Shocking child abuse stats
280 cases of child abuse were taken up by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court last year alone
By Michael Hardy
Shocking new Ministry of Justice statistics obtained by The Sunday Leader reveal that child abuse in Sri Lanka has reached epic proportions. Out of approximately 15,000 trials currently pending nationwide, more than 4,000 — 27 percent — involve some form of violence toward a child. In rural areas, the figures are even higher: according to the Ministry of Justice, over half of all court cases outside of Colombo relate to child abuse.
Even more shocking is who’s committing the abuse. In 254 out of the 1,126 cases of abuse for which the Ministry has detailed information, the abuser was a relative of the victim. In 89 of the cases, the abuser was the victim’s father, in 14 it was the victim’s stepfather, and in five cases it was the victim’s grandfather. The other 146 cases of incest were committed by members of the victim’s extended family. Rapes constituted most of the cases, followed by sexual abuse, cruelty, and kidnapping. 206 of the victims were under 10 years old and 878 were between 10 and 16.
These numbers indicate a massive breakdown in the moral structure of Sri Lankan society. A 2004 study by the UK-based National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) found that 37.8 percent of 12-year-olds in Sri Lanka country had experienced some form of physical abuse in the past year. In China and Korea, the rates were 22.6 percent and 51.3 percent. All three countries had much higher rates than in America, where the rate of abuse for 12 to 17-year olds is only 2.5 percent.
A very real problem
“It’s a very real problem in Sri Lanka,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said. “Social workers and lawyers are trying to find out why it’s so high and how to take remedial measures.”
Menaca Calyaneratne, the spokeswoman for Save the Children in Sri Lanka, blamed poor parenting and misguided schools for the high rates of abuse:
“Neither parents nor schools teach children about protection from sexual abuse or any other abuse,” Calyaneratne said. “Such abuses are accepted by both parents and children such as physical and humiliating punishment by elders and teachers. Emotional abuse is not recognised as abuse and bullying and teasing is rampant in our society.”
Indeed, a study by Piyanjali de Zoysa, Peter A. Newcombe and Lalini Rajapakse found that there is a high correlation between the prevalence of corporal punishment and the rate of child abuse in countries around the world. They also found that countries that have experienced warfare have higher rates of corporal punishment — in Sri Lanka, children experience an average of 12 incidents of physical abuse per year, according to the study. This suggests that the violence of warfare inevitably trickles down, through parents and teachers, to the most innocent and defenceless members of society. When a society goes to war, it’s ultimately the children who pay the price:
“…the patriarchal social structure, the impact of (Sri Lanka’s) history of conflicts in promoting a sense of normalisation of violence, and the less strict child monitoring laws may be some of the factors contributing to the reported high prevalence of parental corporal punishment in the study,” the study concludes.
Absence of the mother
Another reason for the high levels of child abuse is the absence of the mother from many households. A 2006 study by Save the Children found that Sri Lanka has 600,000 female migrant workers and that 90 percent of them are mothers.
“These women have left behind a million children, to make a better future for them,” Calyaneratne said. “Yet, there is no care plan for these children. The children they leave behind are at risk of not only abuse but other violations of their rights such as dropping out of school to look after younger children and being sent to institutions.”
With their mother away in the Middle East or elsewhere, Sri Lankan children are vulnerable to predators. 124 out of the 1,126 reports of child abuse for which the Ministry of Justice has detail information involve a boyfriend. 51 involve a neighbour, 12 involve a teacher, and the rest — 386 — involve a total stranger. Tellingly, no mothers are involved in any of the cases. The Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment has proposed a law preventing mothers of children under five years of age from working overseas; however, Save the Children has argued that the law would restrict the rights of women, and the law hasn’t been implemented.
Despite the creation of the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment in 2005 and the establishment of women and children’s bureaux in police stations across the country, these statistics reveal that child abuse remains at record levels. Fortunately, the government may finally be ready to take child abuse seriously. That’s the message from Additional Solicitor-General Palitha Fernando, who is assembling a task force to investigate this island-wide social pathology.
Alarming figures
“This is not a problem that has cropped up recently, but these alarming figures give the matter greater urgency,” Fernando said. “People were not aware of this. There have been many awareness programmes and we are a signatory to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), but the problem remains.”
Fernando’s task force will consist of representatives from the police, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Empowerment, and other stake holders. Although their task is daunting, Fernando said he was optimistic that his group could suggest positive changes.
“I have always said that it is better to protect the children than to prosecute the abuser after the fact,” he said. “I have also emphasised the importance of rehabilitation. Punishment is important, but equally important is the rehabilitation of the children who have been victimised.”
Why is so much child abuse committed by members of the victim’s family? According to Calyaneratne, children are much more trusting of their relatives than of strangers, which makes it easier for a step-father or uncle to commit their crimes. Also, many poor families share a single room, which eliminates privacy and makes it easier for family members to abuse children.
