Sri Lanka with EU and UNICEF launch model service for child victims of violence

Milestone initiative marks a turning point in protecting child victims who come in contact with the law and protection systems

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THE Justice and National Integration Ministry and the Women and Child Affairs Ministry, with support from the EU through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), yesterday launched a groundbreaking initiative to support children who have experienced violence.

The new model service will ensure fast, child-sensitive support to child victims of violence; from the point when the case is reported to police, helplines or others, until the child is linked with sustained care and protection mechanisms.

The model service, launched in Kandy, includes six flagship initiatives of local and national scale to introduce transformative changes in the child protection and justice system. These improvements include enhancing the 1929 Helpline, introducing integrated case management, enhancing support services for children, improving efficiency of justice processes, enhancing practices for taking evidence from children, and introducing child-friendly courts with child witness rooms. The operationalisation of the model service for child victims of violence is supported by the European Union under the Support to Justice Sector Project (JURE).

The launch is an important step towards realising national and international policy commitments as enshrined in the National Policy Framework of Sri Lanka and as part of the commitments made by Sri Lanka’s at the 2024 Bogota Conference on Ending Violence Against Children.