Be alert against child trafficking

P. Rajaratnam in Nuwara Eliya

The Ceylon Workers’ Alliance’s (CWA) General Secretary S. Sathasivam, who was a former M.P. and presently a member of the Central Provincial Council has made representations to Labour Minister Athauda Seneviratne, urging his Ministry to direct the Labour Departments situated in the hill country, the management companies of estates to keep a vigil and be alert against the trafficking of underaged children for domestic employment in Colombo.

He has pointed out the recent unfortunate deaths of two such children whose bodies were found in a canal at Bauddhaloka Mawatha in Colombo.

Sathasivam states that the Labour Ministry and its departments are empowered legally to check and prosecute such offenders, including the child trafficking brokers against such offences.

He has pointed out that even the plantation trade unions too has an obligation on this and it should be a tri-partite approach by the employers, the Labour Department and the trade unions to bring the offenders to book.

The CWA General Secretary said that even the parents of the children has a bigger responsibility to ensure that their children below the age of 15 attend schools.