Protecting children:

A matter of love, law and vigilance

While the recent brutal rape and murder of five- year-old Seya Sadewmi and similar incidents demonstrate that Sri Lanka is unsafe for children, experts say it is more about a lack of awareness than a matter of ‘crime and punishment.’

But the head of the National Child Protection Authority(NCPA), Dr. Natasha Balendra insists that the law’s delays contributed to the problem and called for reforms including the setting up of provincial High Courts to expedite cases.

Fast-track court

Dr. Balendra said the NCPA’s mandate was limited to making policy proposals and had made recommendations in this regard. “It is necessary to establish a fast-track court system at High Court level, to try cases of child abuse expeditiously. Currently, these cases can take eight years or more. Secondly, it is necessary to clear the backlog of cases currently in the High Court and the Attorney General’s Department, possibly by setting up additional High Courts at provincial level and providing additional resources to the Attorney General’s Department.”

Sajeeva Samaranayake, NCPA’s Deputy Chairman holds a contrary view:“The public assume that speedy prosecutions will solve the problem but legal proceedings unnecessarily put children in the public eye. Children should be educated about preventive measures, made aware of the dangers and be encouraged to communicate with adults.”

Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, former Vice Chairman and Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child agreed that Sri Lanka was not doing enough to protect the rights of the child and emphasized the lack of knowledge among the public.

Wijemanne urged preventive measures and insisted that from a young age, children should be encouraged by parents and teachers to say ‘no’ to alcohol and drugs and be educated about personal safety. As for sexual violence and abuse. Wijemanne said girls were more vulnerable, given that still underage marriages were taking place.

Dismal record

Dr. Wijemanne recalled that since 1948, Sri Lanka focused on child health and education and provided health care for children but somehow, young children were not safe. “The Government has a dismal record where protecting children from physical and psychological abuse was concerned,” she said.

According to her, there were many contributory factors to increased violence against children including sexual abuse. There were many dysfunctional families, prevalence of domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse and income issues which should be taken into account, when assessing the problem.

Wijemanne said, the problem of sexual abuse can prove traumatic for children.

“Sometimes, children were ‘groomed’ and abused by paedophiles and are unable to openly talk about it. As much as there is a system failure, there are parents who fail their children by simply not ensuring their protection,” she said.

Both Samaranayake and Wijemanne share the view that Sri Lanka has many social problems that need to be resolved through social development programs. In his message to mark International Children’s Day, President Maithripala Sirisena said “Children should receive protection first from parents, then from teachers and thirdly from elders and society itself.” President Sirisena said this social responsibility had been shirked by society and spoke of the need for new child protection laws and the need to strengthen existing laws.

The Sunday Observer’s attempts to contact Secretary to the Ministry of Children’s and Women’s Affairs, Chandrani Senaratne to clarify the Ministry’s proposal to amend existing laws and proposals for new laws proved futile.