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Curfew increases child cruelty

12 Apr 2020

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has observed that the percentage of complaints received on its 1929 hotline in relation to child cruelty has increased since the islandwide curfew was imposed. NCPA Chairma Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana, speaking to The Sunday Morning, stated: “Prior to the curfew being imposed, from the 40 complaints we received per day, only 10% was related to child cruelty, whereas now, although the number of complaints received per day has reduced to 10, about 42% of the complaints are related to cruelty against children.” He said that between the period of 16 March and 9 April, the NCPA had received 307 complaints, out of which 127 were pertaining to cruelty against children and domestic violence. “We are gravely concerned about the wellbeing of children who are now trapped with their abusers within the same household. Considering the present situation, we request the parents and guardians to be kind, loving, and empathetic towards children and make an effort to keep them happy and provide them the necessary protection at this difficult time,” he noted. Prof. Vidanapathirana also noted that the situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic can affect children in several aspects. Out of the confirmed 197 Covid-19-positive cases (at the time of writing) in Sri Lanka, 21 of them are children under the age of 18; unlike other illnesses, these children will not be attended by their close family and will be treated in isolation. “This can cause them to undergo depression and fear, and our hospital staff is doing their very best to provide them with the necessary psychosocial support. Meanwhile, out of the people who are in quarantine centres, about 10% are children. Even for these children, the necessary psychosocial support is provided by the healthcare professionals and tri-forces,” Prof. Vidanapathirana affirmed. According to the Department of Probation and Child Care Services, there are about 11,132 children in children’s homes across Sri Lanka. These children too are left in isolation as visitors and donors are not allowed to visit these children’s homes. “In Sri Lanka, we have over 4.5 million children and we need to consider their mental and physical health. Due to the restrictions in movement from district to district, children and parents might be separated at the moment. Some parents are stuck in other countries and are unable to return to Sri Lanka, while some other parents are hospitalised or sent to quarantine centres as they are infected by Covid-19.” The NCPA is at present devising a long-term national psychosocial support programme to ensure the wellbeing of all children in Sri Lanka; the plan has been discussed during an inter-agency committee meeting joined in by representative of UNICEF, World Vision, Save The Children, Child Fund, Leeds, Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), and Sarvodaya. Prof. Vidanapathirana stated that the programme will roll out as a two-week, three-month, and six-month programme. In the meantime, the NCPA had also trained their psychosocial support officers from all 25 districts on how to counsel the affected families and children. The Sunday Morning contacted the Police Media Division to obtain the number of complaints it had received over the past few days pertaining to domestic violence and child abuse, but was told that they were not currently keeping a record of those numbers. We were then asked to contact the Sri Lanka Police Women and Child Bureau and when contacted, the Bureau refused to provide statistics over the phone. Numbers to report domestic violence and child abuse: Women In Need – 011 4718585/077 7349100 Anuradhapura – 077 7349103 Jaffna – 077 9044202 Badulla – 077 2083319 Matara – 071 3481650 Police Children and Women Bureau – 011 2444444 ChildLine Sri Lanka – 1929

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