The government is “vigorously pursuing” programs to protect children in Sri Lanka, Women and Child Affairs Ministry Secretary Chandrani Senaratne said in a speech to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva on Monday.
She was addressing the 77th session of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Sri Lanka last appeared before the committee eight years ago.
Secretary Senaratne said since that time, the country has made significant progress both from its “enhanced engagement with the UN system,” as well as through new domestic policies.
Senaratne cited recent changes to the Education Ordinance, raising the minimum age for compulsory education from 14 to 16 years, and said laws were being drafted to increase the minimum age for employment to 16.
She said the Cabinet of Ministers had approved raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 years, and draft amendments “will be placed before Parliament shortly.”
Senaratne added that the implementation of these policies as well as action plans in the fields of health, human rights, and education “(enjoy) patronage and commitment at the highest levels of the government.”
Senaratne admitted, however, that “progress is often not made in straight lines.”
A UNICEF and Colombo-based Verite Research study, for example, found that there are over 14,000 children institutionalized in Sri Lanka. The report stated that the law rarely differentiates between alleged child offenders and victims of crime.
“We recognize that there are many issues pertaining in our justice services for children and we truly hope that our work in the coming years will bring positive results for children in this regard,” Senaratne said.
Representatives from the Attorney General’s Department, the National Child Protection Authority, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry, among others, were present for the review in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday.
The UN committee will now review the country’s testimony and submitted reports to see how well Sri Lanka is upholding the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Sri Lanka ratified the convention in 1991.
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