Underage child recruitment on the increase
THE Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is deeply concerned to note
the dramatic increase in child recruitment by the LTTE reported from our
offices in the North and East.
Despite the recent Security Council Resolution on Children and Armed
Conflict adopted on July 26, 2005, and the decline in numbers of
underage recruits post-tsunami, recent reports indicate that the LTTE is
again recruiting significant number of children.
At the annual session held in Geneva of the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights in April this year, the Chairperson noted that
recruitment numbers had gone down. We now regret to inform the public
that there has been a disturbing increase in the numbers of underage
recruits.
Under International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law to which
Sri Lanka is a party and Customary International Law, the recruitment of
children into armed conflict is prohibited. It is first and foremost
recognised to be a violation of child rights, human rights and human
dignity.
Under international law, eighteen is set as the minimum age for all
participation in hostilities, and any recruitment or use of children
under the age of fifteen is considered a war crime.
This standard is outlined in Article 38 of the 1989 Convention on the
Rights of the Child, the Optional protocol to the Convention on the
Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts,
the Geneva Conventions and their Optional Protocols, and the 1999
Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which prohibits the
forced recruitment of children under the age of eighteen for use in
armed conflict as one of the worst forms of child labour.
The international commitment to ending underage recruitment was again
reinforced in July 2005 with the adoption of Security Council Resolution
1612 (2005) of 26 July 2005 on children and armed conflict.
The Resolution strongly condemns the recruitment and use of child
soldiers by parties to armed conflict.
The Resolution also recalls the responsibilities of States to end
impunity and stresses the primary role of national governments in
providing effective protection and relief to all children affected by
armed conflict.
The Resolution requests that the Secretary-General immediately
implement a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the issue. The
Security Council unanimously adopted the Resolution and established a
Working Group to which the Mechanism will report.
The Council underlined that such a mechanism, initially proposed by
the Secretary-General in his report on children and armed conflict of
February 9 will collect and provide timely, objective, accurate and
reliable information of the recruitment and use of child soldiers in
violation of applicable international law.
Additionally, it will provide information on other violations and
abuses committed against children affected by armed conflict, and must
operate with the participation of, and in cooperation with, national
government and relevant United Nations and civil society actors.
The Resolution reaffirms five previous resolutions on this subject.
The previous Special Representative to the Secretary General, Mr. Olara
Otunno has issued a press statement declaring this to be a new era of
application in combating the use of children in armed conflict.
As well as the international framework outlined above that is in
place to protect the rights of the child, there have been national
developments in Sri Lanka that have contributed to the protection of
children and the formal commitment to ending underage recruitment.
In June 2003, the GoSL and the LTTE both signed an Action Plan for
Children Affected by War. The Action Plan included a commitment by the
LTTE to end child recruitment, whether voluntary or through coercion.
Despite this and other promises made by the LTTE to end underage
recruitment and to release those children already recruited, the Human
Rights Commission is deeply concerned that documented evidence of
underage recruitment has continued, and is on the rise.
Reports from Regional Offices of the Commissions, the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), and NGOs in the North and East, point to an
increase in recruitment in the last few months.
In 2005, the Human Rights Commission has received 141 reports of
child recruitment at its Regional Offices of Jaffna, Vavuniya,
Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Kalmunai. Of those reports, there were at
least 25 children aged 15 and under (the youngest reported to be 11
years to age).
UNICEF, as of July 31, 2005 has documented 5,081 cases of underage
recruitment. (Including re-recruitment following the defection of
Colonel Karuna in 2004 and the release of 2,437 recruits) since the
signing of the cease-fire agreement.
The LTTE formally released 1,480 children to UNICEF during this time.
Of the cases registered by UNICEF, 1,209 are outstanding as of July
2005. Recent reports from the East show a dramatic increase in child
recruitment particularly during the temple festivals.
UNICEF reports that in July, there were nearly double the numbers of
reports of underage recruitment than in the month of June.
There were 59 cases reported in June, whereas the numbers increased
to 111 reports in July. Batticaloa in particular has seen a substantial
increase in the number of reported cases, of both recruitment and
re-recruitment, with 63 cases reported as compared with the 18 reported
cases in June.
It is not possible to know the full extent of the problem of underage
recruitment. Not all parents are aware of existing reporting mechanisms
and in some known cases the parents have not officially reported to the
Human Rights Commission or to UNICEF due to fear of reprisal.
The figures available do not therefore provide an accurate estimation
of the extent of recruitment. Although the numbers are uncertain, it is
clear that child recruitment is a fundamental violation of human rights
and international law, and it is therefore unacceptable to have any
cases at all.
In addition, the Human Rights Commission is extremely concerned to
note the lack of protection for LTTE runaways who surrender to the
security forces.
Children who have been released or have run away are in a vulnerable
position and in need of protection. HRC has received repots that
children are regularly harassed and when taken into custody, are
sometimes subjected to repeated questioning and videotaping.
The Human Rights Commission is also gravely concerned by the failure
to determine the identity of those responsible for the events at the
Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre that left 27 dead and 14 injured, some
seriously on October 25, 2000.
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka decision on May 27, 2005 acquitted the
four accused convicted by the Trial-at-Bar of the High Court on charges
of the murder of 27 inmates and attempted murder of 14 others.
The majority of the victims were children and former LTTE cadre. The
police and judiciary must take all necessary steps in identifying the
perpetrators of this atrocity, and bring them to justice. The Human
Rights Commission has requested two leading lawyers to study the
evidence in the case and to recommend a course of action.
In accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, these
children should be seen as "victims" and "survivors" of the conflict and
must be protected and supported for return and reintegration into
society.
The Government of Sri Lanka must, in accordance with provisions of
the relevant international conventions, take all necessary measures to
provide protection and humane treatment to all children affected by
armed conflict, including released child soldiers, runaways, and
children who have surrendered to the police or armed forces.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, recognising the commitment
of both the International Community and National actors to the
comprehensive protection of children in armed conflict, calls for
immediate action from all parties to end the recruitment of children to
armed groups, and to effectively address the impact of armed conflict on
children.
To this end it is imperative that priority is given to ceasing
recruitment, the return of children to their families, and to the
protection and humane treatment of underage LTTE cadres who have run
away or have surrendered to government forces.
In light of the serious and continuing nature of reports of underage
recruitment, the Human Rights Commission will be writing to the Foreign
Secretary to invite former UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Karin Sham
Poo of Norway, the current acting Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, to conduct a visit to
Sri Lanka in order to report on the progress of the Plan of Action and
to submit her findings to the United Nations Security Council and all
relevant parties.
(Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka) |