Friday, 18 July 2014 00:00
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Tentative steps are being taken to identify and arrest child sex offenders who prey using the internet. The Cyber Watch Unit under the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has identified nearly 30 sex offenders and 300 potential sex offenders who had allegedly lured children through social media network sites. Seven of these were arrested but it is clear in a country with deepening internet literacy only the tip of the problem is being scraped since as many as 2,500 uses had initiated contact.
According to Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karalliyadda, 7,418 children were victimised by various types of abuse in 2012. This makes for a staggering 20 children abused each day. Of those incidents, the highest number – 1,174 – had been reported from the Colombo District.
Police statistics show the total number of child rapes in 2011 as 1,463; the figure jumped to 1,759 cases in 2012, according to a Parliamentary report. Police records also give a total of just over 2,000 sexual offenses against children, besides rape, in 2011; child molestation cases in 2012 soared to over 5,000, according to Parliamentary figures. The total number of all crimes against children — which besides sex crimes include crimes of violence, abduction, trafficking and other offenses — increased by a dramatic 64% between 2011 and 2012.
Whatever the real numbers may be, there can be no question that even one is one too many. Even once the offence is discovered and the responsible parties arrested, children often have no one to take care of them and are shuttled to State or non-State run juvenile centres. They then have to undergo more heartbreak and fear as a sluggish legal system mires them in years of litigation – sometimes for as long as a decade. Often, during this time, the perpetrators roam free.
In its shambling way the Government is responding to the crisis by attempting to reduce the number of mothers seeking employment overseas. Even though a popular belief is that migrant workers create social problems, when comparing Sri Lankan child abuse with statistics from other migrant-oriented countries such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka’s abuse is an anomaly. It points to deeper issues triggering the devastatingly high numbers here. Moreover, there was no mention by the Minister about steps being taken to fast-track rehabilitation and empower the justice system to aid victims.
However, the NCPA is putting together a Foster Care Bill that would allow parents to adopt older children under a State monitored system. But this could also be ridden with liabilities if not carried out properly with well-funded checks and balances in place. This could also be a way forward to deal with series social conceptions that seem to trigger, hide and shield the victims of abuse. While the NCPA is trying to address the multiple issues, it is severely under resourced, much like the judicial system, showing political apathy.
Rampant abuse is completely swept into the shadows and while the Government has taken some steps such as establishing two courts only for child abuse cases, estimates indicate around 10,000 cases are pending at all courts around the island.
Caught in a vicious cycle of injustice, ever-growing impunity, stigma and judicial inefficiency, thousands of children are part of a tragic lost generation in Sri Lanka.
