Get tough with child abuse

There is no doubt that the well-being of the children of this country could be served immensely through the implementation of the recently adopted legislation which prohibits the employment of those below 18 years in hazardous occupations. Particularly gratifying is the explicit banning of the engagement of children as combatants and their use in the child sex trade.

The latter evils have been prospering in this country over the years and an earnest effort to implement the relevant legislation would go a considerable distance in securing the dignity and integrity of childhood.

We place an emphasis on implementation because the passing of laws would come to nought if the legislation is not enforced and rendered effective. We need hardly mention that numerous well meaning pieces of legislation have proved still-born as a result of their not being implemented effectively and energetically. So, we hope the same fate would not befall the legislation in question because far too much is at stake for Sri Lanka's children.

This is particularly so in the case of child combatants. As is well known, the LTTE is continuing to deploy children as fighters and unless and until the world community cracks down hard on the LTTE, there is no doubt that the blight of child soldiers would continue.

The big stick also needs to be wielded on those who sexually abuse the country's children.

It is most unfortunate that Sri Lanka is known in some quarters as a phaedophile's paradise. This dishonour has to be removed and there is no better way to achieve this than by tracking down those who engage in child sexual abuse and by prosecuting them.

In all such offenses the corrupting and misleading influence of sections of the adult world is plain to see. If the authorities come down heavily on the abominable rackets operated by these offending adults, the world would be a better place for our children.

Among these morally repulsive practices are those which pertain to the employment of children in hazardous occupations. For instance, the engagement of young children as domestic servants is an outrage which must be ended. Humans hardly out their childhood are also deployed as labourers and made to engage in back-breaking exertions. It is also no longer news that we have among us parents who willingly and happily bequeath their offspring to the child sex industry, for monetary gain.

It is believed that tens of thousands of our children are suffering silently in such situations of abuse.

In a country which is heir to the world's greatest religions, this is a totally unacceptable situation. This amounts to besmirching the country's name and relegating it to the ranks of the morally degenerate societies of the world.

It is time to prove that humanity and loving-kindness are alive and well in Sri Lanka. Let's get cracking on ending the country's immoralities.

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