- RTI disclosure reveals 4,289 child abuse cases pending islandwide
- Auditor General’s reports cite investigation delays, systemic failures
- Many survivors reach adulthood before cases are concluded
- Over 40,000 child abuse complaints remain pending at NCPA
- Govt. moves to amend key child protection laws this year
- NCPA to recruit 109 officers to expand workforce
On 1 October 2025, as Sri Lanka marked World Children’s Day under the theme ‘Nurture with Love – To Lead the World,’ the Homagama High Court delivered a judgment that starkly exposed the distance between celebration and reality.
High Court Judge Navaratna Marasinghe sentenced a former Police officer to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment after convicting him of sexually abusing a child under the age of 16, a crime committed more than 16 years earlier.
According to the indictment, on 13 September 2009, the accused committed grave sexual abuse by sexually touching the private parts of an eight-year-old girl, an offence punishable under Section 365B(2)(b) of the Penal Code, as amended by Acts No.22 of 1995 and No.29 of 1998.
While the verdict delivered a measure of accountability, the case also laid bare a persistent and deeply entrenched problem in Sri Lanka’s justice system: the prolonged delay in concluding child abuse cases.
The survivor was eight years old when the abuse occurred. By the time the case concluded, she was 24. The trauma endured over those years, including its impact on her education, mental health, and life trajectory, remains incalculable.
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), the prime agency entrusted with the duty of caring for the island’s children, its Founder Chairperson Prof. Harendra de Silva argues, is plagued with structural shortcomings, lack of professionalism, and diminished credibility.
Justice delayed, justice denied
Delays in prosecuting child abuse cases are not isolated incidents. Across Sri Lanka, thousands of such cases remain stalled in High Courts, some for over a decade, awaiting trial or conclusion.
It is against this backdrop that a recent response to a Right to Information (RTI) request has shed light on the scale of the crisis. The request was filed by Stop Child Cruelty Trust Chairperson Dr. Tushara Wickramanayaka, seeking data on child abuse cases pending before High Courts.
Following a directive issued by the Right to Information Commission, the NCPA has, for the first time since its establishment in 1998, released detailed public data on pending child abuse cases islandwide.
The disclosure was made under the Right to Information Act No.12 of 2016, marking a significant, though long overdue, step towards transparency.
Despite its statutory mandate to prevent child abuse, coordinate investigations, and monitor cases through the criminal justice system, the NCPA had for decades failed to provide a public mechanism to track the progress of cases once they moved beyond initial complaints. This is not a mere assumption: the Auditor General’s reports on the NCPA over the years have repeatedly confirmed this gap.
As a result, victims’ families and civil society organisations were left without clarity on whether justice was advancing or indefinitely stalled.
A mounting backlog
The newly released data paints a stark picture. As of January, a total of 4,289 child abuse cases are pending before High Courts across the country. Of these, only 1,683 cases were scheduled to be taken up or called during the month.
In many districts, fewer than half of the pending cases have been fixed for hearings, pointing to systemic weaknesses that extend beyond routine procedural delays.
The regional distribution further highlights the scale of the challenge. The Galle High Court records the highest number of pending cases, with 442 cases, of which only 101 are scheduled to be called. Kurunegala follows with 423 cases, Kandy with 414, Kalutara with 229, Gampaha with 220, Matara with 216, and Badulla and Kegalle with 206 cases each.
The cases captured in the data include some of the gravest offences recognised under Sri Lankan law when committed against children, including rape, incest, grave sexual abuse, trafficking, cruel and inhuman treatment, sexual exploitation, and related offences prosecuted under 13 sections of the Penal Code.
Each pending case represents a child whose access to justice has been delayed – often for years.
‘A hard-fought step towards transparency’
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Dr. Wickramanayaka described the disclosure as a significant breakthrough after years of resistance. “After nearly three decades, details of child abuse cases pending before High Courts have finally been made public. This marks a significant step forward in transparency,” she said.
She noted that the NCPA had initially resisted releasing the data. “Under the NCPA Act No.50 of 1998, the authority is legally mandated to regulate child abuse cases islandwide. However, when this information was requested, the NCPA maintained that it was not in its possession, custody, or control.”
According to Dr. Wickramanayaka, the disclosure followed prolonged legal effort. “The release of this information came only after a directive from the RTI Commission. It required years of sustained engagement and several months after the appeal before the data was finally made public.”
She stressed, however, that transparency remained incomplete. “Critical information such as the date a complaint was lodged, the Police station that conducted the investigation, and the date indictments were filed must also be disclosed. Without this, systemic delays cannot be clearly identified or addressed through targeted reforms.”
