For example, tuition masters as well as state sector teachers will be required among others to comply with the regulations in the Act to prove their suitability in working with children.

In other words, they must get clearance that they have a clean track record and is mentally sound to have access to children.

The clearance certificate will be valid for a specified period and it will have to be renewed thereafter.

The NCPA has tendered the proposal to the Child and Women's Affairs Ministry seeking the Cabinet approval and once it receives the green light, a list of services that requires the proposed clearance will be drawn up.

The NCPA Chairperson said the Act covers instances that give regular and direct contact with a child in connection with a service, body, place or any other circumstances specified in the Act where contact is not directly supervised by another person.

Even child protection offices, police offices come under this category. She said however, the domestic workers will be exempted from this list.

Once the law is in place such persons will be required to get clearance from a certified medical practitioner to ensure that they are mentally sound. In addition, a registry of serious sexual offenders will be maintained by the NCPA, or an authorised body where past criminal records and professional disciplinary findings will be listed, to be referred to by employers.

"Adults must realise that children are precious, we cannot allow anyone to meddle with children just as we don't allow anyone to meddle with our jewellery," said Dissanayake explaining the importance of the proposed law.

"We have laws to protect the country's forest, the environment and our historic places. Even the wild animals have more legal protection.

This is an endeavour to strengthen the existing legal framework to help us look after our children better."

She said children are the future of the country and our focus must be on them, adding that adults must take every effort to ensure they grow up in a conducive environment. This effort could put an end to the vicious circle of an abused child growing up to be an abuser himself.

"We ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991. In 1998, the Government set up the National Child Protection Authority."

The CRC recognises that children have rights and privileges. Protection of children is not giving them shelter and food, it expands beyond mere physical protection to give them psychological protection - a sense of mental security in addition to food, shelter, education and care-giving.

National policy

The proposed 'Working with Children Act' will be in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which obligates the officials to formulate national policy on prevention of child abuse.

The NCPA is bound by the CRC to implement the prevention part.

"We have observed that when it comes to the penal code, crimes committed against children receive little recognition - currently the offenders cannot be listed or finger printed, thus they can be elusive and continue to dwell on their acts.

According to present law, even if a person gets convicted, he or she cannot be finger printed or listed as a known child abuser.

Thus, there is hardly any means for anyone to identify or know about perpetrators, who are living amongst us.

If the convict gets a suspended sentence, there will be no record for the society to be aware of that person and keep him away from children.

The present law unfortunately sanctions suspended sentences to child abusers.

The convicts, therefore, has a good chance of sneaking into the child care system, pose as good Samaritans and have unsupervised access to kids.

The Chairperson said, these 'mentally sick' are not deterred by unimpressive salaries or difficult jobs. They sometimes volunteer their services to be near children. "The NCPA's interest is in children, not the perpetrators. But, when it comes to tougher laws, it could play a bigger role in discouraging potential child abusers."

Almost all developed countries have similar laws as 'Working with Children Act'. They don't allow anyone and everyone to work with a child. Even volunteers need to get a clearance check, if they wish to work with children and have unsupervised access to them.

Offenders

These countries maintain a registry of convicted sexual offenders and with written permission employers can have access to this list to check their candidates. In Sri Lanka it will be called 'Clearance of Working With Children'. Prospective candidates who seek employment in a child related service, etc. should fill a form and apply for clearance.

They will have to provide the personal details, such as age, race, address, etc as well as if they have been previously convicted in a court of law and for what offence.

The Chairperson said if the Cabinet paper gets the green light soon, they could proceed with drafting the law.

A sub committee comprising the retired Legal Draftsman and senior lawyers has been appointed to take over this task.