21.2.2008
Human Rights Watch has urged the UN Security Council to
impose sanctions on armed groups in Sri Lanka for using
children in their forces. Also the New York based human
rights organization has alleged Sri Lanka Government has
failed to investigate its forces complicity in Child abductions.
Human
Rights Watch has 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.
The
UN Security Council’s working group on children
and armed conflict is expected to meet 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.
“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 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.”
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune