OneWorld.net (U.S.)

A leading child protection group in Sri Lanka has cautioned that children whose mothers are employed overseas are most likely to be subjected to Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) adding that there are well over 30,000 child prostitutes operating along the coastal areas of the country.

“Nearly 60% of our workforces employed in West Asia are women which leave their children at a great risk to be exploited by strangers and in some cases by family members,” the Chairperson, Protecting the Environment and Children Everywhere (PEACE), Maureen Seneviratne said.

According to the report ‘A Situational Analysis of Child Sex Tourism in Sri Lanka’, issued by South Asia Partnership International in 2003, “the vulnerability arises when the community is facing serious insecurity with regard to livelihood systems”.

Mrs. Seniviratne said when parents were abroad the likelihood of a responsible adult being a part of the daily lives of a child was unlikely and in such situations the minors were vulnerable to the lures presented by strangers.

“It’s a very lucrative crime for the factions involved in CSE, so it has prevailed through the years,” Mrs. Seneviratne said adding that at present CSE may operate at an underground level due to the awareness created by child protection groups.

Currently there is an estimated 40,000 kids working as child prostitutes in Sri Lanka, a steady increase from the 36,000 recorded in 1998 by UNICEF.

Only 3 percent however can be rehabilitated as they have been involved in the trade for too long. Research done by PEACE has shown that possible victims are school drop-outs, orphans and children living in squatter communities.

A legal liaison person for PEACE said they were currently dealing with 37 such cases, mostly in coastal areas in the Southern province, Colombo South and Negombo.

Source: Daily Mirror