Defence Secretary welcomes UN decision, calls for action against
LTTE rump
Defence and Urban Development Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the
global community should realise that the contentious issue of child
soldiers could never have been resolved if the LTTE had retained its
fighting capability.
The Defence Secretary expressed these views responding to the United
Nations Security Council Working group on Children and Armed Conflict
closing its dossier on Sri Lanka after deciding that children in armed
conflict were no longer an issue.
Secretary Gotabaya
Rajapaksa |
In spite of an unprecedented agreement between the UN and the LTTE,
in 1998, to stop using children in combat, the LTTE continued to use
children in combat to the very end. Colombo based diplomatic missions,
including the UN were aware of efforts to save children from the LTTE.
LTTE cadres who surrendered to the Security Forces said the LTTE
recruited children at gun point even in February 2009, three months
before the conclusion of the conflict.
The Working Group adopted the ‘Draft Conclusions on the situation of
children and armed conflict in Sri Lanka’ on December 19, 2012.
Defence Secretary Rajapaksa pointed out that those wanting to haul
Sri Lanka before an international war crimes tribunal for eradicating
the LTTE, had brazenly encouraged the LTTE’s use of child soldiers in
combat.
“In fact, the images of child soldiers had been of great propaganda
value to those promoting the LTTE, both here and abroad,” the Defence
Secretary said.
He called for stringent action against those who encouraged the use
of child soldiers. Prior to adopting the Draft Conclusions, the Working
Group considered the report of the Secretary-General on Children and
Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka, and its recommendations in accordance with
Security Council resolutions.
The UN in June 2012 de-listed Sri Lanka from the United Nations
Secretary-General’s ‘List of Shame’ that lists countries where children
are involved in armed conflict acknowledging that Sri Lanka
“successfully completed Security Council-mandated programmes to end the
recruitment and use of children.
The Defence Secretary said Australian born Adele married to former
LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham actively promoted the forcible
conscription of children by the LTTE, which on its own released pictures
of Adele with LTTE combatants in the Vanni during the height of the
conflict.
He said she now lived a quiet life in the UK. He said the
Balasinghams had been involved with the LTTE since the very outset.
Commenting on the post-war national reconciliation process, Defence
Secretary Rajapaksa said the government had given child combatants an
opportunity to resume education.
“Even the rehabilitation process was nearing completion,” the Defence
Secretary said urging the global community to give Sri Lanka the credit
it deserved for eradicating terrorism.
The Defence Secretary recalled how a comprehensive study undertaken
by the UNICEF at the end of the conflict revealed the forcible
conscription of children by the LTTE. The UNICEF report was based on
information provided by parents of those children abducted by the LTTE
during the conflict, he said. One-time UNICEF Executive Director in
Colombo Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne and retired career diplomat John
Gunaratne told the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)
how Sri Lanka’s effort to include child soldiers in the CFA agenda had
been ignored.
Courtesy: defence.lk
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