Child abuse escalates in Sri Lanka – SL Deputy Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 October 2010, 13:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka National Children Authority receives 400 complaints of child abuse per day, Sri Lanka Deputy Minister of Child Development & Women's Affairs M. L. A. M. Hizbullah said. The children in the North and East are very much affected by war and natural disasters while there are eighty-nine thousand war widows in these regions, he said. Meanwhile, Eastern Province Council Health Minister, M. S. Subair said that sexual abuse of children had increased in Eastern Province more than it had been during the war.

Some women leave their small children with their husbands to work abroad to earn a living. The children thus left behind are mostly misused without sufficient care and attention, the Deputy Minister said.

M. S. Subair, the Health Minister of Eastern Provincial Council, blamed the SL Human Rights Commission, National Child Authority, police, educational officials, Non-government Organizations and religious priests in Eastern province for having failed in their duty to put a stop for child abuse.

The Eastern Province Council Health Ministry is engaged in projects to stem child misuse in Eastern Province, he further said.