Dr. Wickramanayaka emphasised that transparency must be balanced with ethical safeguards. “There are clear limits. Details relating to child victims, suspects, or case numbers must not be disclosed. But the public has a legitimate right to know how these cases are progressing through the justice system.”
She warned that the backlog extended far beyond the courts. “More than 40,000 complaints are currently pending at the NCPA. Over 4,000 files are awaiting action at the Attorney General’s Department, while more than 4,000 cases are delayed within the courts.”
“If Sri Lanka genuinely seeks to build a safer future for its children, justice cannot remain a promise. Equality, fairness, and accountability must extend to child victims as well,” she added.
Auditor General’s revelations
According to the Auditor General’s report included in the NCPA’s Annual Report for 2023, while 123,732 child abuse complaints were received by the authority from 2011 up to the date of the report, 52,922 of them, or 43%, were still under investigation.
As a result, the authority had failed to fulfil its responsibility to formulate a methodology to ensure that investigations into child abuse complaints are completed before victims reach adulthood.
The report also highlighted severe staff shortages, particularly among district and regional officers who play a critical role in handling child abuse cases. The failure to implement an effective prevention mechanism amid rising child abuse incidents has further contributed to the escalation of unresolved complaints.
“It was revealed during the audit that the authority is unable to ascertain the total number and current status of child abuse complaints received islandwide, due to the failure to establish a formal coordination mechanism between the Sri Lanka Police, the Department of Probation and Child Protection Services, and the relevant line ministry,” the report noted.
As of now, the NCPA has not made public its annual reports for 2024 and 2025. However, in 2025 alone, the authority received 10,455 complaints related to children. Of these, 545 involved sexual harassment, while 231 involved grave sexual abuse.
NCPA responds
Responding to concerns over delays, NCPA Chairperson Preethi Inoka Ranasinghe told The Sunday Morning that the issue could not be attributed to a single cause.
“The duration of a case cannot be assessed through a single metric. Timelines vary depending on the nature of the complaint, the volume of evidence, and the availability of witnesses,” she said.
She explained that investigations often depended on multiple institutions. “Many cases require numerous statements, medical reports, and Government Analyst reports. Delays in any of these processes contribute to overall delays in prosecution.”
Court-related factors further complicated timelines, she noted. “From the point a complaint is received until a case is concluded, several institutions are involved. Delays may also arise due to witness non-appearance and requests for postponements by counsel, etc.”
On staffing constraints, Ranasinghe acknowledged long-standing capacity issues. “The NCPA currently operates with 50% of required cadre. Towards the end of 2024, approval was granted for an additional 109 positions, and recruitment is now underway.”
She clarified the authority’s role in investigations, saying: “The NCPA is primarily a monitoring and regulatory body. Investigations are conducted by the Police. Our responsibility is to ensure that investigations are carried out in accordance with the law, although a limited number of cases are handled by a specialised internal unit.”
Ranasinghe also confirmed that legislative amendments were in progress. “Proposed amendments to the NCPA Act have already been submitted to the Legal Draftsman, and revisions to the Children and Young Persons Ordinance (CYPO) are at the preparation stage. We expect these to be finalised within the year.”
She added that prevention remained a key focus, highlighting ongoing School Student Ambassador and University Student Ambassador National Programmes aimed at promoting child safety, empathy, and peer protection.
Impact on victims
“It has been eight years now. I do not remember any of it anymore. Because the case was not being taken up, I put it out of my mind and focused on my education. I was not even aware that the case had been called on seven occasions. So I moved on, concentrating on my studies.” This testimony was given by a child abuse survivor before the High Court.
When the accused, her biological father, appealed against the High Court verdict (Case No. CA/HCC/0168/20), the Court of Appeal, referring to her statement, observed: “It becomes clear that there would not be evidence of grave sexual abuse in the manner alleged when a medical officer examines a victim several months after the incidents. It is settled law that a witness, especially a child sexual abuse victim, would not be able to narrate events with exact dates or in strict chronological order due to various factors and circumstances.”
In this case, the indictment before the Kalutara High Court related to three acts of grave sexual abuse committed between 1 November 2011 and 12 July 2012. The High Court judgment was delivered on 21 July 2020. The Court of Appeal dismissed the petition of the accused in March 2023.
The survivor, who was about 13 years old at the time of the abuse, was 21 when she testified and was preparing for her Advanced Level Examination for the third time. She stated that the abuse began when she was in Grade 8, during the latter part of 2011.
In another case (CA HCC 190/2024) involving the sexual abuse of a daughter by her father, the Court of Appeal dismissed the convict’s appeal in 2025. The offence occurred in June 2008 when the child was 14 years old, and the case took 12 years to conclude at the High Court.
The Court of Appeal noted: “Given the considerable lapse of time between the commission of the offence and the examination of the victim, any discrepancies in her testimony are understandable. A child’s memory is malleable, and recollections of traumatic events can be affected by emotional development, environmental changes, and the stress of recounting such experiences in a courtroom setting years later.”
These excerpts illustrate how prolonged delays not only undermine access to justice but also complicate the evidentiary process itself.
Steps taken by the Govt.
In May 2025, the Cabinet approved the implementation of the National Policy on Child Protection, prepared under the NCPA Act. To operationalise the policy, a Five-Year National Action Plan was developed, covering 10 thematic areas related to child protection and adopting a multi-sectoral approach aligned with the National Policy Framework for ‘A Secure World for Children – A Creative Future Generation.’
Cabinet approval has also been granted to introduce new legislation and amend several existing laws under the purview of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. Accordingly, at its meeting held on Monday (26), the Cabinet approved a proposal submitted by Women and Child Affairs Minister Saroja Savithri Paulraj to introduce and amend legislation relating to women and children during 2026.
Among the approved proposals are a new law to address cyber crimes against children, the introduction of a child rights act in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the repeal of the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act and its replacement with new legislation, and the formulation of a law governing foster parent care.
Proposed reforms also include amendments to the CYPO No.48 of 1939, Adoption of Children Ordinance No.24 of 1941, and NCPA Act.
It is evident that successive governments have failed in practice to accord child protection the priority it demands. Had systemic attention been paid earlier, many of these delays could have been prevented.
Engine is running, but vehicle isn’t moving: Prof. Harendra de Silva
According to NCPA Founder Chairperson Prof. Harendra de Silva, meaningful reform of Sri Lanka’s child protection system requires a fundamental transformation of its structures, rather than the mere replacement of individuals in positions of authority.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, he argued that the existing framework was paralysed by deep-rooted institutional inefficiencies and a lack of professional accountability.
Prof. de Silva stressed that child protection could not function in the absence of basic principles such as good governance, the rule of law, transparency, and accountability. Without these, failures go unaddressed and cases are quietly abandoned.
“If a mistake is made, someone must be held responsible,” he said, warning that without clear mechanisms to hold officials answerable, unresolved cases would continue to accumulate and backlogs would grow.
He also pointed to conflicts of interest as a critical structural weakness, particularly appointments based on personal, familial, or political affiliations rather than professional expertise.
“Institutions cannot function when people appoint their relatives or disciples instead of experts. I’m not referring to the most recent appointments. However, there were instances in the past where politically affiliated individuals were appointed to top positions at the NCPA,” he noted, adding that child protection agencies must be insulated from political patronage to function effectively.
Political interference, Prof. de Silva cautioned, had eroded the integrity of the child protection system. Over the years, appointments have often been used to “fill seats” with political loyalists rather than individuals with knowledge or a genuine commitment to child welfare.
The consequences of this dysfunction extend into the justice system as well. Even when the NCPA completes investigations, cases frequently stall in court. “You can do everything right, but if cases are not prioritised, justice is delayed and effectively denied,” he said, pointing to procedural delays and the influence of private legal interests.
Another systemic failure, Prof. de Silva said, lay in the utilisation of public funds. He observed that many child protection institutions existed largely in name, with budgets overwhelmingly consumed by recurrent expenditure.
“We spend on recurrent expenses, salaries, the Employees’ Provident Fund, and pensions, but almost nothing on capital expenditure to strengthen the institution itself,” he said. The result, he explained, was a system that continuously consumed resources without improving its capacity to act.
“The engine is running and burning fuel, but the vehicle is not moving. That is the best example I can give,” he added.
Prof. de Silva also highlighted the absence of professionalisation within the child protection sector. Unlike the health sector, which operates as a specialised professional service supported by a continuous flow of data from grassroots-level public health workers to national authorities, child protection lacks such integration. “In health, data moves from the midwife in the village right up to the top. In child protection, there is no continuous connection,” he said.
Even where professional titles such as psychologists or counsellors exist within the authority, he noted that there was little monitoring to ensure these roles were meaningfully performed. “Having a designation is not enough if there is no system to check whether the professional work is actually being done,” he added.
This structural neglect, he argued, also affected staff motivation and commitment. Without a professional service framework, workers have limited opportunities for career progression or subject-specific development. “There is no real incentive to specialise or to build expertise,” he said, warning that such conditions inevitably led to disengagement rather than responsibility.
“The entire system must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny. This should begin with a comprehensive audit of child abuse cases. We need to ask how many cases were reported, how many were investigated, and how many were actually resolved,” he said.
Without such accountability, Sri Lanka’s child protection system would continue to function in name alone, an engine running endlessly, but going nowhere, he warned.