By family members
To protect the children, Calyaneratne said that there must be greater awareness of the problem among children and parents, and that existing protection mechanisms such as local child protection committees should be strengthened. She also proposed specialised training for police officers and judges:
“We must improve the knowledge and skill of probation officers and child rights promotion officers,” she said. “The police and the judicial system must be made more aware of the best interest of the child. To this end, the Judges Training Institute has already trained magistrates, and a module has been developed for the Institute to make it part of the curriculum in training judges. Save the Children presented this proposal to the Chief Justice last week”
Although many people associate child abuse and incest with rural poverty, Calyaneratne said that the rural poor was simply more willing to report abuse than the urban middle class, who are worried about how allegations of abuse will affect their social standing. Even so, 280 cases of abuse were taken up by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court in the last year alone.
“Abuse takes place in all walks of life,” Calyaneratne said.
To prevent this situation, we need to educate the public. Media, and politicians should talk about children rights. Unless children knows their rights, it will be hard to prevent child abuse. In the developing countries, unfortunately, there is not enough education in the public schools or higher education about social issues. Because there is no education, not only children but also public is also not aware of child abuse. It is the public who report to the police and not the abuser. Though Sri L lanka has Human Rights minister, he never talked about children rights. It is not only child abuse exists in Sri Lanka, there are many types of abuses exists within Sri Lankan community. Countries need to have good law to prevent and to punish child abusers, and to compensate children who were abused. Impact of child abuse on adult can cause many psychological problem. Though report did not find any child was abused by mother, I strongly suspect that there are cases of child abuse by mothers too. Most of the time, mothers abuse verbally and it is not considered as an abuse. Like in Western countries, children should be taught what is their rights and what to do when abuse happen.
My Experience as a Child in Sri Lanka
I left country 24 years ago after completing my high school. When I was a child there was no right. Parents and relatives were controlling so I was so pressured and my freedom of expression was suppressed. My mother was a kind of controlling so to control me, she would abuse me verbally to undermine my ability. Though I thought I was smart, once my mother whom I happened to live during my high school, I started to suspect my ability. Before the high school, I was living with my grand parents. Though my family has two residence and many properties family wanted to me not to continue my education so that I could take care of their property. It was a struggle for me to continue my education. The message I received from parents and relatives implied that I would become provider so they could make dowry and they could meet. As a first child boy, I was pressured to take care of other siblings. It is always parents’ responsibility to take care of children and not of any siblings. I remember, when I was 8 years old I was forced to do things by parents and was punished physically.
By living in the western countries for a long time, I noticed that there are many forms of abuse exists within our society. Since it is considered as a part of the culture, society never speak out against child abuse, spousal abuse, or any form of abuse. Our society never speaks about freedom of speech/expression, individual rights, or any other social related issues. Some they claim that Sri Lankans are family oriented. By claiming so, we ignore the society. As a result, if a neighbor abuse his/her child, we never bother. Like Sri Lankans, other developing countries should wake up to educated the society social issues and to protect everyone’s rights.
What are the rates of teen age and underage pregnancies in England and Wales?
How many children are abused in the British Isles?
Case of Baby P? There are deaths. Child rape in England is ten fold that of Sri Lanka. If there is a problem we know that English pedophiles like Gary Glitter
are predators in search or tight rectums you scum.
How many underage protitues walk the streets in England?
Deaths of children?
Only the Leader is sick enough to have an Editor like Fredrika who like many Sri Lankan journalists long to seek political refuge ouside in a Western country where the dole will keep them comfy.
As for you English prick write more about how your own Politicians are fleecing the public and stuffing the rich with all the poor peoples’ money .
well said peter! not forgetting a 11year old girl who was raped inside a Tesco supermarket in london in the ladies toilet whilst her mom was also shopping. they never caught the suspect. the no 01 british channel SKY NEWS says every 03mnts a child is raped or killed in UK. how many teen prenancies do u get in UK /west /US no one talks about this. my friends in UK were in tears after seing how well our kids are brought up knowing they have failed as openly admitted.
newman,
for people like u there is a place call Angoda or better mulleriyawa we all live in westrn countries & we know the truth
As i see you have misunderstood the reality of this problem, it is not about comparing here and there but it is about how to prevent it. I have been also living in europe and i have been working with sexually abused girls for years in sri lanka. there is a big facotor with our social, cultural frames to this problem. specialy since our children are being abused within the family and most of these cases have no accountability. children are being suffred again and again. see domestic violance cases in sri lanka, violance against women and violance based activities all over. there are huge impact of our attitudes, belives and education to this issue.
ranjan you have misundestood. the article aims @ slinging mud @ SL not anything else. in SL it is a very minor issue compared to india/ europe/ canada & dont forget the US of A. if you go to chennai child prostitute cost only 100 INR & ramapant with aids. i’am honestly shocked @ this 3rd grade attempt to show srilanka as a sex abuse place. wonder what sunday leader will resort to next?
