News
Children of a lesser God
This little boy should be in school, but has become a fund raising tool
Universal Children’s Day is celebrated worldwide on 20 November -the date set aside by the United Nations to promote the welfare of children.
In our country, despite efforts by various government agencies, NGOs and INGOs to promote and protect the rights of children, we been failing our children over the years.
The most glaring example is how children are used by adults to gain sympathy and make easy money on the streets, at places of worship etc.
In many an instance, children of school-going age are exploited by adults as a means to gain sympathy using little children; to make a buck, at the expense of their education.
Unfortunately most of the campaigns to prevent the abuse of children are usually limited for few days to a week during a year, and thereafter forgotten.
In numerous instances criminal gangs hire children from their parents and deploy them on the streets to increase the wealth of beggar gang-leaders who make a pretty penny from these unfortunates.
Pictures captured by our cameraman in and around Colombo give a glimpse of problems faced by our children living basically off the streets of Colombo.
The poorer sections of our community have at times no option but to use their children as a means of keeping the wolf from the door
Poverty cuts across religious and ethnic borders, whether they be Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Christian children are tools in the begging business
In the sun or rain these kids are continuously exposed to the elements
Many a child bears the scar of malnutrition