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Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 4.40 GMT |
National Training Programme for Police, Probation & Labour Officers launched
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A National Training programme for Police,
Probation and Labour officers will be
inaugurated today at the SLFI in Colombo.
This is the second major step taken by the
government to revive the Children and Young
Persons Ordinance (CYPO). The CYPO is the
child protection law in Sri Lanka which sets
out the standards for the treatment of all
children in contact with the criminal law.
That is: Children in need of care and
protection, including child victims of abuse
and exploitation – child protection and
Children suspected of having committed a
crime – juvenile justice
According to a sample survey carried out by
UNICEF in five districts earlier this year,
CYPO procedures are not activated in
two-thirds of all cases reported to police.
For the remaining one-third, they are
activated well after the criminal
investigations are initiated and the case is
reported to Court. This delay prevents the
child from having access to the Probation
Officer when he or she needs their services
the most. It leads to secondary
victimization of children through separation
from families, disruption of education and
long periods of detention in homes.
The training programme will give a basic
grounding in criminal law and procedures of
the CYPO, ensure better communication and
cooperation between Police, Probation and
Labour officers, and support officers to
develop tools for regular monitoring and
review.
The Training is organized by the Ministry of
Child Development in collaboration with the
Police Department, Department of Probation
and Child Care Services and the Labour
Department and supported by UNICEF, Save the
Children and Plan Sri Lanka.
The first step in reviving the CYPO - the
National Training of Magistrates – carried
out in collaboration with the Judges
Training Institute and Ministry of Justice
was successfully concluded in April this
year.
User-friendly handbooks in English, Sinhala
and Tamil having been prepared to facilitate
greater dissemination and easier
understanding of the key legal standards.
Magistrates have responded positively to
their orientation programme and the training
is now being extended to Police, Probation
and Labour.
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