25.2.2008
The Sri Lanka government is confident that the Security
Council will eventually impose targeted sanctions on the
LTTE, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona told Asian Tribune.
He
admitted it is not easy to impose sanctions on such a
shadowy group as the LTTE and its leadership.
As
an example, he cited the bans and sanctions imposed by
the US, Canada and the European Union. "But the LTTE
and its front organizations still operate with impunity,"
said Kohona, who was in New York last week to meet with
several senior UN officials.
Kohona,
the former chief of the UN Treaty Section and a onetime
Australian diplomat, said: "We are confident that
the Security Council will adopt a practical way to impose
sanctions on the LTTE, including restrictions on fund-raising
and money transfers."
Last
week, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) called
on the Security Council to penalize both the LTTE and
the Karuna faction for the continued recruitment of child
soldiers.
Additionally,
HRW asked the Security Council "to publicly condemn
the Sri Lanka 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."
But
Kohona denied the charges vehemently. "Sri Lanka
has a policy of zero tolerance of child recruitment. To
even suggest that the Government also be censured for
some sort of collusion smacks of irresponsible mischief
making", he added.
There
is no group left that could be described as "the
Karuna Group, he pointed out, because they have splintered
into many factions over the last year. And more importantly,
he added, the Karuna faction is making the difficult transition
to democratic political activity.
"While
they have agreed to work with the UN to rehabilitate former
child combatants (last estimated to be around the 100
mark), the LTTE continues to have in its ranks thousands
of child combatants and former child recruits," Kohona
declared.
Addressing
a meeting of the Security Council's Working Group on Child
Soldiers last week, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative
to the UN Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam urged the Working
Group to consider recommending to the Security Council
a host of targeted measures against the LTTE.
Asked
why he did not call for similar sanctions against the
Karuna group, Kariyawasam said the LTTE was a multiple
repeat offender but the Karuna's Group wasn't.
According
to the HRW, the UN in its reports to the Security Council
has listed the LTTE for the fifth consecutive time since
2002, while the Karuna group has been listed twice. Both
groups are accused of violating international standards
regarding the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
Asked
for her comments, Under-Secretary-General Radhika Coomaraswamy,
the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General
on Children and Armed Conflict, said: "I think the
Security Council is still trying to work out the modalities-
first whether to impose sanctions on anyone and second
what is the process to go ahead- both need to be worked
out."
"We
must remember these are member state and sanctions are
the most extreme action that can be taken. Some member
states have told me that we have only had the Working
Group for one and a half years and that all means must
be exhausted before we impose such sanctions."
"We
have urged them to set up a mechanism to do begin the
process and in the presidential statement they have agreed
to review the situation."
"It
will take some time but if they are true to the spirit
of Resolution 1612, they will probably impose sanctions
at some point if the LTTE and the TMVP persist"
Meanwhile,
she said, this is an opportunity also for these groups
to come into compliance, enter into action plans and open
themselves to verification.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune