Maheesha Mudugamuwa
The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) had received more than 7,000 complaints of child abuse since it established a telephone hotline, NCPA Deputy Chairman Nanda Indrawansa said. Indrawansa said anyone could use the hotline number to report incidents of child abuse. Most of the complaints had been received on the hotline. The system was set up to screen cases, he said.
Most of the complaints related to children being sexually abused or molested by their parents, guardians or people known to them. A growing number of children were in out-of-home care, mainly living in foster homes or with relatives, he said.
Indrawansa said: "If cases of children in families that experience domestic violence are counted those figures will rise. When I look at those figures I think there are many children who are being left unprotected"
NCPA says the rise could be attributed to increased community awareness, and reporting."There’s a lot more that needs to be done before we can confidently say that a child, no matter where he/she lives, will receive the same level of protection," Indrawansa said.
According to the statistics the number of complaints of this nature was just over 900 in 1995 and over 2,000 in 2010 reflecting a remarkable increase within 15 years.
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