A statement issued by the Women for Rights movement states that 14 children have died in the country in the past one and a half years, and the government and responsible agencies should take immediate action to protect the lives of children.
The statement was issued yesterday (29th) by the organisation’s chairman, Saroja Savithri Paulraj, in connection with the murder of a 9-year-old girl in the Atalugama area in Bandaragama.
The full announcement states:
“Let the children live freely!
A nine-year old girl was killed on May 28, 2022, in Atalugama. It is the 14th child death in a year and a half. We remember the large number of such child deaths that touched the hearts of the whole of Sri Lanka. The fact that more and more such incidents are being reported even before the heat and turmoil of one incident has subsided underscores the slow pace of action being taken against crimes against children in our society’s law provisions and the administration of justice.
As an organisation constantly committed to the rights and protection of children, we, the Women for Rights, urge the Government and the Child Protection Authority, the agency responsible for the protection of children, to expedite investigations into this incident and to expedite the detection of perpetrators.
Moreover, As the Women’s Rights Organization, we emphasise that it is the responsibility of the government to build a positive mechanism to be responsible and rescue children dying in hospitals due to lack of medicine these days, children who are insecure, as parents spend their days in queues due to the economic crisis, children who have dropped out of school due to the disruption of education due to the epidemic, children who are abused and punished in schools due to wrong educational methods, children who die prematurely when they commit suicide outside the family due to problems faced by adults such as debt, microfinance, farm problems, family disputes etc., and children affected by unsafe road accidents such as Kinniya passenger boat accident etc., child slavery, child sex workers, dangerous and hazardous work, child marriage and children victimised by superstitious religious beliefs.
We emphasise that the government as the competent authority should create a media practice for social reform without allowing every event to be manipulated to increase ratings.
We warn the government that if the present government does not take appropriate action, that pressure will explode into a social force similar to the current economic crisis.
In this regard, we, the Women for Rights, assure the people that we too will line up and take the lead for the rights and protection of children.
Saroja Savithri Paulraj
Chairman,
Women for Rights
29.05. 2022
