TMVP head MP Vinayagamoorthi Muralidharan said yesterday that the Government would put an end to the child soldiers' subject in the Eastern Province within the next three months under a joint accord signed by the Government, UNICEF and the TMVP.
"According to the accord, we have to finish the whole task of rehabilitating child military within three months. We have already done a lot for the wellbeing of these children," he told a media meeting at the Parliamentary multifaceted.
Muralidharan said the TMVP handed over 14 underage cadres to the new Child wellbeing Office opened in Batticaloa on Thursday. The TMVP will hand over one more 20 cadres within the next two weeks.
The TMVP does not have any child soldiers at there.
The TMVP in teamwork with the Government and the UNICEF has set a rehabilitation program for the wellbeing of these children. A new Child wellbeing Office was also opened in the Government Agents office, Batticaloa for the welfare of these children. After these children are reformed, they can join the Army, go abroad or join the society, he said.
Muralidharan said: "The TMVP does not have any of its own Armed Force as the Government has provided sufficient security to all TMVP representatives. previous we had a small force of our own security."
The TMVP is working intimately with the Government and the UNICEF to restore the children. The Government has done much for the wellbeing of these children. In adding, UNICEF has also set a series of programs for the advantage of these children, he said.
UNICEF envoy in Sri Lanka Philippe Duamelle said the Government and the TMVP has made a firm promise to put an end to the child soldier subject.
Concrete act has been taken on this issue under the new accord signed on December 7 last year, Duamelle said.
"The TMVP releasing 14 children has shown its greatest commitment to follow this effort. The needs of all children will be recognized while they will be given help. Our final object is to make joint efforts which would enable Sri Lanka to turn the number of child soldiers to zero tip very soon," he said.
"We call upon the LTTE to meet their blame and assurance the lives of the civilians. It is significant to give their due early days to the children," he additional.
Meanwhile, legal Reforms Secretary Suhada Gamlath said the Government expects to ensure the well-being of child soldiers in the East from side to side the newly set-up child treatment centre in Batticaloa.
The agenda will be approved out with the help of the UNICEF and the TMVP. Recruiting children for military operations is a major unpleasant and children who have been by force taken for battle will be reformed and handed over to their parents through this agenda, he said.
The Government is totally next to children being recruited for battle.
"We have already reformed 100 children in the East and they are with their parents now," he said.
According to the accord, all child soldiers in the East will be reformed within one year. This move is being implemented under the support of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He has supported this project which will end in one year.
Meanwhile, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has issued a gazette notification to ensure the well-being of child soldiers and straight them for treatment. The agenda is being implemented under the management of the judges following global standards
Showing posts with label TMVP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TMVP. Show all posts
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Prabhakaran is to face trial for his insensate crimes', says TMVP leader
Former friend in arms of Prabhakaran, Vinayagamoorthy Muralidaran alias Karuna Amman said that the release Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader is at his last intake of breath in Kilinochchi and he is about to be punished for all his mean and numb crimes.
Interviewed by the self-governing Television Network (ITN), the TMVP leader and member of the Sri Lanka Parliament said, "Prabhakaran refused to listen to me and the late LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham when we disagreed candidly and many others in the LTTE dared not disagree with him like that in fear and only criticized him at the back his back."
MP Muralidharan said he had raised the query of the Rajiv Gandhi murder and the attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy with Prabhakaran. When he said those acts did not really help the LTTE and shaped lot of resistance all over the world next to the movement, Muralidharan said, the LTTE leader's simple clarification was that those had been done without his knowledge. MP Muralidharan said nothing happened in the LTTE without Prabhakaran's knowledge and he was just lying.
The TMVP leader said "it was a past blunder that the United National Party head Ranil Wickramesinghe signed a truce Agreement with Prabhakaran since he signed it at a time when the LTTE was weakest in its cadre power and its arms power. The LTTE used the truce to fundraise, import arms and bullets and recruit cadres by force."
He said some people who are hailed as LTTE best in the media like Nadesan, Daya Master and Susai were not influential men and mere information of no significance and Prabhakaran did not mind two hoots for them and for what they thought. In fact, Susai, the head of the 'Sea Tigers' did not know at all know to fight on the land and there was no reason to respect him, he said.
He said, the late Anton Balasingham told Prabhakaran on his face all what he (Karuna Amman) had told the LTTE leader but Prabhakaran refused to listen to him either, as the LTTE leader was an stubborn Fascist dictator.
The other person who expressed his disapprovals on the face of Prabhakaran on a variety of matters was "Mahattaya" Mahendraraja and he and his friends in the movement had to die unlucky deaths, MP Muralidharan said.
