(UTV|COLOMBO) – The Child Protection and Justice Bill, which proposes to repeal certain parts of the Children and Young Persons Ordinance and ensure Sri Lanka’s conformity with international standards pertaining to the best interest of the child, has been finalized. Among many other progressive reforms, this Bill envisages to provide special protections to children who are in conflict with the law and children in need of care and protection, Secretary to the Ministry of Child and Women Affairs Ms. Chandrani Senaratne told at the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) held at the Palais Wilson in Geneva.
Delivering the opening statement by the Sri Lankan delegation at the Review of the 5th and 6th Periodic Reports of Sri Lanka to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Ms. Senaratne pointed out that as a result of progressive state policies that have been consistently followed, including the provision of free and universal access to primary and secondary education and access to free health care, Sri Lanka has been recording considerable progress in protecting and promoting the rights of the child.
In the past few years, she said that country has achieved a noteworthy economic development, maintaining an average growth rate of over 5 percent, while keeping its key social and human development indicators above or on par with its peers.
She added that the national poverty headcount rate declined from 22.7 to 6.7 percent between 2002 and 2012/13, while consumption per capita grew at a steady rate. Notable progress has been made in lowering the under-five mortality rate of children from 12.6 in 2007 to 9.9 per 1,000 live births in 2013. In the same period, the neonatal mortality rate reduced from 8.1 to 6.5 per 1,000 live births.
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