Monthly Highlights: April 2023
Awareness Programmes
Title: Protect Children in the Digital World.
Objective: Raise children’s awareness of online safety precautions and potential risks associated with using the internet
Sessions Conducted
| Date | Participants | Venue | No. of Participants |
| 10.04.2023 | District Child Council (DCC) members | District Secretariat Gampaha | 59 children and 33 parents |
| 11.04.2023 | Divisional Child Council (DCC) members | Divisional Secretariate Biyagama | 73 children and 16 parents |
Sessions Photographs
Peace Programme Officers Conducting Awareness Session in Gampaha.
Peace Programme Officers Conducting Awareness Session in Biyagama.
Feedback from the Participants
“We, as parents, too have been faced with real-life situations, where we have been asked about the best course of action to tackle an instance of child abuse. Now we have the necessary tools to guide someone from harm, towards safety.
Thank you to your wonderful team, who conducted this Programme!” – A parent from the Gampaha session.
“We were skeptical about how a such a session would benefit us, as we have been to many other programmes on the topic. However, we found your session to be unique, as it gave a comprehensive method of what do when a member of our community, approaches us with an issue in relation to child abuse.” – DCC Biyagama.
Comments by the Project Team
- The positive feedback from the participants of the awareness sessions shows that the programme was successful in imparting the practical knowledge required to protect oneself from all forms of online abuse.
- Participants expressed their desire for similar awareness sessions to be held for all government employees working in the area of children’s rights, as child abuse and exploitation are serious, ongoing problems that are rarely discussed in open forums.
- With the aim of increasing awareness of this current topic among all relevant officials in the country, PEaCE hopes to conduct programmes similar to these in the future. A safer and brighter future will be created for our children, the torchbearers of the future.
Victim Support
| Date | Types of Abuse | Details of the Case | Peace Intervention | Outcome |
| 04.2023 | Physical & emotional abuse | PEaCE received a few videos (CCTV footage) where the father was assaulting his two children and wife. Said videos clearly show the inappropriate behavior of the perpetrator and it seems to be a serious threat to the lives of the children. As per the information received this is the usual behavior of the perpetrator. | Lodged a complaint at CWB to ensure the safety and well-being of these children. | Ongoing |
| 04.2023 | Cyberbullying & threatening | An ex-boyfriend of a 16 year old school girl has started sharing her pictures and videos on social media in an inappropriate manner after she decided to break up with him. | Lodged a complaint at CWB by requesting them to do an immediate investigation on this matter. PEaCE lawyer attended the inquiry of this matter. | Ongoing |
| 04.2024 | Physical abuse | On April 2023 a video depicting assaulting of two children at a children’s home. Which provides shelter for children with disabilities were circulated on social media. After seeing this video PEaCE team decided to take immediate action against the perpetrators. | PEaCE team Contacted the OIC of the relevant Police immediately to check whether they are conducting any investigations regarding this matter. It was revealed that no one has yet filed a complaint against the perpetrators. PEaCE team decided to lodge a complaint at NCPA. | Ongoing |
Publications
Newspaper Articles
No more excuses: Urgent need to strengthen child protection, published in the Morning.
“it is crucial to provide survivors of child abuse with access to counseling, therapy, and medical care. Survivors of child abuse often experience depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, and other mental health issues that need to be addressed. It is essential to provide them with appropriate care and support to aid in their recovery and healing. “
Click here to read the full article.
Rapid Rise in Publication of Child Sexual Abuse Material, published in Divayina
” 2021 වසරේ දී, ශ්රී ලංකා පොලිස් ළමා හා කාන්තා කාර්යාංශය ළමුන් හා සම්බන්ධ අසභ්ය වීඩියෝ දර්ශන සහ ඡායාරූප නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීම සඳහා ‘අතුරුදහන් වූ සහ සූරාකෑමට ලක් වූ ළමුන් සඳහා වූ ජාතික මධ්යස්ථානය’ නමින් විශේෂ ඒකකයක් පිහිටුවන ලදී. ඔවුන්ගේ වාර්තාවලට අනුව, 2021 වසරේ ජුනි මස 17 සිට ජූලි මස 28 දක්වා කාලය තුළ පමණක් එවැනි වීඩියෝ පට 17,629 ක් අප රට තුළින් අන්තර්ජාලයට උඩුගත කර ඇත. “
Click here to read full article.