Paris Commitment, child soldiers and Tiger terrorists

AUSTRALIA: The Commitment given in Paris should be followed up effectively. Ignoring of the LTTE activities in the West is one of the major reasons which beefs up the terrorist outfit, said Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc. (SPUR) in news release.

It said: We write to thank you for adopting the Paris Commitments, another worthy step to put a complete stop to the zero -tolerance issue of child soldiers.

The Ministers who gathered in Paris reaffirming their collective concern at the plight of these children committed to the following among other measures.

1. To spare no effort to end the unlawful recruitment and use of children by armed forces or groups in all regions of the world.

2. To make every effort to uphold and apply the Paris principles wherever possible in political, diplomatic, humanitarian, technical assistance and funding roles.

3. To adhere to the principle that the release of all children recruited or used contrary to international law by armed forces or groups shall be sought unconditionally at all times.

4. To fight against impunity, and to effectively investigate and prosecute those persons who have unlawfully recruited children under 18 years into armed forces or groups.

5. To use all available means to support monitoring and reporting efforts at the national, regional and international levels on violation of child rights.

6. To fully cooperate with the implementation of targeted measures taken by the Security Council against parties to an armed conflict which unlawfully recruit or use children.

7. To ensure that armed forces or groups having recruited or used children unlawfully are not allowed to secure advantages during peace negotiations and security sector reforms.

As you are aware, one of the organisations violating the rights of the children is the LTTE also known as Tiger terrorists operating in Sri Lanka. In spite of studies completed and measures proposed by UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, Amnesty International etc, the LTTE continues to recruit Children as Soldiers.

In keeping with the Paris Commitments and the UN Resolutions on child soldiers, it is absolutely necessary to consider enforcing the declared objectives. In the case of the Tamil Tigers they have a history of using child soldiers as cannon fodder in the clashes with the Sri Lankan Forces.

The LTTE proceeded on a recruitment drive and an abduction binge to beef up their cadres depleted by last tsunami. UNICEF has stated that more than 1600 children have been abducted or conscripted to join the LTTE from tsunami relief camps.

Since signing of the Ceasefire Agreement with the then government in 2002, the LTTE has recruited nearly 3,500 children according to authoritative human rights organizations. There are stories in the Save the Children reports of molestation of both young boys and girls who are in LTTE captivity.

Besides, the LTTE has openly rebuffed the efforts of UN Secretary General’s special envoy, Olara Otunu to halt this war crime. This wilful rejection of the UN agreement by the LTTE questioned the will of the UN to implement its own resolutions.

Therefore, to meet the objectives of all nations who endorsed the Paris Commitments, it is necessary to take effective action to compel organizations such as the LTTE to stop recruitment of child soldiers and provide opportunities for the existing child soldiers to free themselves and lead a normal life.

The biggest obstacle to achieve the Paris participants’ objectives in Sri Lanka is the intransigence of the Tigers who are kept alive by the funds received from the Western countries and some of the foreign funded NGOs.

To-date, in countries like the USA, Canada, the UK, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Australia and Malaysia, the LTTE activists and their front organizations such as TRO, TRRO, WTM, etc are engaged in fund collections.

The annual remittances to the LTTE from these countries are in the region of US$30- 50 million and 95% of the funds collected are used for the arms purchases to keep the terrorist war alive, unfortunately with the help of child soldier brigades.

The Tiger propaganda machinery eulogising LTTE terrorism and the achievements of the fighting cadres provides the impetus for the LTTE activists in the Western countries to swell their fund collections. The LTTE websites, newspapers, radio, TV channels operate from countries such as France, the UK, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, New Zeland and Australia.

In the final analysis, the sacred objectives of the Paris Commitments cannot be realised without the Western countries, South Africa and Malaysia taking steps to stop funding of the LTTE as well as clamping down on terrorist propaganda churned out in the Western capitals.

It is quite apparent that closing one’s eyes to the LTTE and their fronts will not put a halt to forcible child recruitment, and make it a willing partner to disband the child soldier brigades.

We request you as a party to the Paris Commitments of February 2007, to take urgent steps to starve the LTTE of Western funds and propaganda facilities to pressurise them to release nearly 8000 child soldiers they claim to have and to stop future recruitment. Let Paris Commitment 2007 be an unshakable commitment to the humanity.