‘Prioritize child protection among all political parties’ - Stop Child Cruelty Trust tells MR

The ‘Stop Child Cruelty Trust’ and the Child Protection Alliance today urged all politicians in Sri Lanka including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to implement the importance of child protection in their political agendas as over the past 24 months, at least 17 children had been victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse and murder.

In a discussion held between Mahinda Rajapaksa and the members of the Stop Child Cruelty Trust led by Founder Chairperson Dr. Thush Wickramanayaka, the officials appealed to Rajapaksa, as the SLPP leader to raise the importance of child rights and protection in their party manifesto. 
“Child rights needs to be politicized. Not by any particular party or color.  But it is high time child protection is included in all political agendas and should also be in the heart of the national security agenda,” Dr. Wickramanayaka told Daily Mirror. 
The team informed Rajapaksa that children had started a new hashtag campaign #225maone, appealing to all 225 parliamentarians to put the issue of child rights and child protection in the forefront and discuss this in Parliament to sustain immediate results. 
Dr. Wickramanayaka said that as one of the most senior politicians, they had also appealed to Rajapaksa informing him to put this into the SLPP agenda and also to hold discussions with the remaining political parties. 
They also discussed ending corporal punishment in Sri Lanka and also the functionality of government authorities in managing child abuse.

Rajapaksa had assured the delegation that he would hold discussions with the remaining MPs in prioritizing this issue at all levels  and would take immediate measures to include this in the SLPP agenda as well. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)