Sri Lanka's hidden scourge of religious child abuse

1 June 2012
By Saroj Pathirana BBC Sinhala service

Pahalagama Somaratana Thera is one of the few Sri Lankan Buddhist monks to have been found guilty of child abuse inside or outside the country.

Tens of thousands of children regularly attend Sri Lankan Buddhist temples as helpers or novices

Somarathana Thera runs children's' homes in the UK and Sri Lanka

Many Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka are ordained at a young age


But if Children's Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda is to be believed, child abuse in religious establishments by both Buddhist and Christian clergy in Sri Lanka is rampant.

Yet according to figures from Sri Lanka's National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), only three Buddhist monks have been convicted of child abuse in Sri Lanka in recent history.

One of those died from poison he drank after he was sentenced for raping a girl aged 13 in 2005.
Full Story>>>