Looking back how he joined the LTTE, MP Muralidharan said he was a brilliant student, like all other siblings in his family and studying in a bio science Advanced Level class with the ambition of becoming a doctor one day when in 1983 the LTTE killed 13 military and as a reaction the Black July of killing blameless Tamil civilians occurred.
He said the killings were used to employ young people to the LTTE and he went to help those hundreds of Tamil civilians who became on the streets and flocked to Batticaloa. He said he connected the LTTE and went to India to get the military preparation. The TMVP head said he did not leave from the LTTE over personal evils but over disagreements over pure terrorism skillful by the group like the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. When he went to Oslo as a associate of the peace talks, he said, Prabhakaran told him not to have the same opinion to any solution, but to drag the talks to five more years pretending to be paying attention in peace, so that he could lift funds, employ cadres buy arms and fight back. If he had decided for any solutions great quantity of international funds were obtainable to develop Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka to raise the standards of the Tamil people and Prabhakaran was least paying notice in those things, MP Muralidharan alleged.
He said when he got out of the LTTE he did not have any following ambition and only afterwards he consideration of a political vocation after President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited him to do so. He said there had been no other leader who had faced this difficulty boldly like President Mahinda Rajapaksa before and if he had been in power in 1983 no crisis of this natural world would have ever occurred in this country. He said during his 22 years of career as a fighter he had never met a as the crow flies and brave decision creator like President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "I am 100 percent sure that President Rajapaksa would end the war and solve the North-East problem", he said.
He said he left the LTTE with 6000 cadres since LTTE was clearly showing signs of a terrorist group and it had ceased to act as a liberation move violently as they believed. It was killing blameless Sinhala civilians, violent places of adoration of all religions, and chased out Muslims from Jaffna after confiscating all their possessions.
He also asked others of the LTTE to get out of the swamp like Paduman of Trincomalee but it was hard for anybody to flee from Wanni.
Recalling Ranil Wickramasinghe's truce days Muralidharan said the UNP head went into this accord also at a time terrorism was at its weakest point in history due to 9/11. Since it allowed the LTTE to travel anywhere in the country it started transporting bombs all over the place. In the appearance of fishing LTTE boats brought into the state tons of arms and ammunition freely, he said. " Prabhakaran enjoying the human rights shattered the whole Tamil culture. though it was prohibited to marry under the LTTE when he wanted to marry the wedding ban was lifted. More than the blameless Sinhalese he killed Tamils. He is one of the worst terrorists in the world."
He said the truth concerning Prabhakaran is known to the Tamil people. He could not with no trouble employ cadres during the truce days from the Northern Province. That's why he had to depend on the Eastern Province for his cadres. He used the Wanni people by kidnapping and recruiting them by force.
MP Muralidharan said it was true that with some Tamil self-governing parties and his TMVP had difference due to divide political agendas. For example, his party was opposed to connecting Eastern Province with the Northern Province like some other Tamil parties. But he appreciated the dissimilar views, the TMVP leader said. He said he was for linking Northern and Eastern Provinces on cultural matters alone. He said he invites Prabhakaran to lay down arms and come and join the self-governing main stream like him.
He said the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did not represent the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and they are a substitute party of the LTTE. He said he was peak with no the active in forming the party when he was in the LTTE. The TNA MP's could not sapproval of the LTTE. The election of the MP's were not free. They were elected under the threat of the terrorist group, Muralidharan said. People were under threats by the LTTE to choose by ballot them, MP Muralidharan further pointed out.
At the next general elections, he predicted, he was sure the TMVP would be able to bag 8 seating and the TNA none.
He said unparalleled development work has been started in the East. They are considering development work not even dreamt of during the last 22 years in the area, the TMVP leader said.
He said the final military victory of the Sri Lanka security forces is now sure. Meticulously planned by the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and professionally implemented by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka Sri Lanka is on the verge of final victory , MP Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan said.
Interviewed by the self-governing Television Network (ITN), the TMVP leader and member of the Sri Lanka Parliament said, "Prabhakaran refused to listen to me and the late LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham when we disagreed candidly and many others in the LTTE dared not disagree with him like that in fear and only criticized him at the back his back."
MP Muralidharan said he had raised the query of the Rajiv Gandhi murder and the attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy with Prabhakaran. When he said those acts did not really help the LTTE and shaped lot of resistance all over the world next to the movement, Muralidharan said, the LTTE leader's simple clarification was that those had been done without his knowledge. MP Muralidharan said nothing happened in the LTTE without Prabhakaran's knowledge and he was just lying.