Verny, There is nothing me to misunderstand in this issue, becuase i have been involving in this issue professionally many years in Sri Lanaka, by 2007 it was 22000 children were in children homes in SL this should be incresed after the war. it is 0.5% of the child population in the country this is much higher than even in sub suharian africa. most of these children are there due to violance or abuse. i have been to india, nepal and many other countries for studying issues on children, but according to domestic violance and child sexual abuses we are not far better than them. today more than 50% of criminal offenders are child abuses. if you really see the truth we have not seen 30% of real abuses taken places within the family, school, community and other very close and trusted places children are usally being. mostly it is a case of stranger abuses a child goes before the law. forget the bullshit of our country, culture, tradition or whatever, think what is against humanity and human rights…specially when it is coming to children…
This is shocking us for many years when ever a child is raped and/or might be killed. The society shocked, Authorities are shocked and children themselves. Although we have seen, heared and knew this is a disaster against our children and future of those individuals and the country we are stil not ready to take this series. Where are the initiatives have been taken place to change the real cuases unless what UNICEF, Save the children and other organisation working with children have done. This is not an issue we can address case by case processing in legal prespective it is a issue of education, economy, attitueds, knowladge, culture and social stuctures. I have been working with hunderds of children who have been through sexual abuses, viloence and curlity. we have to understand that our education system is not growing up parroly to the change of the society. Now it is time to educate our children from their early child hood all natural forms of their lives, to take care of themselves….we take hands of our children when they are in even age 0f 18 or higher but we do not give our hand to improve their personalities. we take them home safly and they are abused at home..this is the most common case of sri lanka…until we strenth, educate, motivate and empower children we will always fail in this matter…..
Looks like we are living up to the Buddhist Philosophy. What about the cases of monks who have raped children in temples? Yeh! it’s a country where people are brain washed by Monks. No wonder still it’s a poor country.
monks raped children in temples|??? it never even came in the sunday leader who glorifies these issues! so if u want to cook up a story be it a good one! as i know only catholic church in europe has this issues which made world headlines. try a better subject to sling mud at SL as we are not a poor nation in culture & heritage. if u think we are poor just go to odel on aevening ha ha
1966 statistics of UNICEF and ILO, quoted by the National Child Protection Authority revealed that 36 to 40,000 child prostitutes exist in sri lanka. This is worse than statistics of child abuse. Travel magazines abroad quote sri lanka as a ‘paedophile’s paradise. Most of them are males and are available mostly along the western and southern coastal belts where tourist hotels exist. It appears that parents are not unduly concerned,and are quoted as saying “He cannot get pregnant. So no harm done” ! Most pimps & brokers have presence in the tourist hotels.
This is apart from adult female prostitutes who too are available. Visit any swimming pools in tourist hotels and one can see local gigolos – who do not stay in them – come there to pick up those who come for sex-tourism ( not prostitutes ) and take them elsewhere for an evening of fun – free of charge.
Sri Lanka needs an expertise panel not on war crime but on sex crimes. Govt repress people by series of bans including porn bans, raids massage parlours and arrests of people who engage in sex or even couples who kiss or walk hand-in-hand , the victims of those repressions are the children. Sri Lanka need Psychologists panel to advice the govt on the consequences of sex repression : Child abuse in Sri Lanka has reached epic proportions. Out of approximately 15,000 trials currently pending nationwide, more than 4,000 – 27% involve a child. In rural areas, the figures are even higher: over half of all court cases outside of Colombo relate to child abuse. In 254 out of the 1,126 cases -relative of the victim, 89 – victim’s father,14 -by stepfather, 5- cases by grandfather. 206 of the victims were under 10 years old and 878 were 10yrs and 16yrs.
Very true. Let adults do as they please but let the Church remember “suffer the little children to come unto me.” Please don’t blight the future of children who don’t understand. Those who force celibacy and frustration on adults are to blame. Let’s hope Richard Dawkins succeeds in arresting the Pope Ratzinger! Two weeks to go!
This is a sexually repressed society. Many have no healthy oultet like licensed prostitution to cater to a basic human need. Lovers holding hands in a park or beach are shamed, harassed and prosecuted. The high and mighty can have all the sex they want but not the ordinary people. But the repressed will find outlets, even in twisted forms, including sudden rage, violence, depression, sexual harassment in public transport. Sexually repressed societies are sick societies. Our ‘high moral values’ is high hypocrisy. We are essentially a sexually frustrated, psychologically conflicted nation of perverts!
A 61-year-old Frenchman appeared in a Paris court Monday charged with raping 10 Thai girls aged between 6 and 11. Civilized French, eh?
PLease can i know the determinants of sibling violence and elder violence in sri lanka!.
Oh lord!!!!! this is an article on the increasing rate of child abuse in Sri Lanka and it does not say that other countries in the world don’t have an increasing rate of child abuse…And i don’t see why most of your’ll are arguing about which country has the highest number of rapes and most importantly that Sri Lanka is better than the rest when we are currently having these issues….Even if our country has the lowest rate WE STILL HAVE CHILD ABUSE and it SHOULD be solved…i love my country with all my heart but currently there are many ‘preventable’ crimes happening everyday…So i think that all of us should stop worrying about the level of these abuses and only give proper solutions for this increasing problem :) :) :)