Cruelty to women/children, sale of workers, and Lanka’s shame

Neither has the government created an infrastructure to protect the ‘children left behind’

Yesterday’s edition of the Daily Mirror highlighted a case of stark cruelty to a nine-month-old infant. The child and his/her mother was apparently left in the care of a carer, while the father went in search of employment. The child was tied to a chair, as the court heard, and was mercilessly thrashed by the carer for crying!

This is not the first time we Lankans have heard of children being abused by adults. According to the Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health 2021, during the study period, cases studied  comprised of 82.9% females, and 67.1% were older than 12 years. The majority (73.6%) had suffered penetrative abuse. Multiple incidents of abuse occurred in 58.5% of the cases. Of the perpetrators, 94.5% were known to the child.  

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) reports child abuse is on the rise across the country with regular and horrifying frequency. Within the first 60 days of 2020, the NCPA, on its hotline (‘1929’) to report child abuse, received around 40 such complaints a day –around 2,500 cases. 

By July 2020 there were 5,242 cases recorded.

‘Stop Child Cruelty Trust’ a Non-Profit Organisation said that by the end of 2017, there was a backlog of over 17,000 cases of child abuse at the Attorney General’s Department dating back as long as ten years. This figure according to the organisation is believed to have risen to  over 20,000 by the end of 2018

A working paper – ‘Sri Lanka’s Missing Mothers’- published by  ‘Save the Children’,  points out more than one million children are left behind as their mothers are forced to migrate for work. The study reveals many of these children often live in difficult circumstances,  and are often subject to different types of abuse and/or exploitation.  

This editorial does not argue against the concept of women seeking employment abroad as a means to feed their families. These women are forced to seek foreign employment, as our country and its different governments have failed to create avenues of employment here, where workers could receive a living wage. 

For instance, today, while it costs over Rs. 120,000/- per month for a family of four (father, mother and two children) to have just two meals a day, the average wage stands between Rs. 30,000/-. In other words a family has to cut down on their food requirements just to keep body and soul together. It also means there isn’t sufficient funds for education, clothes or medicine.

As of June 2026, the Ministry of Health reported that more than 20% of Sri Lankan schoolchildren are affected by malnutrition. Health surveys reveal stunting at 10.1%, underweight prevalence at 16.1%, and wasting at 8.1%. The nation is battling a “triple burden” combining under nutrition, over nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies

Even our present supposedly left wing people centric government is promoting avenues of employment abroad rather than developing spaces for development of local industry and agriculture, which could increase self-sufficiency and provide gainful local employment. Neither has the government created an infrastructure to protect the ‘children left behind’ by migrant worker mothers.

To our eternal shame,  a United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) survey reveals 1 in 5 (20.4%) women in Sri Lanka have experienced sexual and/or physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime; and 1 in 4 women (24.9%) in Sri Lanka have experienced sexual and/or physical violence since the age of 15). 

Many of our political and religious leaders are quick to boast of our 2,500-year-old cultural heritage at the drop of a hat so-to-say. But they and we too, seem to be blind to the abuse not only of our children, but to the sexual harassment of mothers and sisters going abroad to earn money.

We have still not found the time to demand countries who import our migrant female workers to put in place laws for their protection, as the Philippines has done. The Philippines has established a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to protect female migrant workers, primarily through the Department of Migrant Workers and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.   

Let us hope that our present rulers -now nearly two years in power -- will  arrange with overseas governments to safeguard our migrant female labour.