The TMVP leader said "it was a past blunder that the United National Party head Ranil Wickramesinghe signed a truce Agreement with Prabhakaran since he signed it at a time when the LTTE was weakest in its cadre power and its arms power. The LTTE used the truce to fundraise, import arms and bullets and recruit cadres by force."
He said some people who are hailed as LTTE best in the media like Nadesan, Daya Master and Susai were not influential men and mere information of no significance and Prabhakaran did not mind two hoots for them and for what they thought. In fact, Susai, the head of the 'Sea Tigers' did not know at all know to fight on the land and there was no reason to respect him, he said.
He said, the late Anton Balasingham told Prabhakaran on his face all what he (Karuna Amman) had told the LTTE leader but Prabhakaran refused to listen to him either, as the LTTE leader was an stubborn Fascist dictator.
The other person who expressed his disapprovals on the face of Prabhakaran on a variety of matters was "Mahattaya" Mahendraraja and he and his friends in the movement had to die unlucky deaths, MP Muralidharan said.
Looking back how he joined the LTTE, MP Muralidharan said he was a brilliant student, like all other siblings in his family and studying in a bio science Advanced Level class with the ambition of becoming a doctor one day when in 1983 the LTTE killed 13 military and as a reaction the Black July of killing blameless Tamil civilians occurred.
He said the killings were used to employ young people to the LTTE and he went to help those hundreds of Tamil civilians who became on the streets and flocked to Batticaloa. He said he connected the LTTE and went to India to get the military preparation. The TMVP head said he did not leave from the LTTE over personal evils but over disagreements over pure terrorism skillful by the group like the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. When he went to Oslo as a associate of the peace talks, he said, Prabhakaran told him not to have the same opinion to any solution, but to drag the talks to five more years pretending to be paying attention in peace, so that he could lift funds, employ cadres buy arms and fight back. If he had decided for any solutions great quantity of international funds were obtainable to develop Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka to raise the standards of the Tamil people and Prabhakaran was least paying notice in those things, MP Muralidharan alleged.
He said when he got out of the LTTE he did not have any following ambition and only afterwards he consideration of a political vocation after President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited him to do so. He said there had been no other leader who had faced this difficulty boldly like President Mahinda Rajapaksa before and if he had been in power in 1983 no crisis of this natural world would have ever occurred in this country. He said during his 22 years of career as a fighter he had never met a as the crow flies and brave decision creator like President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "I am 100 percent sure that President Rajapaksa would end the war and solve the North-East problem", he said.
He said he left the LTTE with 6000 cadres since LTTE was clearly showing signs of a terrorist group and it had ceased to act as a liberation move violently as they believed. It was killing blameless Sinhala civilians, violent places of adoration of all religions, and chased out Muslims from Jaffna after confiscating all their possessions.
He also asked others of the LTTE to get out of the swamp like Paduman of Trincomalee but it was hard for anybody to flee from Wanni.
Recalling Ranil Wickramasinghe's truce days Muralidharan said the UNP head went into this accord also at a time terrorism was at its weakest point in history due to 9/11. Since it allowed the LTTE to travel anywhere in the country it started transporting bombs all over the place. In the appearance of fishing LTTE boats brought into the state tons of arms and ammunition freely, he said. " Prabhakaran enjoying the human rights shattered the whole Tamil culture. though it was prohibited to marry under the LTTE when he wanted to marry the wedding ban was lifted. More than the blameless Sinhalese he killed Tamils. He is one of the worst terrorists in the world."
He said the truth concerning Prabhakaran is known to the Tamil people. He could not with no trouble employ cadres during the truce days from the Northern Province. That's why he had to depend on the Eastern Province for his cadres. He used the Wanni people by kidnapping and recruiting them by force.
MP Muralidharan said it was true that with some Tamil self-governing parties and his TMVP had difference due to divide political agendas. For example, his party was opposed to connecting Eastern Province with the Northern Province like some other Tamil parties. But he appreciated the dissimilar views, the TMVP leader said. He said he was for linking Northern and Eastern Provinces on cultural matters alone. He said he invites Prabhakaran to lay down arms and come and join the self-governing main stream like him.
He said the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) did not represent the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and they are a substitute party of the LTTE. He said he was peak with no the active in forming the party when he was in the LTTE. The TNA MP's could not sapproval of the LTTE. The election of the MP's were not free. They were elected under the threat of the terrorist group, Muralidharan said. People were under threats by the LTTE to choose by ballot them, MP Muralidharan further pointed out.
At the next general elections, he predicted, he was sure the TMVP would be able to bag 8 seating and the TNA none.
