Govt: 7,400 children became victims of abuse in 2012

By Saman Indrajith-November 25, 2013,

 Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karalliyadda told Parliament yesterday that 7,418 children had become victims of abuse in 2012.

Of those incidents, the highest number––1,174––had been reported from the Colombo district, he said.

The minister said that out of all such incidents reported last year, 3,800 were punishable offences under the Penal Code. He said that 313 children had been employed as child labourers, while 1,054 had been identified as those without guardianship and protection. There were 944 children who were not attending schools, while 1,307 had been victims of domestic violence and 196 had been sexually abused, the Minister added.

Since 2009 there had been 18,777 cases of juvenile delinquency, the minister said.

Mothers of 322 boys who had become victims abuse in 2012 were employed overseas. Fathers of 35 other boys abused in the same year were working abroad. The government was taking action to prohibit mothers with children below five years of age from going abroad for employment and a report had been called, minister Karalliyadda said.

Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera said that now it had become mandatory for every woman who went abroad for employment to submit a family background report. After calling for that report and discouraging women from seeking foreign employment at the expense of their families, the number of Sri Lankan women going abroad had come down by 37 percent, he said.

The Minister was responding to a question raised by UNP Colombo District MP Rosy Senanayake.