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Child
trafficking, sexual abuse on the increase The main issue discussed at this session was the way to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), which also includes the trafficking of children. "Sri Lanka has done much in its fight against child exploitation and is the pioneer in the region, but there is always more work to be done. Sri Lanka should work harder for the prevention of trafficking and we need to expand the National Plan of Action", UNICEF Deputy Regional Director Esther Guluma told The Sunday Times. "Elimination of trafficking also depends on identifying and eliminating the root cause which is poverty", she said. Ms Guluma said it was difficult to get reliable figures on this form of trafficking as it was linked to organized crime. "Like any data related to organized crime, it is extremely difficult to trace the amount of children trafficked between countries. An agreement that emerged at the conference was the avenues for better research and the provision of funds to tackle this question", she said. "Human trafficking is a crime. A hundred out of every thousand children are affected by trafficking. Even if it is only one child being trafficked, it is still a crime", Ms Guluma said. Save the Children's regional alliance programme coordinator Archana Tamang commenting on the issues involved said. "When we speak of trafficking in Sri Lanka, we speak in terms of migration. Migrant women are sometimes trafficked into Arab countries. The reports say that a number of children are also trafficked to West Asian countries as camel jockeys and other purposes", According to a survey carried out by the women and child bureau of the police department a total of 1082 cases of child abuse had been recorded up to June 2004. Of this 437 cases were of rape, 179 cases of sexual abuse and 108 cases related to child trafficking. Ratnapura District had reported the highest number of child abuse incidents. Of the 78 cases reported 36 were of sexual abuse and seven of trafficking. Anuradhapura District with 62 reported cases of child abuse comes next. A total of 28 cases of child abuse had been reported from the Colombo District. "There are many child protection officers in the country and we are ready to combat incidents of child abuse", Director of Women and Child Bureau of the police SSP Jayasundara said. |
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