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About PEaCE

Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere (PEaCE) / ECPAT Sri Lanka is an established, child protection non-governmental organization (NGO) that has been in operation since 1991. It is the only NGO in Sri Lanka that exclusively focuses on addressing the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. PEaCE began in Sri Lanka as part of the global campaign to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), now known as ECPAT International. As one of the founding members, PEaCE has the honour of being a core member of this international network working to end the sexual exploitation of children.

Our Vision
Our Vision
To create a society that protects and promotes the rights of every child and form an environment in which the safety and security of every child is assured.
Our Mission
Our Mission
PEaCE actively contributes, primarily, to the elimination of sexual exploitation of children and strives to promote the protection of children from all forms of abuse and exploitation.
Our Values
Our Values
Adhere to the principles of Rights of the Child, which is at the centre of our concern irrespective of creed, religion and gender.
We Listen
A sensitive approach is crucial when talking to children who have been exploited and abused sexually. It is best to allow them to tell their story and show our empathy. We become the audience that listens to their experiences of pain, hurt and emotional changes.
We Care
Survivors of abuse and sexual exploitation are often hesitant to socialize with others. They may feel that the trauma they have endured is too sensitive for the public to understand. We try to understand and help them overcome their social phobia and assist them in getting back to society and rebuilding their lives while slowly infusing a sense of confidence in themselves.
We Help
Help is provided through our awareness programs for communities, officials and children themselves. We provide counselling, financial assistance for survivors and contribute for the revival of their lives.

Our Programmes

The core pillars of our work at PEaCE / ECPAT Sri Lanka are Awareness Raising, Training and Capacity Development, Research, and Advocacy.

Awareness Raising

PEaCE conducts awareness programmes for its stakeholders in child protection. Our stakeholders are children, parents, teachers, principals, youth, and members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Village Child Development Committees, law enforcement agencies, government child protection agencies, other government institutions, the legal sector, the travel and tourism sector, the IT sector, and other non-profits.

Our awareness programs focus on three aspects: prevention of child sexual abuse, understanding opportunities and risks, and recovery and social integration. Subjects discussed include, but are not limited to, the rights of the child, all forms of sexual exploitation – online and offline, child protection laws and mechanisms that exist to provide redress to victims. Awareness also includes measures for victims and survivors, such as providing legal, physical, and psycho-social support.

Training and Capacity Development

PEaCE provides training on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Sexual Exploitation of Children (SEC), Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism (SECTT), Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA), Investigation of Child Sexual Exploitation Online and basic Victim Identification.

To strengthen the protection of children’s rights, state and non-state child protection stakeholders are given training to boost performance and make addressing issues related to violence against children more efficient.

Research

Over the years, PEaCE/ECPAT Sri Lanka has carried out extensive research into the issue of child abuse and sexual exploitation. These studies helped to raise public awareness and prompt policy initiatives.

Our recent study, “Sri Lanka: Online Child Sexual Exploitation, Legal Gap Analysis,” was commissioned to Verité Research, a leading research institute in the country. As part of the ECPAT International Global Boys’ Initiative, a study was also conducted on the “Sexual Exploitation of Boys.”

Check out our Resources area for additional research material.

Advocacy

PEaCE works with its stakeholders at the individual, community, corporate, and policy levels to empower and influence them to speak out and act against child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Our awareness and training programs with children aim to strengthen the voices of children everywhere and ensure that their rights are adequately upheld.

Strengthening community-based child protection systems that ensure rapid action from the local community against any crime which may harm children.

Legal aid for survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as their families, in the form of legal counsel.

Legal representation of survivors of child sexual abuse and exploitation in courts by experienced PEaCE legal professionals.

We collaborate with national, regional, and international networks and support non-governmental organizations with similar interests in order to raise our collective voices at the UN, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and other international fora on behalf of children.

Organizing national multi-stakeholder consultations involving the public, private, and corporate sectors to foster policies, procedures, and responsibilities for child protection through their respective institutions.