UN: Sanction LTTE, Karuna Group for Child Soldiers
February 21st, 2008
Government Fails to Investigate Its Forces’ Complicity in Child Abductions
(New York, February 21, 2008)-The UN Security Council should impose sanctions on armed groups in Sri Lanka for using children in their forces, Human Rights Watch said today.
The UN Security Council’s working group on children and armed conflict meets today for the second time since February 2007 to consider violations against children committed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lankan government forces, and the Karuna group, an armed group that split from the LTTE in 2004 and now cooperates with Sri Lankan forces.
“The LTTE and the Karuna group continue to use children to fight their battles in clear violation of international law and Security Council resolutions,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The Security Council should punish their brazen violations with concrete action.”
Human Rights Watch also called upon the UN Security Council to publicly condemn the Sri Lankan government for failing to investigate cases of child abduction and recruitment in government-controlled territory, and the complicity of its security forces in abductions by the Karuna group.
Human Rights Watch urged the Security Council to give both the LTTE and the Karuna group 30 days to release all children in their ranks and end all new recruitment. If they fail to do so, the Security Council should impose arms embargoes, and travel bans and asset freezes on the leadership.
Human Rights Watch noted that while reported cases of child recruitment by the LTTE have dropped significantly over the past nine months, the LTTE failed to release all children from its ranks by December 31, 2007, a deadline it agreed to under the terms of an action plan signed on October 15, 2007.
On January 31, 2008, UNICEF reported 1,430 outstanding cases of LTTE child recruitment, including at least 196 children still under the age of 18 in the LTTE ranks.
“The LTTE has ignored repeated appeals to end its use of child soldiers,” said Becker. “The time for Security Council action is now.”
In a report on children and armed conflict worldwide made public in January, the UN secretary-general listed the LTTE for the fifth consecutive time since 2002 for violating international standards regarding the recruitment and use of child soldiers. It listed the Karuna group for the second time.
In a separate report specifically on Sri Lanka issued in December, the secretary-general noted that the Karuna group continued to abduct children, and had failed to effectively engage with the United Nations to end child recruitment.
Human Rights Watch is recommending Security Council sanctions against the Karuna group for the first time, due to its continual violations of international standards.
“The UN has put the Karuna group on notice, but the Karuna group has refused to end its recruitment and use of child soldiers,” said Becker. “It must be held accountable for these continuing violations.”
Human Rights Watch also criticized the Sri Lankan government for failing to thoroughly investigate cases of abduction and complicity of security forces in child abduction by the Karuna group. Reports by the secretary-general, the Special Advisor to the Special Representative to the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict Allan Rock, and Human Rights Watch have all found complicity by Sri Lankan security forces in the abduction of children by the Karuna group.
The secretary-general’s report on Sri Lanka found that children continue to be sighted in government-controlled territory and at the offices of the Karuna group’s political party, the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP).
Members of a government committee appointed by Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe to investigate abductions and child recruitment visited Batticaloa last week, but reportedly met only with government officials and stayed for only four hours.
“For over a year, the Sri Lankan government has been promising to investigate the well-documented complicity between its own forces and the abduction of children by the Karuna group,” said Becker. “Its failure to conduct a credible investigation in a timely way is simply unacceptable.”
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5 Comments Add your own
1. dingiri | February 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 am
To hold the Sri Lankan Govt. accountable for the Karuna group recruiting children is a bit extreme. Both the US and the UK know very well that they themselves have formed aliances with the devil to defeat their pricipal enemies. It does not mean you sanction everything your allies do.
Look at Iraq, where the US has formed aliances with Sunni militias who used to fight for the Insurgents. The US are well aware of their activities - kidnappings, extortion, torture and persecution of women. However it is expedient to turn a blind eye in order to obtain their help to defeat Al Qaida which is their main objective.
Same thing in Afghanistan. How many war lords are fighting on the NATO side? Does NATO believe they are angels? No. They are well aware of their Opium smuggling and other serious crimes agains ordinary Afghan people.
At least one thing to be a little less concerned about Karuna’s child soldires. They are not currently fighting on the frontlines like Prabakaran’s child soldirs and having to face artillery and air attacks. However this is only for now. Who knows how the war will unfold?
What we non combatants can do if we are serious about the lives of these children is to climb down from our extremem possitions on the war and make some serious compromises so the war can end.
2. Ratna | February 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 am
Here is a suggestion for LTTE:
According to GOSL reports, this year alone they have killed over 800 tigers, but handed over only 8 bodies. What LTTE has to do is to announce that all 196 child soldiers are dead (part of the 800) in the FDL bunker fights this year.
LTTE is a banned organization, why do they have to listen to HRW? Don’t ban a organization and then ask them to follow rules.
3. Dyan | February 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
There is no use of condemning the GOSL,LTTE or karuna group unless the IC have a policy to stop the war. The people and children are dying on the ground. IC can not do anything to stop the GOSL or LTTE. This is all just an eye wash for the world while IC encouraging the war and human rights violations.
The recruitment of child soldiers and other violations will fade away once the war stopped.
4. Devinda Fernando | February 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm
What a complete Non-Issue…..On the LTTE side and on the Karuna Side… I’m not even going to pretend I care about this but hey if it gets the LTTE into further Hot Water in the IC then so be it. I’ll take any piece of Good news against the enemy regrdless as how small iti is.
Funny I missed something, how many Child Soldiers did they say Karuna is said to have ? I got the 1430 cases on the LTTE side but are we talking about a few dozen? I can’t see there being much more than that? How many Gang members are teenagers carrying guns in the USA alone? Last census was 800,000 Gang members in the USA, how many of those people are under 18? If they want to solve the Child Soldier issue in the UN go to South Central Los Angeles and deal with the “Child Soldier” issue there… far more than 1430 cases to deal with….. oh but the UN never addresses the West for their Issues, especially not the USA…after all Ban Ki Moon would not want the Electricity to the HQ building in New York suddenly cut off would they?
5. Jey P | February 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
In reply to comment #4 above.
It is all well and good to find fault with the hypocritical practices of the West and their agents. The case of the LTTE and Karuna faction being accused of Child recruitment is not about just getting them into hot water.
It has got to be much more than that. It is about small children who are being forced to do something against their will for the most part.
Have a little heart man. These are fellow Sri Lankan children. These are also humans, not some commodity like guns or drugs for us to talk in numbers. Even one of these little ones being misguided is one too many. What is more important, telling the IC to mind their own business or finding ways to get rid of this menace from our country?
Granted the LTTE does not have to listen to the IC as they are a banned orgainisation, their supposed cause is the future generations of Tamils. To corrupt these young minds with all the brutalities of war goes against the very essence of this “cause”. This same principle must apply to the GOSL even more, given that they are an elected body. They need to do all they possibly can and I am sure that they can if they chose to. Their unwillingness to do anything in this regard (against Karuna group) shows that they care not for those children. Then again it is not their children who are targetted. Maybe if it was our children who are targetted then we would understand? If we dont stand up now, who will stand up for us and our children when tjhe time comes? Remember what happended in Germany before and during WW2?
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