CHILD ABUSE AND NUMBER 1929

It’s not that child abuse has increased in Sri Lanka, it’s just that more cases are been reported to number 1929

-The President of Child Protection Authority

Many cases of child abuse had been reported in every other media on a daily basis. In an interview to a newspaper, Anoma Dissanayake, The President of Child Protection Authority had mentioned that the number of child abuse cases had been the same all the time. The reason why we think that the number had increased so much is because they have been reported to number 1929 than it had been done before. She had also showed her views about the influence from social networks like Face book.
Her interview to’ Divaina’ is as below:

Question: What is the reason for such a number of child abuses?

“There are two sides in this. One is that the child abuse which had been taking place over the last period of time was not reported at all. We launched Child supporting service in 2010 and announced through media to report on any kind of child abuse. Then many cases were reported. The number in 2010 had increased than it was in 2011. Nine thousand and four hundred forty six (9446) cases had been reported by the end of first three months this year. There is an increase of reporting via 1929 which seems as if the number of child abuse had been increased.”

Question: Why don’t you take measures to stop the abuse that takes place via internet and Face book?

“Our influence resulted in banning some of the inappropriate websites. When one is banned and closed, another appears from somewhere. We heard about many cases in which girls have become victims due to Face book and we have take action to arrest them as well. What I am saying is that children need modern technology. But when they are using it, the parents should be able to guide them and monitor them.”

Newspaper Article by Thushari kalubowila