He said unparalleled development work has been started in the East. They are considering development work not even dreamt of during the last 22 years in the area, the TMVP leader said.
He said the final military victory of the Sri Lanka security forces is now sure. Meticulously planned by the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and professionally implemented by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka Sri Lanka is on the verge of final victory , MP Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan said.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
APRC to include TMVP
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has responded positively to the inclusion of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).
With this new development the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, the parties which insisted on the participation of the TMVP at the APRC have withdrawn their boycott and decided to continue with the APRC proceedings from this week, Minister of Science and Technology and Chairman of the All Party Representative Committee Prof. Tissa Vitharana said.
Prof. Vitharana told the Sunday Observer that one-and-a-half months ago the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna kept away from the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) proceedings for not including the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the breakaway party from the LTTE to the APRC.
"However, I brought this matter to the attention of the President who decides on the parties that represent the APRC.
Following the performance of the TMVP at the local government polls and thereafter at the Provincial Council polls in the eastern province the President took a positive stance with regard to the participation of the TMVP at the APRC sessions.
The TMVP with its entry into the political mainstream has now come out with even a Chief Minister, which is noteworthy," Prof. Vitharana said. He said that he conveyed the President's positive stance with regard to the inclusion of TMVP to the APRC to the JHU and MEP and the two parties have now decided to withdraw their boycott by confirming their participation from this week in the APRC proceedings.
According to Prof. Vitharana, the APRC had convened 76 meetings since its inception, one-and-a-half years ago.
"Ninety percent of issues have been dealt with positively and the APRC is hopeful of dealing with the remaining ten per cent of issues successfully. We cannot set a time frame for the final outcome of the APRC. However, we see things in a positive manner, the recent visit of the APRC members to Northern Ireland and the political developments there had also helped the APRC in a remarkable way.
With the future participation of the TMVP the representation of the Tamil parties to the APRC would be two with a total of fifteen parties in the APRC. The EPDP is the other Tamil party which has remained a member in the APRC from its inception," Prof. Vitharana said.
Courtesy : The Sunday Observer
With this new development the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Jathika Hela Urumaya, the parties which insisted on the participation of the TMVP at the APRC have withdrawn their boycott and decided to continue with the APRC proceedings from this week, Minister of Science and Technology and Chairman of the All Party Representative Committee Prof. Tissa Vitharana said.
Prof. Vitharana told the Sunday Observer that one-and-a-half months ago the Jathika Hela Urumaya and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna kept away from the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) proceedings for not including the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the breakaway party from the LTTE to the APRC.
"However, I brought this matter to the attention of the President who decides on the parties that represent the APRC.
Following the performance of the TMVP at the local government polls and thereafter at the Provincial Council polls in the eastern province the President took a positive stance with regard to the participation of the TMVP at the APRC sessions.
The TMVP with its entry into the political mainstream has now come out with even a Chief Minister, which is noteworthy," Prof. Vitharana said. He said that he conveyed the President's positive stance with regard to the inclusion of TMVP to the APRC to the JHU and MEP and the two parties have now decided to withdraw their boycott by confirming their participation from this week in the APRC proceedings.
According to Prof. Vitharana, the APRC had convened 76 meetings since its inception, one-and-a-half years ago.
"Ninety percent of issues have been dealt with positively and the APRC is hopeful of dealing with the remaining ten per cent of issues successfully. We cannot set a time frame for the final outcome of the APRC. However, we see things in a positive manner, the recent visit of the APRC members to Northern Ireland and the political developments there had also helped the APRC in a remarkable way.
With the future participation of the TMVP the representation of the Tamil parties to the APRC would be two with a total of fifteen parties in the APRC. The EPDP is the other Tamil party which has remained a member in the APRC from its inception," Prof. Vitharana said.
Courtesy : The Sunday Observer
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Child soldiers in Sri Lanka and their rehabilitation
The problem of child soldiers has been a recurrent nightmare for Sri Lanka, since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam made almost a fetish of using children in their forces. Their baby brigade was a source of pride during the nineties and, even though they tried in the course of that decade to establish themselves as a respectable military organization, the issue of child soldiers reveals most clearly perhaps their rejection of civilized norms.
Though the issue had been noticed previously, it became a focus of attention following the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. Child soldiers became the symbol as it were of continuing LTTE militarization. According to UNICEF data, there were a total of 6,183 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE in five years after the February 2002 CFA. Out of this 3,732 were boys and 2,451 were girls. Although these numbers appear high, these are still probably lower than the actual numbers. It is not possible to accurately determine the full extent of under-age recruitment for several reasons. Some parents are not aware of existing reporting mechanisms. Others fear reprisal and so do not report. Most families suffer from intimidation and threats if they contravene LTTE orders.
