• New report from a special police unit reveals disturbing stats

While a special Police unit was established at the Children and Women Bureau in order to monitor pornographic video footage and photographs related to children in 2021, according to the latest reports, it has been found that a total of 152,811 child sexual abuse related materials have been uploaded from Sri Lankan internet protocol (IP) addresses in the same year.

According to a report shared with The Daily Morning by the Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere (PEaCE) organisation, the number of child sex abuse-related materials uploaded to the internet through Sri Lankan IP addresses in the year 2021 stood at 152,811. The document stated that a country's specific numbers may, however, be impacted by the use of proxies and anonymisers.

The Police had taken steps to establish a special unit named the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children at the Police Children and Women Bureau in order to monitor pornographic video footage and photographs related to children in 2021. The Police stated that the unit will conduct surveillance in cyberspace with the utilisation of modern technology in order to trace the individuals who upload such video footage and photographs related to child pornography to the internet.

In 2021, it was reported that a total of 17,629 such video clips had been uploaded to the internet between the period of 17 June to 28 July, alone. A person circulating a video clip or photograph related to child pornography is guilty of an offence under the Obscene Publications Ordinance as amended, the Police noted, adding that perpetrators would be dealt with under the provisions of the said law.

The PEaCE, in a report which has been prepared based on media reports of incidents of child abuse, also stated that the months of October and December in 2022 had seen an unusual increase in the incidence of child abuse, with 40 incidents having been reported in October and 38 incidents in December. The months of August and October, and September, had seen 21 and 18 media-reported incidents, respectively. The report has stated that one possible reason for this sudden increase in incidents of child abuse may have been the media’s preoccupation with the coverage of the country's economic crisis and the protests against the Government in the earlier part of the year 2022, particularly between April and July.  As a result, the report stated that only partial coverage of child abuse incidents may have been reported during the relevant months.