Child abuse cases up by 45%: CPA

Child abuse cases up by 45%: CPA
Wednesday, December 31,2008

COLOMBO: The Child Protection Authority (CPA) has claimed there has been a 45 percent increase in child abuse and child rights violations cases this year, compared to 2007. Within the first ten months of 2008, a total of 1014 cases of child violence had been reported, including 357 child abuse cases. However, CPA Chairperson, Jagath Wellawatte said the figure only indicated an increase in reporting child abuse cases and not an actual increase in child abuse and rights violations.
“This is the result of the awareness programmes that the CPA has conducted throughout last year,” he said, adding that throughout 2008 they carried out several island wide programmes with prevention as its theme.
The CPA carried out three main programmes, which included setting up grass root level alert groups, child protection units within school level and awareness campaigns covering all parties of the community, including school van and trishaw drivers, nurses, final year students of teachers training institutions and midwives.
Wellawatte also said that compared to European countries, Sri Lanka has a higher rate of child violence cases due to the lack of reporting these incidents. “When these things are not reported, the people who conducted this sort of acts are not scared,” he asserted.
The programmes conducted by the CPA have created a vast awareness among the masses regarding child abuse, and the importance of protecting child rights. As a result Wellawatte said that now when people identify an incident involving child violence, they do not hesitate to report these cases.
“We are hoping to expand our programmes in 2009. To trigger our activities, the CPA has taken measures to announce January 4th as the National day Against Child Violence. This day will thereafter be observed on January 4 every year”, said Wellawatte. He added that cabinet approval has already been granted, and they were awaiting the gazette notification to implement the declaration.
end:

Child Abuse, and Sex Tourism is grossly under reported in Sri Lanka. T4J.