During the same period, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which ruled after examination on Ceasefire Violations, declared that there had been 1743 confirmed cases of child recruitment by the LTTE (out of 2062 allegations). There were none of course by the Government of Sri Lanka, which has never used child soldiers - though there was a single accusation of child recruitment made against the government, which was dismissed.
Though the Sri Lankan government has never used child soldiers, there have been allegations against it of complicity with former members of the LTTE in recruitment of child soldiers during the last few years. UNICEF has maintained a database of recruitment of children in the Eastern Province by the Karuna faction, which broke away from the LTTE in 2004. It should be noted that, immediately after the split, an estimated 1,800 children were released by the Karuna group. However, there was widespread re-recruitment of these children by the LTTE in mid-2004 and the Karuna faction then claimed that it was forced to take in children who were otherwise in danger.
UNICEF data confirmed a total of 351 children overall recruited by the Karuna faction, mostly boys. There is no confirmation at all of government involvement, and the only allegation made by UNICEF was of soldiers at a checkpoint waving through cadres including children. Investigation revealed that, when the matter was brought to the notice of authorities, disciplinary action had been taken against the soldiers involved. No other allegations were made and, though a UN official recorded assertions of complicity in a report in 2006, he did not respond to requests for evidence. Significantly, the UN Secretary General, in his own report, only mentioned allegations against government forces in a few instances, while categorically condemning the LTTE for several instances of child recruitment and the Karuna faction in a few.
The government has tried to ensure release of all children held by the Karuna faction, and initially set a target date of 2007 for this. This was not achieved, but the number is only in double figures now, and these cases too should be resolved soon. One problem however, as became clear when arrangements were being made to take over several late last year, was the inadequacy of arrangements for rehabilitation. The Karuna faction had little faith in UNICEF, and this was understandable in the past, though recently with a new head of UNICEF plans for a productive partnership between government and UNICEF are in train.
Most recently, government has been able to instil confidence in the TMVP, the democratic political party into which the former Karuna faction has been transformed, with regard both to collaboration with UNICEF and general safety in the East, following the successful conduct of peaceful and pluralistic elections in the region. Two sets of former combatants have now been restored to their parents or to government custody for a rehabilitation programme, in which UNICEF has agreed to partner the government.
The failure of rehabilitation in collaboration with the LTTE
Unfortunately, following the Ceasefire Agreement, UNICEF thought it could work with the LTTE to rehabilitate former child soldiers. The then government accepted this position, in its anxiety to display commitment to the peace process, and these attitudes continued for several years despite continuing evidence of LTTE violations of the CFA.
Thus GOSL institutions such as the NCPA which has the mandate to uphold the protection rights enshrined in the CRC was left out of planning because they had advocated strongly against child recruitment, which led to strong objections to their involvement by the LTTE. Instead of the NCPA, the partner GOSL institution in rehabilitation projects was the Ministry of Social Welfare which was acceptable to the LTTE but without much experience in this field.
Though UNICEF continued to advocate against child recruitment with the LTTE and attempted to get them to honour their commitments to cease recruitment and release all child soldiers, this advocacy did not yield the desired outcome. As part of the Action Plan for Children, UNICEF in collaboration with the GOSL planned a mass media awareness campaign on child rights emphasizing advocacy against child recruitment. According to reports by UNICEF, the mass media campaign was indefinitely postponed since January 2004 as the LTTE did not approve of the key messages. It was subsequently not implemented.
More importantly, the demobilisation of already recruited child soldiers by the LTTE and the prevention of new recruits faced serious constraints. The programme on rehabilitation and reintegration which was planned by the GOSL in collaboration with UNICEF and the LTTE in 2003 was not effectively implemented. The LTTE agreed to the programme only on the basis that the main implementing agency was an NGO, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which was the only organisation acceptable to them. The GOSL was represented by the Ministry of Social Services at that time.
According to UNICEF as of 31 March 2006, the estimated number of children released was 1,614, out of which 173 had been sent to transit centres and 1,441 directly to their homes. UNICEF reported that the following activities took place1:
(a) A transit centre, managed by UNICEF in collaboration with the TRO, was opened up in Kilinochchi (October 2003). However, it functioned only for a few months. During these few months, UNICEF maintained a 24-hour presence at the transit centre with both national and international staff. However the centre did not continue to function as no children were released to the centre.
