(by Malinda Seneviratne)

James Matthew Barrie, the Scottish dramatist and novelist best known as the creator of Peter Pan, once wrote, ‘When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies’. I can’t think of a more heart-warming quote about children.


Childhood is made of fairly tales, rainbow colours and discovering things. The days of children are made of playing, in fact they are ‘playaholics’; such is their commitment that sleep and meals are thought of as necessary inconveniences.


There are innumerable advertisements where children are used as models. The vast majority of them conform to the rosy picture of children and childhood. No advertisement and no one who prostitutes children for whatever purpose will acknowledge and proclaim this fundamental truth about children and childhood though:

they are made of innocence and adult traps.


Last week I wrote about children in an article titled ‘Are our children truly blessed?’ (http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/11/02/fea02.asp). I was referring to data related to trials concerning child abuse given to me by the Minister of Justice, Milinda Moragoda. Here’s the summary:


Out of 14,966 cases pending before the High Courts, 4,032 (26.94%) were trials concerning child abuse. The region-wise breakdown indicates that parents, relevant authorities and indeed all citizens in certain areas should be greatly alarmed. In Badulla 32.27% of pending cases were related to child abuse while the corresponding figure in Kegalle was 24%. Embilipitiya ‘scored’ a whopping 51.26%, i.e. more than half the cases that are awaiting final determination. Polonnaruwa (45.27%) Ratnapura (40.17%), Kandy (38.60%). Anuradhapura (33.16%), Gampaha (32.81%) and Kurunegala (32.66%) were the other areas where the numbers are big enough to cause serious worry. The data set indicates that close to 20% of all pending cases before the High Courts are of offences committed before 1999 but there’s no category-wise break down. We can assume however that a significant number of cases are more than 10 years old.


The implications for the abused child are obvious; there is bound to be a serious impact on that child’s overall development and that kind of scarring, exacerbated by inordinate delay in some form of closure, cannot be healthy for society either.


A reader wrote a one-line comment, ‘it is only the tip of the iceberg’. We know that sexual abuse, more than any other transgression, is marked by gross under-reporting. The associated sentiments of shame, guilt and fear naturally inhibit victims when it comes to reporting such incidents even to an elder, leave aside the law enforcement authorities. And it is not only out of fear, guilt and shame. In a large number of cases the offending party happens to be a close relative, family friend, teacher or temporary guardian, making it even more difficult for a victim to talk about the incident.


Parents typically warn children to be careful of strangers, but it is not possible to tell children to be wary of close relations, family friends, neighbors or teachers. The numbers in this regard certainly justify the reader comment about my article touching just the tip of the iceberg.


Minister Moragoda has, I learnt, requested the Attorney General’s Department to submit details regarding pending child abuse cases. The AG’s Department has given data on 1,257 out of 4,032 cases. The following is the breakdown.


Out of these 1,257 cases, 611 were of rape, 494 of grave sexual abuse, 20 were of cruelty and there was one kidnapping case as well. In roughly one sixth (206), the victim was below 10 years of age, which 70% were children between 10 and 16. In 58% of the cases the accused was a known person and these ‘known persons’ included father (89), stepfather (14), boyfriend (124), grandfather (05), other relative (146), teacher (12) and other known person (295). Thus, in more than half the cases, the victims most likely did not receive any warning from their parents or guardians. These are, let me reiterate, data pertinent to only the reported cases.


The reason for the high percentage of violations being perpetrated by persons known to the victim is not difficult to understand. It is all about easier access and the lesser likelihood of the victim complaining afterwards. The challenge therefore is mind boggling. On the one hand there is the difficulty of explaining to a child why he/she should be careful about uncles, teachers and cousins (or fathers!); it could leave them confused since the person offering advice cannot really go into the details and children, naturally curious, will continue to wonder about that which is not said and the question that does not receive an adequate answer.


No one can ensure 100% surveillance over a child and everyone has enough and more things to worry about to keep a watchful eye of other people’s children who may be in a situation made for abuse. In some situations, like a crowded train, the abuse can take place in public without anyone even noticing. A friend of mine, now a lecturer in a university who used to travel from Gampaha to Colombo, told me that he had been abused countless times on the train. A greater degree of civic responsibility is obviously called for but this is not something that can be legislated for.


It is in this context that one wonders whether our religious leaders are doing enough. There is a deathly silence about this issue from religious dignitaries of all faiths and this silence has contributed I believe in some way to the problem. They do talk a lot about how society should improve and of course about morality, values etc, but when nothing is said about the debasement of our children all this is reduced to empty words. Where are the sermons and bana about child prostitution, child labour and child trafficking? Yes, these are alluded to, although far more infrequently than warranted by the magnitude of the problem, but there’s precious nothing being said about the threats that all children are made open to across the board, at home, at school and between these two key institutions that children inhabit.


A lot is being done, no doubt, by the Child Protection Authority, but lack of funds and personnel hamper their work. This is not something that Government agencies alone can handle. It is something that only an enhanced understanding of the full range of responsibilities that come with citizenship can hope to achieve. It calls for a concerted effort by parents, elders, teachers, peers, religious and civil leaders in complementing the work of law enforcement authorities and of course the justice system, judges and lawyers included (for they too can be culpable in deepening related wounds by foot-dragging).


What is the compulsion, though, for anyone to worry about this issue? To me, it is the fact that I have two children, 8 and 6, and the knowledge that they can at any moment in their lives suffer some form of abuse. All I can do is to look after them to the best of my ability and to keep my eyes open and do whatever is necessary to stop any other child from being abused in any form by anyone, in the hope that someday, if someone was trying to abuse one of my girls, some other person would intervene.


This is an ‘all together’ task and one whose success or failure will indicate the direction our nation will take. Given the chilling nature of the data, it is something that has to begin at home or even within each individual in terms of his/her particular religious faith and the consequences of transgressions in the relevant scriptures.