Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of child abuse in South Asia and there have been hardly any convictions in the last 05 years. Sri Lanka also does not have a single official Child Advocacy Center-a place . This Project hopes to launch Sri Lanka first ever Child Advocacy Centre in an attempt to encourage Multi Disciplinary Approach to Child Protection together with the State Actors. https://www.facebook.com/111433129464238/posts/pfbid0kf9NxDXBTqAaJ6LhCyjtp2mrnXXwdarmprhjAgEg1qxnarfgdvyAU
Child Protection Force has fought for the last 05 years to help child victims of sexual crime by providing services to victims and their families. There are major delays within the Justice System with regard to children in Sri Lanka. An average time-line for a case to conclude would be 10-15 years. The lack of Multi Disciplinary Team approaches towards victim services is one of the major challenges within the system amongst many other issues
Create a Child Advocacy Centre in Kurunegala that features a legal office, a psychotherapy and healing center, a soft room for MDT's to interviewee survivors, a play area and emergency shelter. In addition, we also plan to create and conduct many programs through this centre with local schools and communities to educate and build awareness.
We hope this pilot project will help improve and encourage a Multi-Disciplinary Team approach towards the healing of child victims, building up a good case for the prosecution, curb the delay within the justice system and thereby reduce the risk of secondary victimisation on child survivors.
