The Hon. Sunil Rajapaksha

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I see this amendment to the Penal Code to protect children from violence, punishment, and abuse as a hallmark of a society moving from coarseness to civility. Desmond Morris said there is an animal within every human. It is civilization—laws, customs, norms, and etiquette—that restrains our animal instincts.

¶ 02 Punishment may be used to train animals, but not to educate children in a civilized human society. For guiding children, love, compassion, acceptance, and appreciation are the tools of a developed human ethos. Human behaviour is a blend of heredity and environment, but environment accounts for the vast majority of influence. If we create conducive environments at home, school, and in society, children’s behaviour can be shaped without punishment.

¶ 03 Much of a child’s 24 hours is spent at home or outside school; thus, this amendment’s protection must extend beyond schools to homes and all social spaces. In one Coordinating Committee in my district last month, there were 53 cases of child abuse this year; 13 within a single GN division; most by those closest to the children—relatives and loved ones. Therefore, protection must be universal and continuous, not only during school hours.

¶ 04 On World Children’s Day, rather than just gifts, let us give the gift of this reform—“the best for the children.”