At least three or more child girls in Sri Lanka have been raped daily in the month of October this year, according to police statistics revealed on Friday.
The statistics revealed by the Police Children and Women’s Bureau said that a total of 131 girls below the age of 16 had fallen victim to rape.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Police Children and Women’s Bureau, Renuka Jayasundara said that from the 131 cases reported, 10 victims are currently in the early stages of pregnancy.
Meanwhile, in September, State Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Geetha Kumarasinghe revealed that 168 girls under the age of 16 had been sexually abused within the month of September 2023, with 22 of them already pregnant.
However police concede that the figures could be very much higher since many cases are not reported to the authorities owing to a social stigma and other issues in rural conservative parts of the country.
In many cases the victims are raped by close relatives where their mothers have travelled to West Asia and elsewhere in search of lucrative employment.
Women’s rights groups and others have repeatedly called for end of sending Sri Lankan women to work as domestics overseas exposing their children to risks of sexual abuse.
Despite stringent measures and regulations introduced by the relevant authorities from time to time to discourage young mothers from leaving the country for such employment the women leaving the country on a daily basis however keeps ticking driven by poverty and other issues.
