Voice Walk 2015 – A voice for the voiceless

• A call or action against any form of violence, oppression and injustice against children

The Voice Walk was held in Colombo for the third consecutive year on Saturday, 10 October, to raise awareness about the crisis and implications on our future generation and society due to the unprecedented rise in the number of reported child abuse cases in the country. The campaign slogan ‘To be a Voice for the Voiceless’ is the vision of the Director of the Voice Foundation Senior Pastor Dishan De Silva of Bethany Christian Life Centre. 

“To be a better Sri Lanka, we first need to be better Sri Lankans, and the Voice Walk was a call for action to parents and adult citizens of our country to immediately take more responsibility to help protect and develop the children of Sri Lanka,” commented Senior Pastor Dishan De Silva. “To raise awareness and bring hope to the hopeless and be the voice for the voiceless is the passion and mission that drives the foundation.”

The Voice Walk ceremony was attended by Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Harin Fernando as Chief Guest, and the Ministry of Justice represented by Dasun Nagashena, Secretary to Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha. Key supporters of the Walk included the National Child Care Protection Authority (NCPA), Women’s and Child Care Bureau, Child Care Probation, Sri Lanka Police, Foundation of Goodness, CCC Foundation, Z Club of Colombo (an initiative of Zonta International) with volunteers from CIS, AIS, British School, Elizabeth Moir and other International Schools; the Lions Club of Gampaha Circle (District 306B2, Sri Lanka) and Lions Club of Biyagama. 

Others included Pre-schools (Ziany, Emmanuel, Miracle Hands), Schools (College of World Education interact club, Lyceum college Christian society, Wesley college 1st XI cricket team), Orphanages, Lawyers, Doctors and cause-related activists, the Sri Lanka National Cricket team and families (Dhammika Prasad, Jeewan Mendis, Ferveez Maharoof, Sandra Jayasuriya, Rukshani Thirimanna), celebrities and singers. 

The Voice Foundation, chief organiser of the Voice Walk, is currently collaborating with Government officials and the corporate sector to help partner in several prevention programmes and the safe house project to be launched in January 2016. Some key Voice Foundation initiatives have been designed to mitigate stigma and provide resources for prevention, and address the alarming number of child abuse cases reported in the country. 

The Voice Foundation is an alliance formed between the Bethany Christian Life Centre, Touch Community and the Little Heaven Kids Ministry, and includes volunteers from the corporate sector, working together towards the key goal of eliminating violence against children. 

End violence against children

Violence against children has been a hotly debated issue in recent years. Really it’s not restricted to children but involves adolescents as well. Violence against children, against sexes, against one’s partner, against fellow workers, against employees – the list goes on. In short, violence occurs everywhere – at homes, within families, in schools, communities and public places. 

Earlier, violence was talked about in the context of conflicts and wars. Today violence occurs not only during conflict but even in times of peace.

Violence manifests itself in its most prevalent forms of domestic and sexual violence. It also occurs in the form of child marriage in certain countries.  In some societies girls are denied access to formal education. Then there is forced labour and trafficking.  The way under age boys and girls are made to work in factories and workplaces under appalling conditions often get exposed in media. 

We may not see violence but it doesn’t mean it’s not there. “We must make the invisible, visible”, says the United Nations.

Two years ago UNESCO launched a global initiative to end violence against children and adolescents. It urged collective action to end violence against children, highlighting the fact that violence is everywhere but often happens out of sight or is tolerated due to social and cultural norms. Under the banner ‘Make the invisible, visible’, the initiative aims to raise awareness as a first step toward modifying attitudes, behaviours and policies.

Recently United Nations released a set of six stamps highlighting the need to end violence against children. ‘End Violence against Children’ was the common message. The key word used in the stamps in different languages was END.  The stamps were issued from UN offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

Each stamp highlights a different theme. Armed violence against children (49c), Sexual violence against children ($1.20), Child marriage (CHF 1.00), Child trafficking (CHF 1.40), Gender-based violence (€ 0.68) & Child labour (€ 0.80) are the six themes. Powerful illustrations accompany the themes. Postmarks on the first day issues carried a picture of a child.

UNICEF strongly believes that violence can be prevented. Formulation and implementation of strong laws, backed by services for protection and strong communication initiatives for social and behaviour change, is vital to guaranteeing respect for the fundamental rights of children and adolescents, most notably their right to security and violence-free life, UNICEF says. Protecting children is at the heart of the UNICEF mandate, it insists.

UNICEF’s message states: 

Violence against children is everywhere. But people turn a blind eye. It’s hidden behind closed doors. It’s invisible.

All children have the right to live free from violence. Violence which harms their physical and mental growth. Violence which holds back every society.

But violence against children is entirely preventable when people come together and say that it’s not acceptable. When they make the invisible visible.

UNICEF discusses what is being done to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse on the website www.unicef.org/endviolence

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child specifies that every child everywhere has the right to be protected from all forms of violence.