The Ministry of Women and Child Affairs has asked media institutions and social media activists to stop publishing photographs, videos and audio that could identify schoolchildren who took part in a recent protest, and says it has lodged complaints with the child protection authorities.
Videos of the protest showing students in school uniform, along with audio clips of statements they made, were circulating on mainstream and social media, the Ministry said in a statement reported by the Daily Mirror on Thursday evening.
The two allegations
Having reviewed the footage, the Ministry raised two distinct concerns.
The first is that students had allegedly been used for political purposes, by exploiting their freedom of expression and children’s rights.
The second is directed at the press: that some journalists covering the incident provoked students into emotional states in order to obtain statements from them.
Hiru News reported the same statement, and its Sinhala rendering of the first allegation is somewhat stronger — that the videos show children being agitated for political ends through the misuse of children’s rights.
What the Ministry has done
Complaints have already been lodged with the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Police Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Children and Women, requesting investigations and appropriate action.
Media organisations and social media activists have been asked to avoid publishing any photographs, videos or voice recordings that could identify the underage students, which the Ministry said was necessary to protect them from unnecessary criticism and undue public attention.
The statement was issued by Thilini Gunawardene, Media Secretary to the Minister of Women and Child Affairs. The document itself, photographed by Hiru, is on Minister’s Office letterhead from the Ministry’s Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla address, carries reference MWCA/MO/MS/01 and is dated 2026.11.05.
What is not established
Neither filing identifies which protest this was — where it took place, when, what it was about, or how the schoolchildren came to be there. That absence matters, because the Ministry’s central allegation is that the children were used for political purposes, and neither report says by whom.
Nor does either filing carry any response: from the journalists accused of provoking students, from media organisations, from the schools concerned, or from whoever organised the protest.
The request also sits on contested ground. A ministry asking the press not to publish identifying footage of children is an ordinary child-protection measure, and one with a clear basis in standard journalistic practice on minors. But it is a government request to media about coverage of a protest, accompanied by a complaint to police about how journalists did their work — and the filings record no legal instrument compelling compliance, nor what action the NCPA or the police bureau could take.
Not reported
Neither filing states whether any journalist or outlet has been named in the complaints, what offence is alleged, or whether the NCPA has begun an investigation.
Neither says how many children were involved, whether any have been identified or contacted by authorities, or whether the Ministry has approached the platforms hosting the circulating videos.
