President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday called for a report on the education of children in orphanages and protection of their rights. He also asked officials to identify immediate needs of orphanages.The President said most people in charge of orphanages were not professionals and that there was a need to provide formal training to those in charge of these children’s homes to minimise problems in them.

The President said that there had to be better laws to protect children’s fundamental rights. He advised officials to discuss the creation of a new act to protect children with the Attorney General.The President said that a number of children found among the people who were arrested for illegally migrating to India had been detained. They have been separated from their parents. He said arrangements had to be made to return the children to their parents.

The President also said that some people were using children as shields in demonstrations and that this is a serious offence according to the law of the country, He advised the Sri Lanka Police to take immediate measures to prevent the use of children in protests.

The President highlighted the sub-section 13 of Article 27 of the Constitution, “The State shall promote with special care the interests of children and youth, so as to ensure their full development, physical, mental, moral, religious and social, and to protect them from exploitation and discrimination,” and emphasized that protecting children is the prime responsibility of a government.

Steps were also taken to assign the responsibilities of child protection to the Sri Lanka Police and related government institutions.President Wickremesinghe issued these instructions during a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat on 12 October on the protection of children’s rights.