Violence and child abuse, red alert in Sri Lanka
Colombo (AsiaNews) - It is red alert in Sri Lanka as incidents of violence,
rapes and child abuse continues to grow: from January 2012, 975 cases were
registered by the police and 20 thousand complaints received by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA).
One
of the last episodes that made headlines, concerns a 13 year old girl, victim of
a gang rape by four men. One
of these was an official of the Tengalle, and another, a businessman, owner of
several hotels. Despite
the young girl identifying her attackers, no one has been arrested.
Data
from the Ministry for Women and Child Development at least 6,343 cases of rape
and 15,158 cases of child abuse have taken place in the last five years. In
this period, the sexual abuse of girls have grown exponentially: 799 cases in
2006, 805 in
2007, 914 in
2008, 922 in
2009, 1,089 in
2010, 1,169 in
2011.
According
MLAM Hisbullah, Deputy Minister for Women and Child Development, the primary
reason for the episodes is the lowering of levels of education, which add to
the overall condition of impunity enjoyed by perpetrators. Alongside
the general insecurity felt by children, is the spread among them of access to mobile
phones with Internet connection; altered states caused by the consumption of more
easily available cocaine and alcohol, a lack of sex education, especially among
adolescents,
which leads to greater promiscuity, particularly in the textile sector.
With
data in hand, early July, the ministry brought the problem of child abuse to
parliament, where the government promised "more stringent measures"
in terms of penalties and sentences for offenders. However,
activists and civil society complain that beyond this suggestion, the
authorities have not taken any concrete steps to tackle the issue. Therefore,
on July 21 last month, the National
Christian Council (NCC) and Sri Lanka Lama
Kriyakari Virayo (La-Kri-Vi) have organized a march of children in Colombo. Thousands
of Christians - parents, children, priests and nuns - took part, marching to
the capital with posters written in Tamil, Sinhalese and English. The
gathering alternated moments for more playful activities, such as small
exhibitions and performances, and moments of protest to raise awareness.
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