COLOMBO – Police are to set to carry out raids, beginning Tuesday (27), on households in the Western Province suspected to be employing children under the age of 16 as domestic workers.
Police media spokesman Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) Ajith Rohana said the operation will be launched as a pilot project with Community Police officers and officers of the Children & Women Bureau, visiting households suspected of employing underage workers.
The raids come in the wake of the death of a 16-year-old employed as a domestic aide at the residence of former minister Rishad Bathuideen.
The teenager from Dayagama in the Nuwara Eliya district, who was admitted to the National Hospital Colombo, with third-degree burns on July 3, succumbed to her injuries on July 15, leading to a public outcry for stringent measures to ensure the safety of children.
“The aim of the operation is to identify and take legal action against owners and residents of homes in which children under 16 are employed as domestic aides,” Rohana said, explaining that legal action will also be taken against any agents involved in the procuring of children from the plantation and rural areas for employment in Colombo and other cities, as well the parents and relatives of the children who hand them over for employment.
However, former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), Ambika Satkunanathan, tweeted Tuesday that more policing was not the solution to the problem, and called for reforms to labour laws, and increased access to education and employment.
Commissioner General of Labour Prabath Chandrakeerthi on Monday (26) announced the list of hazardous occupations for children between the ages of 16 and 18 has been increased from 51 to 71 and attributed it to “recent events related to child labour”.
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