Beyond the Chessboard: A Cause We Cannot Stay Silent About
Here at [Your Platform Name], we exist to promote chess across Sri Lanka — to nurture young minds, build strategic thinkers, and inspire the next generation of players. Chess, at its heart, is about protecting what matters most and thinking several moves ahead. Today, we are thinking several moves ahead for Sri Lanka’s children.
We know this is not a chess article. But some things are bigger than chess.
A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
Sri Lanka is facing a deeply troubling child protection emergency, and the numbers are impossible to ignore. According to the Auditor General’s Department Annual Report, nearly 40,000 complaints lodged with the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) remained unresolved by the end of 2024. At the Attorney General’s Department, close to 4,000 cases — where indictments have not even been filed yet — were backlogged as of end 2023. And in the High Courts, over 4,000 more cases involving children have been dragging on for decades.
Forty thousand. That number is not a statistic. Every single one of those cases is a child. A real child, in Sri Lanka, waiting for justice that has not come.
Children make up 30% of Sri Lanka’s population — seven million young lives. They are the most vulnerable members of our society, and they deserve the strongest possible protection our nation can offer. Yet right now, the very systems meant to protect them are overwhelmed, under-resourced, and failing.
What Needs to Change
A petition has been launched on Change.org, addressed directly to HE President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, calling on the government to move beyond words and take concrete action. The petition calls for three key measures:
Establishing a Presidential Task Force on Child Protection, made up of non-political experts with international experience in child rights and welfare — not bureaucrats, but genuine specialists who can drive real reform.
Creating a specialized Police Unit dedicated to clearing the backlog of child abuse cases, so that investigations move with the urgency these children deserve.
Making the NCPA fully independent — as it was always intended to be under the NCPA Act No. 50 of 1998 — by removing it from under the administration of the Women and Child Affairs Ministry, so that it can operate without political interference.
These are not radical demands. They are the bare minimum.
Why We Are Speaking Up
As a chess platform, we work with children every day. We see the joy on their faces when they learn a new opening, the concentration as they plan their moves, the pride when they win their first tournament. Every child we work with deserves to be safe — not just on our watch, but always.
We fully and unequivocally support this campaign. The protection of children is not a political issue. It is a human one. It is a national one. And it is one that every Sri Lankan — chess player or not — should care about deeply.
Please Sign the Petition
Over 5,500 people have already signed. The goal is to build a wave of public pressure that the President and government cannot ignore. It takes less than a minute, and it means everything to the children still waiting for justice.
👉 Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/40000-appeal-to-resolve-backlog-of-child-abuse-cases-in-sri-lanka
Please also share this with your family, friends, and networks. Every signature counts. Every share matters.
Sri Lanka’s children are waiting. Let’s not make them wait any longer.
— ChessSL, proudly standing for Sri Lanka’s children
