Against human trafficking

Child Sex Trafficking

In relation to CHILD SEX-TRAFFICKING CASE IN MT. LAVINIA one (01) Deputy Chairman of a Pradeshiya Sabha, two (02) Police Officers, and one (01) Navy Officer were arrested in this case. They were produced before Colombo Magistrate’s Court and remanded. They were also interdicted from their posts. The relevant completed file containing case extracts has been submitted to the Attorney General for seeking advice. All the above four had been released on bail. They were not in custody until April 2022.

Further, in relation to a case of alleged sexual abuse at a STATE-RUN ORPHANAGE IN ANURADHAPURA police arrested the head of this orphanage and one of its staff members, and also launched criminal investigations into two provincial officials with oversight of state-run orphanages. In addition, the authorities transferred these two provincial officials. The investigations did not find any evidence of sex trafficking. The cases had been referred to the Hon. Attorney General on charges of grave sexual abuse and cruelty to children. These 19 cases had been referred to the Hon. Attorney General respectively on 22nd June 2021, 24th June 2021, and 09th November 2021.

During the pandemic

Call centre system: The NCPA’s 1929 call Centre was upgraded to handle child abuse and trafficking complaints remotely online. During the Covid pandemic period, the complaints received through the hotline were referred to the Enforcement Officers via email and/or WhatsApp messages. Sometimes both these faculties were used where appropriate.

Strengthen the Task Force

The newly established Human Trafficking, Human Smuggling, and Maritime Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigation Department is engaged in the process of calling convictions data since they are updating their database, and the details of Human Trafficking convictions are being verified.