Vacancies at the police and the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) are causing delays in delivering justice in complaints and court cases involving children, the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs said on Sunday.
The Ministry said both agencies were operating with significant staff shortages, weakening the efficiency of child protection and investigative processes. A multi-sectoral mechanism established to address child abuse has begun coordinating with the Department of Management Services and other relevant agencies to fill the existing vacancies, the statement added.
The issue was discussed at a meeting chaired by the Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. Officials also raised the possibility of making the Police Unit attached to the NCPA an independent body, in a move that would separate it from general policing chains of command and align it more closely with the Authority’s casework.
The meeting examined further measures to identify children without birth certificates and to expedite registration procedures, which advocates have flagged as a barrier to children accessing state services and being recognised in legal proceedings. It also discussed proposals to establish dedicated children’s courts to speed up the conclusion of child-related cases and to strengthen access to justice.
The Ministry’s statement comes against the backdrop of recent high-profile prosecutions and concerns about institutional capacity. NCPA caseload data released earlier this month showed 173 complaints received on World Day Against Child Labour alone, while draft Domestic Violence Act amendments and a series of clerical-abuse prosecutions have pushed the dependency on under-resourced investigators back into public view.
