COLOMBO – Sri Lanka plans to set up ‘infant receiving counters’ to take in unwanted newborns, Minister for Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment Geetha Kumarasinghe said in the wake of several incidents that included infanticide.
“None of these incidents were due to any financial issues. We have never heard the victims say that they did it out of hunger. A majority of these incidents occur as spousal revenge,” Kumarasinghe said, explaining that a sudden spate of child abuse cases had nothing to do with the ongoing currency crisis, the worst in decades.
Cases of child abuse recorded have been on the rise in recent year, with 8165 cases recorded in 2020, 11,187 case recorded in 2021 and 10,497 in 2022. A number of cases have already been recorded in the first two months of 2023.
Annually, the National Child Protection Authority receives around 8,000 complaints or around 500-600 a month. Most of the complaints relate to child harassment. Rape is a close second.
On March 11, an unmarried couple had abandoned a 13-day-old infant in the toilet of an express train. In Chilaw, a mother had reportedly pushed her daughter into a tank at a prawn farm.
As much as 50% of child abuse cases are not reported.
“Any parents who feel their children are a burden or are unable to raise them can hand over the kids to these counters,” Minister Kumarasinghe told reporters.
Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice and Chairman of National Child Protection Authority, Chanaka Udyakumara Amarasinghe noted that the Board of Directors of the National Child Protection Authority had in 2021 proposed the setting up of infant receiving counters but it was not implemented as it was within the purview of the Department of Probation and Childcare Services.
Child receiving counters are planned to be set up in hospitals in the nine provinces. Parents will be able to hand over their children anonymously.
Kumarasinghe, noted that single mothers were also under pressure from society, but said does not advocate abortion. “I don’t believe in abortion,” she stressed, adding, “A single mother should be able to live in society.”
Abortion is illegal in Sri Lanka, despite many progressive and feminist movements supporting women’s bodily autonomy and their right to choose.
“This is a problem prevailing in the country. In foreign countries, nobody is interested in knowing whether they are married, or whether the baby gets the father’s name on his birth certificate. It’s only Sri Lankans who worry about such things,” said Kumarasinghe, noting, “It should be acknowledged that all women have a right to raise a child.”
-economynext.com
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