News
Parents’ debts put estate children at risk
Sexual abuse of children living in the estate sector is on the rise, Communist Workers’ Union Chairman Attorney S. Moranraj warned.
A physician working in the area, Dr. Champika Jayawardena, said these children were vulnerable because their estate worker parents left them at home during the day and paid little attention to them. When the parents were migrant workers, the children were at even greater risk of abuse.
Dr. Jayawardena, who is a member of the JVP-affiliated Nidahasa Udesa Kantha Viyaparaya, said there was a high incidence of drug and alcohol addiction among estate workers, and spiralling debts to feed these habits allowed an opportunity for child traders to approach these families.
“All these incidents are based on economic difficulties,” she said.
Mr. Moranraj told media in Nuwara Eliya that reports of child abuse to police stations had increased and law reform was needed to arrest this trend, which included disturbing facets such as child labour, sexual harassment, the removal of body parts for sale and drug abuse.
He said although the age limit for employment had been increased from 14 to 16 years the law enabled a person to have a sexual relationship at 16-18 years with “consent”, which meant children between the ages of 16-18 years could be subjected to sexual abuse.
Mr. Moranraj also alleged that none of the institutions created for children’s rights, such as the Child Protection Authority, had information on underaged children engaged in manual work.
“The regulations are not clear on these aspects. They need to be reviewed,” he said. “Action has to be taken to update the data through a census on the number of children employed as domestic workers.”
