Published in the ECPAT Newsletter
May 1999
Sri Lanka: The first study prepared by Protecting Children and Environment Everywhere-PEACE (ECPAT-Sri Lanka) on the scale of child sexual abuse in Sri Lanka has concluded that 100 young people are sexually exploited or abused every day on the island.
The study on sexually abused children concludes that there were between 10,000- 1 5,000 boys involved in the sex trade, not only in beach areas but also in the hill country and near other tourist sites. They found the boys were mostly aized between eight and 15. While most of them came from fishing hamlets and coastal villages, about a third were lured from the inland rural areas by promises of work.
The study also found that while foreign paedophiles came to Sri Lanka to have sex with young boys, it was girls who suffered most from sexual abuse within the community.
(BBC World, Febritar 12, 1999)
