Sri Lanka Railway joins with World Vision to end violence against children

Sept. 24, 2019 – Colombo – Today, World Vision Lanka and Sri Lanka Railways announced a joint collaboration to end violence against children. The joint sticker campaign launched today at the Fort Railway Station aims to remind those who commute in the trains, especially parents and adults, to end all forms of violence against children and to bring them up with love.

In addition to the sticker campaign, World Vision Lanka will work together with Sri Lanka Railways to display messages of love and the need to treat children better at the prominent railway stations to prompt adults to rethink the way they engage with children. It is a part of World Vision Lanka and Sri Lanka Railways’ mutual desire to ensure every train and railway station is safe for children.


As Sri Lanka is one of twelve ‘pathfinding’ countries, the government is taking the lead to end violence including abuse, neglect and exploitation against children by 2030. World Vision became a part of the global campaign launched in 2017 in a bid to end all forms of violence against children. World Vision’s international campaign ‘It takes a world’ was rolled out in Sri Lanka in October 2017 as ‘It takes a nation’ with a special focus on ending sexual and physical violence against children.

“World Vision has worked towards the fullness of life for children all over the world for nearly 70 years. We see that violence scars children for life and this affects the wellness of the communities for a whole generation. Violence-free childhood is a happy childhood. This is a great example of World Vision Lanka working with the government and government institutions to make the lives of our children better every day,” said Dr Dhanan Senathirajah, National Director of World Vision Lanka.

The campaign aims to eradicate sexual violence against children through awareness creation and strengthening community-based organisations. Further, it seeks to inculcate positive disciplinary methods among parents and teachers replacing corporal punishment and other forms of harmful punishment methods practised in Sri Lanka. Already the campaign has seen behaviour change at grassroots levels through the workshops and awareness programmes conducted.

“I am happy to be a part of the efforts to end violence against children. We, at Sri Lanka Railways, believe that it’s important to take this step towards protecting our future generation,” said M.J.D Fernando, the General Manager of Sri Lanka Railways.

World Vision has been working with communities in Sri Lanka since 1977, working towards the well-being of children and to create a child-friendly society based on communities of trust; where each child has hope, equal opportunity and is empowered to fulfil his/her full potential.