(b) UNICEF allocated resources for land, construction of the centres, supplies and equipment, furniture and recruitment of international and local staff. Two other transit centres were planned in Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These centres were never opened. Substantial resources were provided by UNICEF for both the Killinochchi and the other two centres. The main reason for the non-functioning of the centres was the non-release of child combatants by the LTTE. The very few children released did not justify the cost of running such transit centres.
(c) During the time period between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005, only 17 boys and 22 girls were released to the transit centre. During the same period, 269
were considered released from all districts in the North except Trincomalee District.
(d) Between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005, the Kilinochchi transit centre accommodated released children for 13 weeks. These released children from this transit centre have been reunited with their families.
(e) In December 2004, UNICEF met with senior level LTTE leaders to discuss the usage of the transit centres. Due to the limited number of children being released it was agreed that the Killinochchi transit centre should be reprogrammed for an alternate use.
(f) UNICEF withdrew all their support to the transit centre, including their staff by the end of December 2004.
(g) UNICEF continued to maintain the hope that the transit centres would be used to accommodate released children, should the LTTE release a sufficient number. However such plans were abandoned since there were too many unresolved issues related to such centres, relating to the type of staff employed to run the centre, how reunification occurs, rehabilitation of child combatants and the quality and access to psychosocial therapy they could hope to obtain.
Other absurdities on the part of UNICEF included the enthusiasm of its Head for the commitment of the LTTE, as late as 2007, to release children under 17. When it was pointed out that 18 was the lower limit, she remarked that the LTTE had told her it needed to introduce new legislation for this purpose, since the limit on its existing law was 17. When it was pointed out that the LTTE could not legislate, she apologized, and referred to regulations. It was clear that she had been totally taken in by LTTE masquerades as to its intentions.
The importance attached by the LTTE to continuing use of child soldiers is apparent from its attempt to remove the topic from discussion at the last sets of peace negotiations held under the CFA in 2006. At a meeting with the Norwegian ambassador held in March 2006, in preparation for negotiations in April, they 'insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA, and should not be part of the agenda at the next round of talks...Mr Bratskar has pointed out that the CFA does mention of the abductions. Since a child cannot voluntarily join the LTTE military force, all recruitment will have to be treated as abduction. He had also argued that looking at the history of the six rounds of talks, there is an acknowledgment that recruitment should not be continued, and that continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level.'
After this exchange, the LTTE refused to go to talks in April. In June they went to Oslo but refused to talk. Finally in October they did talk for one day, but not on the second. Though the issue of child soldiers was not the only one they were diffident about, clearly they felt very uncomfortable when it was on the table.
Future Plans
It is apparent now that no reliance can be placed on the LTTE with regard to child soldiers. Recently a large proportion of young girls have been found amongst the dead in LTTE bunkers and, though these may not be children, it is apparent that the practice of putting the vulnerable in the front lines has resumed.
All this however makes it more important that the government, in collaboration with UNICEF and other appropriate agencies, sets in place plans for rehabilitation, that will cater not only to the children now in custody, or who may soon be released by the Karuna faction, but also those who might be able to escape from LTTE clutches.
A Committee set up by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights (IMCHR), which functions under the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, has developed plans for several rehabilitation Centres, and identified partners who can provide suitable care plus high level training to give former child combatants better opportunities for employment. Working together with UN agencies that move beyond the basic dependency needs of most victims of war seems the best option, and projects have been proposed to ILO and IOM, in addition to bilateral donors.
Providing a positive future is essential for these children who have been so badly abused in the past. If the current intransigent LTTE leadership changes, it is possible that a younger generation, some of whom suffered abuse as children as did many in the Karuna faction, will promote a change of approach that will open up opportunities they were denied. Sri Lanka hopes that the international community, some of which still continues despite all statistical evidence in a state of denial about LTTE brutality in this regard, will contribute to the change that is so urgently needed.
Courtesy: Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
Though the issue had been noticed previously, it became a focus of attention following the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. Child soldiers became the symbol as it were of continuing LTTE militarization. According to UNICEF data, there were a total of 6,183 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE in five years after the February 2002 CFA. Out of this 3,732 were boys and 2,451 were girls. Although these numbers appear high, these are still probably lower than the actual numbers. It is not possible to accurately determine the full extent of under-age recruitment for several reasons. Some parents are not aware of existing reporting mechanisms. Others fear reprisal and so do not report. Most families suffer from intimidation and threats if they contravene LTTE orders.
During the same period, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which ruled after examination on Ceasefire Violations, declared that there had been 1743 confirmed cases of child recruitment by the LTTE (out of 2062 allegations). There were none of course by the Government of Sri Lanka, which has never used child soldiers - though there was a single accusation of child recruitment made against the government, which was dismissed.
