Program to check violence against women and children in North

by Ranil Wijayapala

The Child Development and Women's Affairs Ministry has launched a program to check the incidence of violence against women and children in the North at present due to various reasons, Minister Tissa Karaliyadda told the Sunday Observer.

He said the Ministry launched this program based on the findings of a research conducted by the Ministry under the guidance of university lecturers to identify the reasons behind the incidence of violence against women and children in the North.

The research was conducted by the Ministry for the first time with the assistance of lecturers from the University of Sri Jayawardhanapura, Kelaniya and the Open University of Jaffna. The first phase of the research was conducted in the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts with financial assistance from CARE International.

Child Development and Women's Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda said conducting such credible research with the assistance of internationally recognised organisations to identify the causes behind the incidents of child abuse and violence against women would help the Government to give a clear picture to the international community about the situation in the North and the East.

Accordingly, the Ministry took steps to educate the field officers in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts about the findings of the research to help them address the root causes behind violence against women and children. The Ministry hopes to launch this program through the Children and Women Development units set up in each District and Divisional Secretariat in the Northern province, he said.