• Slam Minister Manusha Nanayakkara’s recent ‘song & dance’ 

The Child Protection Alliance has expressed opposition against the misuse of children for political activities, pointing out that children were allegedly used in that manner during a recent event which the alliance said included comments on political parties and was therefore of a political nature.

In a letter addressed to the Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara and dated yesterday (24), the alliance pointed out that a recent video circulated on social media platforms showing school children being called to a stage by Nanayakkara and a singer, with the latter singing a song which the alliance said was inappropriate for children and where the said political comments were made. The complaint, which has been copied to the Presidential Secretariat, the Education Ministry, the National Child Protection Authority, and the United Nations (UN) International Children’s Emergency Fund’s Country Representative, has already been submitted to the relevant parties, the Alliance’s Co-Convenor Dr. Tush Wickramanayaka told The Daily Morning. 

Quoting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Sri Lanka has signed, the letter pointed out: “Governments must protect children from all forms of exploitation, for example the exploitation of children for political activities.”

“We are worried about you, as a minister, misusing children for political dramas in an unethical manner, and we would like to inform that such amounts to child abuse,” the letter read, adding that the minister in question, as an elected public representative, has a responsibility to ensure Sri Lankan children’s rights and safety.

Attempts to contact Nanayakkara yesterday to inquire about his stance on the matter proved futile.