Break that vicious cycle

By Ruth Sutton

Covered with scars and burns, with multi- ple fractures and maggot- ravaged feet, a five-year-old boy is brought to the police - too exhausted and frightened to speak.

Premasiri (not his real name) is one of the fortunate few. A victim of child trafficking, he has managed to escape the vicious cycle of exploitation and abuse. Rehabilitation is now more than an elusive dream. Restitution for the ultimate betrayal - the violation of childhood - may never made, but he can at least hope for a better future.

" But what about the silent majority whose cries are heard only by their pillows soaked with tears?" asks Professor Harendra de Silva, leading paediatrician and Chairperson of the National Child Protection Authority.

This may sound like a modern day Cinderella story, and you may be hoping for the stereotypical " happy ending" - in this case a safe, loving environment in which a child can flourish; free from fear, free from hunger and free from pain.

But this is no fairy tale. The trafficking of children is a shocking reality in Sri Lanka.

If we value our children, our future and the sanctity of childhood, this is a problem which no member of civil society can ignore. It is with this in mind that an Anti Trafficking Unit of the NCPA is being built up.

In addition, a multi- agency National Task Force, appointed and led by Professor de Silva, has been created to assist in formulating a policy and Plan of Action to combat the trafficking of children for exploitative employment. It is a diverse group comprising representatives from a range of government agencies, NGOs, the Employer's Federation of Sri Lanka trade union representatives and other parties whose raison d'etre is the welfare of children.

The initiative is funded and technically supported by the Sri Lanka Chapter of the sub-regional programme to combat the trafficking of children for exploitative employment as part of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO)- International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).

The unit will submit its recommendations to the government by October 2001. Mr Bradman Weerakoon, a member of the National Monitoring Committee on Child Rights is the consultant on this exercise, and the project is supported by the expertise of the ILO's Tine Staernose, Chief Technical Advisor of the IPEC Sub Regional programme.

The work of the Task Force will feed into the National Plan of Action supported by IPEC's sub regional programme to combat the trafficking of children, and will also provide essential data for the Anti Trafficking Unit.

Although Sri Lanka has been one of the front-runners in setting the pace for legal reform with regard to child labour, the nature of trafficking makes the detection, prosecution and conviction of traffickers a singularly difficult problem.

" People are becoming more sensitive to the reality of child labour, abuse and the issue of trafficking of children, especially for adoption," says Shyama Salgado, from the anti-child trafficking project at the ILO - IPEC programme. " It is no longer just swept under the carpet, and this is what prompted the legal reforms in 1995."

It is now more difficult than ever for perpetrators to evade prosecution, but because of the difficulty of legal definitions and the shadowy processes of trafficking, "the trafficker" she says, "often gets away scot free."

These traffickers; the facilitators of a whole catalogue of child abuse and exploitation, are essentially merchants who barter with human lives and form the lynchpin in the perpetuation of child labour. Combating this trade by cutting off those who maintain the supply chain are what the task force and the NCPA's nascent Anti Trafficking Unit are hoping to address.

"Traffickers are very difficult to catch and pin down," explains Professor de Silva. "The trafficker is an invisible person because the contact with the child is so transient, and there is therefore so little evidence or proof. The trafficker procures and delivers the 'goods' and then disappears. If we want to capture and convict them, we need to intercept at exactly the right point and catch them in the act.

"For this we need more resources, trained manpower, and back-up in terms of rehabilitation services, protection from "secondary abuse - e.g. in an orphanage or remand centre while the prosecution takes place, reliable information and a data base."

Trafficking of children is defined by the UN as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation" , and the most common occurrences of this in Sri Lanka are in the areas of domestic labour, the sex industry, tea estate workers and child soldiers.

The NTF and Anti Trafficking Unit aim to focus predominantly on the first three categories, recognizing that the problem of child soldiers necessitates a slightly more specialized approach.

The amendments to the Sri Lankan Penal Code in 1995 pre-empted the ratification of UN Convention 182 - " the prohibition and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour" and thus cemented the country's commitment to the protection of children.

The problem of trafficking, however, requires more than just legislation, it demands an immediate and far-reaching co-operative Plan of Action to be implemented and maintained by all partners.

"We (the NCPA) do not have the resources or the power to take on the complete management of a child," says Professor de Silva. Even though they can despatch a protection officer to rescue a child without a magistrate's warrant, the NCPA alone cannot undertake all of the necessary roles to ensure a child's continuing safety and bring the perpetrators to justice.

A comprehensive network is therefore being built through the Anti-Trafficking Unit and NTF between the variety of agencies in order to co-ordinate all of the vital components in combating child trafficking.

This network will range from mechanisms to rescue a child, through to prosecuting the trafficker, policing and monitoring of projects, research and data gathering, legal reform, training of staff and the on-going care of the child.

The initial stages of the project will involve research, setting up a data base of empirical evidence and reliable information, looking into better techniques for prosecution of offenders, building up support and rehabilitation programmes and awareness raising and prevention. " Rescuing a child does not in itself suffice," points out Ms Salgado, in explaining why the ATU's task is such a complex one. "Unless we can rehabilitate and offer alternatives through economic empowerment, social stability and education, then the chances of a child falling back in to the traffickers' hands are very high."

To find out more about how you can support the IPEC programme, please contact the ILO - IPEC Project Office, at 131 Thimbirigasyaya Road, Colombo 5 or visit their website.

If you are worried about a child who you think may be in a situation of vulnerability or suffering, or you wish to find out more about the NCPA and support its work, please contact them on tel: 672911 or at NCPA, 205 / 1 Castle Street, Colombo 8.

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