NCPA makes a great difference with 1929

Ishara Jayawardane

Hotline

*Call centre records 1929 call
*Sends it to law enforcement officer
*Enters it in database
*If criminal, it goes to NCPA
*Then to DIG
*Police stations have to give report within 48 years
*Hotline initiated on July 22, 2010
*NCPA already received 32,000 calls

Sexual abuse and physical abuse are outrageous crimes that must be swiftly dealt with to make sure that these little children who have no voice will have their justice. One measure taken is the introduction of the 1929 hot line.

‘We are getting more information because of 1929 hot line. We established that on July 22, 2010 at NCPA and after that we are getting more information. That doesn’t mean the cases have increased but we are getting more information because of the information system,’ said National Child Protection Authority Chairperson Anoma Dissanayake.

Dissanayake also said that all abuses that are taking place whether physically, mentally or sexually, take place with people who are the closest. And that there are not many cases by strangers, though it happens. The perpetrator is often a family member; a parent, brother, uncle, friend, teacher or caretaker. In other words, everyone who has power over the child.

NCPA Police

If a case of sexual abuse is reported through 1929, the call centre takes it down and it is sent to the law enforcement officer. He is a senior retired SSP. It goes to the database and after that, if it is criminal, it goes to the NCPA Police and then from there to the senior DIG. The DIG has ordered all police stations throughout the country to give preference for 1929 cases. ‘Within 48 hours they have to report back to us. In 48 hours they take some kind of steps. We have only 22 police officers right now. So we can’t send everybody for every case. So for example if the case is in Matara, our NCPA Police give the police in Matara a message; the law enforcement officer will refer it to the Matara Police and from there within 48 hours they feed us back. They may then take action and file the cases and start an investigation. The NCPA monitors the investigation. We have the power to monitor any case against the child round the country,’ said Chairperson Dissanayake.

The Chairperson stated that if it is in Colombo and a very urgent matter, the NCPA Police team goes and does the needful and sometimes the law enforcement officer himself will attend to the matter. The Judicial Medical Officer is also involved in this process. If it is a legal matter, it is reported to the legal unit and if it is a psychosocial matter, the counsellors do the necessary things.

Psycho Social Unit

There are so many ways that the NCPA gets information: some people come there and make the complaint to the Police, sometimes they write letters, but now letter writing is very less because 1929 is there. If a child has been abused without his/her knowledge, the Psycho Social Unit are well adept at getting the story from the child and after that the child is under the care of the Psycho Social Unit.

‘And then they give psycho social therapy for the child, taking out the worries in his/her head and doing the therapy. Dr. Neill Fernando, is one of our board members. In every district we have a psychosocial coordinators, they have done psychology as a subject. But it is not enough we need some more. It is a very urgent need of the country. It is not enough punishing the perpetrator we must take care of the child. That is the most important thing. All should get together and protect the child’, stated Dissanayake.

NCPA have already got 32,000 calls from July 22, 2010 - the inception of 1929 hot line. The abused children are from all age groups.

Disciplining the child

‘We should allow the girl/boy who was abused to forget what happened with our love and care. With that care he/she will forget it. This applies to sexual abuse, mental abuse and physical abuse. Still Sri Lankan society believes that parent or teacher has a right over the children; you can beat him/her, threaten him/her, cane him/her.

‘So those kinds of cases rarely come to the NCPA. We respect our elders, we never say no to our elders, so whatever we do we accept it. Mental abuse comes in the form of nicknames and teasing,’ pointed out Dissanayake.

However this is not to say that children should not be disciplined. If there is no discipline our country will be in a mess.

‘Disciplinary action should take place and it should be there. We should train our children from the beginning. With time when you go to school - there are very good teachers and Principals in the country, they are very strict, but the children know that they, the children, are loved.

‘If you really love somebody and show him love, you don’t need to physically punish him. There are so many ways that a teacher or mother should know how to discipline the child without the use of the cane,’ explained Dissanayake.