The Hindu : International : Sri Lanka lauds U.N. move on child soldiers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 25, 2005

International

International

Sri Lanka lauds U.N. move on child soldiers

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, FEB. 24. Sri Lanka yesterday endorsed the recommendations of the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for targeted measures including sanctions by the Security Council against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other groups for continued child recruitment.

Pointing out that that the LTTE had "for many years been engaged in recruiting children for armed conflict," Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the U.N., Bernard Goonatilleke, told the Security Council at an open debate that "despite solemn undertakings" the LTTE had "continued the practice of recruiting thousands of children, in most cases by force."

In addition, it had also engaged in "re-recruiting those who had been released and even those who had escaped from training camps, through threats, intimidation and physical attacks on the children as well as their family members."

The number of under-aged recruitment by the LTTE, he said, stood at 4,811, with 1,402 outstanding cases as of January 31, this year.

Lauding the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative, Olara Ottunu, for a "commendable job," Mr. Goonatilleke said despite the increased awareness, there was "no commensurate improvement in the ground situation" and the "plight of the children remain serious." Elaborating on the position, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar told The Hindu that the island-nation "has been in the forefront of the campaigning against recruitment of child solders for many years."

Sri Lanka, he pointed out, had "invited Mr. Ottunu to come here, which he did in 1998 to have discussions with the LTTE, with a view to obtaining assurances from them that they would cease that abhorrent practice." Subsequently, "it became clear over the years that they were not abiding by the assurances they gave and therefore their being named in Secretary-General's report to the Security Council is the logical outcome of their failure to honour the obligations they enter into," he said. "It is hoped that even now they will begin to desist from that practice, which has been universally condemned."

In related development, Mr. Ottunu, at a press conference in New York yesterday said the LTTE had written to him notifying their "readiness to enter into dialogue, using the framework of the monitoring and reporting mechanism."

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