State of the World's ChildrenSri Lankan young people and child protection experts joined UNICEF Sri Lanka for the launch of the State of the World’s Children Report 2006: Excluded and Invisible at the Children and Youth Centre in Pettah, in inner-city Colombo on December 20, 2005. The launch opened with a welcome speech delivered by a 13 year-old girl, Duvanicka Harshani. The situation of Sri Lanka’s “excluded and invisible” children was presented by Sri Lanka experts and a young activist. The situation of child abuse in Sri Lanka was explained by Dr. Kalyani Guruge, who works with children who suffer physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Ms. Nandanie De Silva, who has been promoting inclusive education for children with special needs for the last thirty years, pointed out the negative attitude towards children with special needs. The lack of awareness about inclusive education among the public, educators, parents and children themselves hinder progress in Sri Lanka, she said. Mr. J.A.Abdul Manaf, Director-General of Shade, explained the difficult environment in which children of internally displaced families have been growing up. At internally displaced persons’ camps, it is not rare for children to deal with suicide, alcoholic parents, domestic violence, neglect, physical abuse and even sexual abuse in some cases. Many children feel unsafe and uncared for. Mr. Rusiru Tharindra Abeyasinghe, a 19 tear-old activist against commercial sexual exploitation of children, quoted the estimated figure of child sex workers in Sri Lanka as between 10,000 and 30,000, according to the regional conference supported by UNICEF held in Colombo in 2004. He explained that a misconception that “boys do not suffer from sexual abuse as much as girls” is behind a large proportion of boys working as sex workers. In order to prevent youth falling into commercial sexual exploitation, he has been promoting youth-to-youth activities in Sri Lanka for the last two years. Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, Chair person of the National Child Protection Authority, summarized the report’s relevance to Sri Lanka. She acknowledged shyness, stigmatization, fear and shame cause many children and families in Sri Lanka to suffer silently. She stated; “It is well known that most of the violations of the protection rights of children occur at home by close family members. Abuse occurs at all levels of the social strata. It crosses ethnic and religious boundaries. It also occurs in schools.” She touched on issues including children in conflict with laws, child labour and children affected by HIV/AIDS, in addition to the issues addressed by previous speakers. She recommended the following action points:
State of the World's Children Report global site State of the World's Children 2006 Press Release
|