Though the Sri Lankan government has never used child soldiers, there have been allegations against it of complicity with former members of the LTTE in recruitment of child soldiers during the last few years. UNICEF has maintained a database of recruitment of children in the Eastern Province by the Karuna faction, which broke away from the LTTE in 2004. It should be noted that, immediately after the split, an estimated 1,800 children were released by the Karuna group. However, there was widespread re-recruitment of these children by the LTTE in mid-2004 and the Karuna faction then claimed that it was forced to take in children who were otherwise in danger.
UNICEF data confirmed a total of 351 children overall recruited by the Karuna faction, mostly boys. There is no confirmation at all of government involvement, and the only allegation made by UNICEF was of soldiers at a checkpoint waving through cadres including children. Investigation revealed that, when the matter was brought to the notice of authorities, disciplinary action had been taken against the soldiers involved. No other allegations were made and, though a UN official recorded assertions of complicity in a report in 2006, he did not respond to requests for evidence. Significantly, the UN Secretary General, in his own report, only mentioned allegations against government forces in a few instances, while categorically condemning the LTTE for several instances of child recruitment and the Karuna faction in a few.
The government has tried to ensure release of all children held by the Karuna faction, and initially set a target date of 2007 for this. This was not achieved, but the number is only in double figures now, and these cases too should be resolved soon. One problem however, as became clear when arrangements were being made to take over several late last year, was the inadequacy of arrangements for rehabilitation. The Karuna faction had little faith in UNICEF, and this was understandable in the past, though recently with a new head of UNICEF plans for a productive partnership between government and UNICEF are in train.
Most recently, government has been able to instil confidence in the TMVP, the democratic political party into which the former Karuna faction has been transformed, with regard both to collaboration with UNICEF and general safety in the East, following the successful conduct of peaceful and pluralistic elections in the region. Two sets of former combatants have now been restored to their parents or to government custody for a rehabilitation programme, in which UNICEF has agreed to partner the government.
The failure of rehabilitation in collaboration with the LTTE
Unfortunately, following the Ceasefire Agreement, UNICEF thought it could work with the LTTE to rehabilitate former child soldiers. The then government accepted this position, in its anxiety to display commitment to the peace process, and these attitudes continued for several years despite continuing evidence of LTTE violations of the CFA.
Thus GOSL institutions such as the NCPA which has the mandate to uphold the protection rights enshrined in the CRC was left out of planning because they had advocated strongly against child recruitment, which led to strong objections to their involvement by the LTTE. Instead of the NCPA, the partner GOSL institution in rehabilitation projects was the Ministry of Social Welfare which was acceptable to the LTTE but without much experience in this field.
Though UNICEF continued to advocate against child recruitment with the LTTE and attempted to get them to honour their commitments to cease recruitment and release all child soldiers, this advocacy did not yield the desired outcome. As part of the Action Plan for Children, UNICEF in collaboration with the GOSL planned a mass media awareness campaign on child rights emphasizing advocacy against child recruitment. According to reports by UNICEF, the mass media campaign was indefinitely postponed since January 2004 as the LTTE did not approve of the key messages. It was subsequently not implemented.
More importantly, the demobilisation of already recruited child soldiers by the LTTE and the prevention of new recruits faced serious constraints. The programme on rehabilitation and reintegration which was planned by the GOSL in collaboration with UNICEF and the LTTE in 2003 was not effectively implemented. The LTTE agreed to the programme only on the basis that the main implementing agency was an NGO, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which was the only organisation acceptable to them. The GOSL was represented by the Ministry of Social Services at that time.
According to UNICEF as of 31 March 2006, the estimated number of children released was 1,614, out of which 173 had been sent to transit centres and 1,441 directly to their homes. UNICEF reported that the following activities took place1:
(a) A transit centre, managed by UNICEF in collaboration with the TRO, was opened up in Kilinochchi (October 2003). However, it functioned only for a few months. During these few months, UNICEF maintained a 24-hour presence at the transit centre with both national and international staff. However the centre did not continue to function as no children were released to the centre.
(b) UNICEF allocated resources for land, construction of the centres, supplies and equipment, furniture and recruitment of international and local staff. Two other transit centres were planned in Batticaloa and Trincomalee. These centres were never opened. Substantial resources were provided by UNICEF for both the Killinochchi and the other two centres. The main reason for the non-functioning of the centres was the non-release of child combatants by the LTTE. The very few children released did not justify the cost of running such transit centres.
(c) During the time period between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005, only 17 boys and 22 girls were released to the transit centre. During the same period, 269
were considered released from all districts in the North except Trincomalee District.
