Dr Kohona clears misconceptions about children, armed conflict

Underlying realities of child soldiers and armed conflict in Sri Lanka have been ignored by a report released by the US-based Conflict Dynamics International in an endeavor “to stoke up embers of a bitter past and politicize the issue of accountability related to child recruitment”, said Sri Lanka’s envoy to the United Nations Dr. Palitha Kohona at an open debate at the Security Council on July 12, the Asian Tribune website reports.

Dr Kohona stressed that the misinformation and distortions of the Conflict Dynamics International report feeds to the international elements to strengthen their manoeuvres to disrupt the Sri Lankan government’s initiation of reconciliation and consolidation of peace within the country since the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.

“In the final stages of the conflict, children were thrown up in large numbers by the LTTE as cannon fodder and more than one generation of children was sacrificed to realize a megalomaniac’s (referring to the LTTE leader Prabhakaran) dream,” he conceded. The website quotes Dr. Kohona as saying that the assertion of the Report of the Conflict Dynamics International that “individuals implicated in crimes against children in the area of armed conflict continue to hold high-government positions is sadly incomplete and misleading. The government had consistently encouraged former armed groups to denounce violence and enter the democratic process as a part of the reconciliation effort.”

He also elaborated on the government’s successful attempts at driving ex-LTTE cadres towards democratic politics.