{"id":47344,"date":"2012-07-07T19:12:08","date_gmt":"2012-07-07T19:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=47344"},"modified":"2012-07-09T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T07:26:00","slug":"children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/strong>\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Not too long after the historic defeat of the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a claim. He said \u2018parapuraka aadambara thaaththa mamai\u2019 (I am the proud father of an entire generation).
\nThe claim was not based on an opinion poll.\u00a0 And yet, both resonated well with the general public, considering the context.\u00a0 He had, after all, presided over and given political direction to secure what was thought to be impossible to obtain.\u00a0 And again, as is usually the case, as time went by, the claims and especially the second, were lampooned.\u00a0 Political fortunes are never constant; there are ups and downs, missteps and slips.<\/p>\n

But, if the President was metaphorically at least \u2018father\u2019, then citizen is child, and not citizen is as much \u2018child\u2019 as children themselves.\u00a0 The defeat of terrorism reinstated the right of child to be child.\u00a0 It also effectively removed doubt, fear and foreboding from the minds of parents.\u00a0 They were assured that their children would be safe from exploding devices planted by terrorists.\u00a0 They could rest easy knowing that their children would not be abducted and forced into combat operations by terrorists.\u00a0 That was then, i.e. in the heady days following victory.<\/p>\n

This is no.\u00a0 And today\u2019s is a story of different vulnerabilities producing yet again doubt, fear and foreboding.\u00a0 Child rape.\u00a0 The Ministry of Child Development has received a whopping 21,507 complaints regarding child abuse, of which 2,323 were found to be true.\u00a0 Typically, though, most abuse incidents go unreported because the perpetrators happen to be close relatives or figures of authority.\u00a0 Children, out of fear and also due to threat of retribution, tend to remain silent and submit to the horror again and again.<\/p>\n

The President cannot look after all children.\u00a0 Parents need to be vigilant.\u00a0 Teachers need to educate.\u00a0 The media has a role to play.\u00a0 It is our collective future we are talking about here.\u00a0 If we do nothing, we will produce a generation where a significant number would carry psychological scars which could have unimaginable consequences not just for the victims, but society in general.<\/p>\n

Where are the laws?\u00a0 Where is the enforcement?\u00a0 Why is it that we use rape incidents as top stories on the front page of newspapers, push arrests into Page 3 and shove convictions into the made-for-forgetting small print of Page 12?\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s our baby, our collective child who is under threat here.
\nParents and children should know what can happen, how to identify potential risks and take preventive measures.\u00a0 The perpetrators must be punished.\u00a0 An online poll carried out by www.nation.lk threw up some numbers that indicate the extent of public anger.\u00a0 Eighty percent demanded death penalty for those found guilty of rape which 20% suggested \u2018Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole and psychological treatment\u2019.\u00a0 The ethics of capital punishment is another debate, but what this shows is that rape stands with the most violent of crimes.<\/p>\n

Disturbing too is the fact that several rape cases, including child-rape, have implicated elected representatives.\u00a0 How did these people secure nominations to run for office?\u2019\u00a0 Clearly the screening system is either faulty or the screeners incompetent or else similarly guilty or else the system turns saints into rapists.\u00a0 Not all, of course, but \u2018some\u2019 and even \u2018one\u2019 is one too many.\u00a0 Tragically, these very scoundrels graduate from being members of local government authorities to provincial councilors and parliamentarians.<\/p>\n

Power gives license to do wrong in situations where independent law enforcing processes are absent.\u00a0 This is why the Government and in particular the President needs to work towards correcting the institutional flaws that make for such abuse.\u00a0 It is not enough, in other words, to educate the public.
\nIt is a sad indictment on our political culture when we look at a politician\u2019s face and are forced to see a rapist\u2019s signature on it simply because prevention is better than cure.<\/p>\n

The President cannot be proud.\u00a0 None of us can be proud.\u00a0 The President has openly expressed displeasure about the operations of politicians, especially in Tangalle.\u00a0 He can begin by weeding out the monsters from nomination lists.\u00a0 He must, sooner rather than later, admit that the law is full of holes and work with the Parliament to plug those holes.\u00a0 Our children, their childhood and their future are all falling through these.\u00a0 It is hurting like hell.<\/p>\n

The nation Editor’s blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[1195,2889,2890],"class_list":["post-47344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","tag-child-abuse","tag-child-abuse-in-sri-lanka-news","tag-rape-children-in-sri-lanka-news"],"yoast_head":"\nChildren Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-07T19:12:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-07-09T07:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/\",\"name\":\"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-07T19:12:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-07-09T07:26:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\",\"width\":\"336\",\"height\":\"413\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-07-07T19:12:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-07-09T07:26:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":336,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/","name":"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud' - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","datePublished":"2012-07-07T19:12:08+00:00","dateModified":"2012-07-09T07:26:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","width":"336","height":"413","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/children-under-threat-the-president-cannot-be-proud\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Children Under Threat; The President Cannot Be Proud’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47532,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47344\/revisions\/47532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}