Sponsor a Child in Sri Lanka

A country recovering from decades of conflict

The Republic of Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean. In the 14th century, a Tamil kingdom was established in Northern Sri Lanka. During the colonial period, Tamil labourers arrived in Sri Lanka to work on tea and coffee farms in the highlands, making the island a major tea producing nation. Sri Lanka was called "Ceylon" by the British and independence was achieved under the name "Dominion of Ceylon" in 1948. Ethnic tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority eventually led to a long-lasting civil war, which erupted in the 1980s.

In 2002, after two decades of fighting, a cease fire was agreed upon and peace negotiations started. In 2009, violence between the Tamil Tigers and government forces finally came to an end. The war deeply affected the Sri Lankan population, particularly young children and adolescents. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are internally displaced as a result of the conflict. The 2004 tsunami left 40,000 dead and many more homeless. In 2011, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans were displaced as a result of massive flooding in the country's east.

Children in need of protection and care

Sri Lanka is a signee of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nonetheless, the child rights situation in the country leaves a lot to be desired. An estimated 900,000 children aged five to 17 engage in child labour activities. Almost ten per cent of these children work in dangerous and unfavourable conditions such as in mines, with chemicals, pesticides or dangerous machinery. Child labour is a common phenomenon among poor families: children are sent to work to support their parents. Many of these children are not able to attend classes and never receive basic education. Boys in rural areas are particularly affected. The government has increased efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016.

An estimated 340,000 children in Sri Lanka grow up without either one or both of their parents. Very often, poverty is cited as the main reason why children end up without parental care. Infants are often abandoned because poor mothers are not able to care for their child. The civil war that affected Sri Lanka for so many years did not spare the youngest segment of population: many young boys were recruited for combat in certain areas of the country. Another problem in Sri Lanka is the number of child headed households: many mothers who have to migrate to other areas of the country for work have young children who end up heading the household at an early age. Due to the absence of their mother, these children are vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. Very often, they are not able to attend school.

The prevalence of underweight children under five years of age has declined noticeably and is now at 21 per cent. School enrolment figures have improved, showing that the number of children starting grade one is on the increase. Over recent years, child health has noticeably increased in Sri Lanka. However, the country's infant mortality rate is still up at 9.70 per 1,000 live births - more than twice as high as for Germany.