Long-term failures in governance of Sri Lanka have created many victims. While all their stories are tragic, few are as sorrowful as that of children.  Like in many parts of the world when families, societies and circumstances let you down, few are more impacted and changed for life – the children and the elderly. This is no different for Sri Lankan children who find themselves at the mercy of the State, and of various institutions that are poorly regulated, and often overlooked as a priority. Mahatma Gandhi has said: “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

Yesterday (27) a former commissioner of the North Central Province Probation and Child Care Services Department and a senior probation officer were arrested in connection with an incident of child cruelty in an orphanage. The arrested are the former commissioner, who is a 49-year-old Wariyapola resident, and the senior probation officer, who is a 57-year-old resident of Anuradhapura. Both suspects were produced before the Anuradhapura Magistrate’s Court and were granted bail, yesterday afternoon. The case involves a 2021 incident of alleged child cruelty at an orphanage in Anuradhapura which prompted the National Child Protection Authority to complain to the Anuradhapura Police. According to reports, the Police had then obtained advice from the Attorney General (AG) regarding the legal action that can be taken against the administrative authority of the said department over the incident of cruelty to a 17-year-old child who was placed in a counselling centre under Court orders, where she had been made to work as a cook in an orphanage. The AG had advised to produce the duo for child neglect, causing harm to the child, child cruelty, and for employing her as a cook. This is just one of the many reports which cry out for a review of the State child-protection apparatus and for it to be given more priority.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation have been ongoing issues in Sri Lanka for many years and the numbers continue to rise each year. According to reports, there have been around 11,000 cases of child abuse reported in 2021, which is a significant increase from the previous year’s reported 8,000 cases. In 2022, the number of reported cases was 10,497. However, these statistics may not accurately represent the actual extent of the problem because many cases go unreported due to fear of social stigma, cultural and religious beliefs and fear of retaliation. Girls are often the most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation with over 60% of reported cases involving female children. The age group most affected is between 11 to 15 years old, accounting for nearly 50% of the reported cases according to some experts. Such figures are deeply concerning and something needs to be done to protect children from such trends of abuse.

According to UN agencies like the UNICEF, social and cultural norms that tolerate emotional, physical and sexual violence against children exist throughout Sri Lanka. Parents, teachers and children are often unaware of how to access and utilise child-protection services even if a violation is experienced. A lack of coordination at the national, district and divisional levels has made it difficult to weave important child-protection principles into the work of other connected sectors such as health, education, social protection and justice. As such, it is vital that Sri Lanka has to rethink the current child-protection system, and a national child-protection framework.

To address long-standing challenges in the quality and delivery of child-protection services, the Government should strongly consider recruiting more child-protection personnel and provide better mandatory training for them to meet the demand. Depending on resource availability, newly-trained staff needs to be channeled towards greater engagement with children, families and schools to help change attitudes and social norms. It is also imperative that stakeholders involved in child protection need more support in developing preventive measures and much remains to be done to assist children that have already been harmed. To aid in making all of this effective, the Government must first address the gaps in evidence and data that make it hard for policymakers to assess and react to challenges on the ground. A robust survey of communities, challenges and an audit of existing mechanisms needs to be done urgently. The Government also needs to provide more resources to address this issue. The State needs to act quickly to protect their most vulnerable citizens, our children.