(d) Between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005, the Kilinochchi transit centre accommodated released children for 13 weeks. These released children from this transit centre have been reunited with their families.
(e) In December 2004, UNICEF met with senior level LTTE leaders to discuss the usage of the transit centres. Due to the limited number of children being released it was agreed that the Killinochchi transit centre should be reprogrammed for an alternate use.
(f) UNICEF withdrew all their support to the transit centre, including their staff by the end of December 2004.
(g) UNICEF continued to maintain the hope that the transit centres would be used to accommodate released children, should the LTTE release a sufficient number. However such plans were abandoned since there were too many unresolved issues related to such centres, relating to the type of staff employed to run the centre, how reunification occurs, rehabilitation of child combatants and the quality and access to psychosocial therapy they could hope to obtain.
Other absurdities on the part of UNICEF included the enthusiasm of its Head for the commitment of the LTTE, as late as 2007, to release children under 17. When it was pointed out that 18 was the lower limit, she remarked that the LTTE had told her it needed to introduce new legislation for this purpose, since the limit on its existing law was 17. When it was pointed out that the LTTE could not legislate, she apologized, and referred to regulations. It was clear that she had been totally taken in by LTTE masquerades as to its intentions.
The importance attached by the LTTE to continuing use of child soldiers is apparent from its attempt to remove the topic from discussion at the last sets of peace negotiations held under the CFA in 2006. At a meeting with the Norwegian ambassador held in March 2006, in preparation for negotiations in April, they 'insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the parameters of the CFA, and should not be part of the agenda at the next round of talks...Mr Bratskar has pointed out that the CFA does mention of the abductions. Since a child cannot voluntarily join the LTTE military force, all recruitment will have to be treated as abduction. He had also argued that looking at the history of the six rounds of talks, there is an acknowledgment that recruitment should not be continued, and that continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level.'
After this exchange, the LTTE refused to go to talks in April. In June they went to Oslo but refused to talk. Finally in October they did talk for one day, but not on the second. Though the issue of child soldiers was not the only one they were diffident about, clearly they felt very uncomfortable when it was on the table.
Future Plans
It is apparent now that no reliance can be placed on the LTTE with regard to child soldiers. Recently a large proportion of young girls have been found amongst the dead in LTTE bunkers and, though these may not be children, it is apparent that the practice of putting the vulnerable in the front lines has resumed.
All this however makes it more important that the government, in collaboration with UNICEF and other appropriate agencies, sets in place plans for rehabilitation, that will cater not only to the children now in custody, or who may soon be released by the Karuna faction, but also those who might be able to escape from LTTE clutches.
A Committee set up by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights (IMCHR), which functions under the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, has developed plans for several rehabilitation Centres, and identified partners who can provide suitable care plus high level training to give former child combatants better opportunities for employment. Working together with UN agencies that move beyond the basic dependency needs of most victims of war seems the best option, and projects have been proposed to ILO and IOM, in addition to bilateral donors.
Providing a positive future is essential for these children who have been so badly abused in the past. If the current intransigent LTTE leadership changes, it is possible that a younger generation, some of whom suffered abuse as children as did many in the Karuna faction, will promote a change of approach that will open up opportunities they were denied. Sri Lanka hopes that the international community, some of which still continues despite all statistical evidence in a state of denial about LTTE brutality in this regard, will contribute to the change that is so urgently needed.
Courtesy: Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP)
2 TMVP members gunned down by unidentified gunmen - Kaththankudi
Two TMVP (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal) members were gunned down by unidentified gunmen in Kaththankudi town today, May 22. The victims were identified as Shanthan, the party's chief organizer of Kaththankudi, and Parasuraman, sources said.
According to available information the victims were riding a motorbike when they were shot by the gunmen in front of the Kaththankudi bus stand around 11.55 a.m.
Two more civilians who received injuries in this shooting incident were also admitted to the Batticaloa hospital, sources further said.
The TMVP was formed as a Tamil political party by the former eastern leader of the LTTE, Karuna Amman. Since then the party members have been fighting for survival against violence unleashed on them by the LTTE terrorists as well as the hateful propaganda campaigns engineered by pro-terror NGO activists
According to available information the victims were riding a motorbike when they were shot by the gunmen in front of the Kaththankudi bus stand around 11.55 a.m.
Two more civilians who received injuries in this shooting incident were also admitted to the Batticaloa hospital, sources further said.
The TMVP was formed as a Tamil political party by the former eastern leader of the LTTE, Karuna Amman. Since then the party members have been fighting for survival against violence unleashed on them by the LTTE terrorists as well as the hateful propaganda campaigns engineered by pro-terror NGO activists
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