Child Rights
Sri Lanka
(TCHR is an independent Human Rights organisation – not affiliated to any Tamil Federation or Association)
An Appeal to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Un appel à Nations Unies Commission des droits de l'homme
Una Ilamada a Naciones Unidas Comisión de Derechos Humanos
62 Session / Sesiones
March 2006
LOGO
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established in 1990)
Tamil
Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre
Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro
Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established
in 1990)
Website : www.tchr.net
TCHR participation in United Nations World conferences and other meetings
* A meeting was held on 7 March 2006, in the European Parliament – titled "EU contribution to the peace process in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) and Mr. Robert Evans, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.
* The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) officially accredited to participate in the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society – WSIS in Tunisia, 16 – 18 November 2005.
* The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), officially participated in the NGO forum of the UN World Conference Against Racism – WCAR in Durban, South Africa, from 28 August to 1 September 2001. TCHR held an information stall including an exhibition at the forum. The TCHR representatives also attended the main WCAR conference held in Durban, 31 August to 7 September 2001.
(http://www.tchr.net/reports_wcar_detail.htm)
* A meeting was held on 14 October 1998, in the European Parliament – titled "Press censorship in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) and Ms. Anita Pollack, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.
*
In 1993, the TCHR held an information stall and a
photo exhibition on human rights violations, in
the United Nations 2nd World
Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria, from
14-25 June.
*
TCHR has participated in meetings of Treaty bodies
and has submitted reports to the same.
Fact
finding missions to the North East of the Island of Sri Lanka
*
May 2003
(http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003.htm)
*
December 2003 – addendum report
(http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003add.htm)
*
July-August
2004
(http://www.tchr.net/reports_visite_2004.htm)
Head
Office
9, rue des
Peupliers
95140 - Garges les
Gonesse
FRANCE
Email :
tchrgs@hotmail.com
tchrdip@hotmail.com
Fax : + 33 - 1
– 42 67 54 36
Branches
Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands,
United Kingdom
Contents
Appeal 03
Rights of the Child 04
Rights of the child in International Law 05
The Sri Lanka government’s stance 06
Optional Protocol on children in armed conflicts (OP/AC)
Fact book on Global Sexual
Exploitation
07
100,000 children aged 6 to 14 kept in brothels in Sri Lanka 08
10,000 to 12,000 children are being prostituted in Sri Lanka
60 per cent of youth are drug
addicts
Child
trafficking and Labour in Sri
Lanka
250,000 between 500,000 child labourers in Sri Lanka 09
150,000 children employed as servants
Trafficking in Persons
More than 500 children missing after Tsunami
Women, children sexually abused after
tsunami
10
UN Special Rapporteur on children 11
Child Abuse and Child Prostitution in Sri Lanka
Pedophiles' Paradise
10,000 Child prostitutes in Sri Lanka 12
20,000 to 30,000 Child prostitutes in Sri Lanka
Youth prostitution on the rise
Complaints of sexual offences against CHILDREN received by police
One out of 10 children sexually abused
Child abuser's sex activities confirmed
Sri Lanka, hotbed for sexual exploitation of children 13
Sri Lanka notorious destination for homosexual paedophiles
40,000 child prostitutes, more than half of them boys
Beach boys –carriers of HIV/AIDS
Fighting child prostitution in Sri Lanka
Sickening - News of the World investigated 14
Rapists, abusers prey on disaster victims 15
Tsunami Unexpectedly Aids Child Sex Trade
Many Children still abused and neglected in Sri Lanka 16
Stemming child sexual abuse: NCPA's role 17
US State Department – Country report 2002, 2004 & 2005 2,070 complaints of violent crimes against children 18
2,000 child prostitutes in the country
7,000 boys aged 15-18 years are self-employed prostitutes
BBC World Service
'100 kids abused daily' in Sri Lanka – BBC 19
The year the children suffered – BBC
Sri Lanka 'Child abuse' arrests - BBC
Impact of 20 years of war on the Tamil children
50,000 children out of school in the affected region 20
Jaffna children suffer trauma – BBC
Mostly children killed
Navalay Church massacre 21
Kumarapuram Massacre 22
A school bombed in Jaffna - 42 children killed
Massacre of Tamil youths in a detention Centre 23
136,000 IDPs are children in the North-East 24
270,000 displaced children
Call to increased action for Sri Lanka's war affected children
Survey reveals alarming malnutrition in North East
Out of 16,000 children, only a quarter found properly nourished
16% of tsunami affected children malnourished 25
Save the Tamil Children of Sri Lanka
Caring for the children affected by war
Child soldiers
Security forces encourage 15 year old children to join the
army
26
Children under 18 in Home Guard duty and armed groups
Sri Lanka military lists 70,369 soldiers as
deserters
Child soldiers in the Sri Lanka
military
27
Child soldiers speak to the
media
Paramilitary recruits underage
boys
28
Child soldier issue is prioritised
"Decrease in recruitment and a rise in children being
released"
29
UNICEF expressed satisfaction
Some of the many children released
Significant decrease in child recruitment
Kanuna’s
cadre
TCHR report Dec
2004
30
Child soldiers, labour, prostitution and trafficking have similar causes
Human Rights Watch and its report on Sri Lanka 31
Political lobby in the Western cities
Two Americans kidnapped in Jaffna
Annexes
Child Soldiers and the Law - A Survey - Nadesan Satyendra
32
Child
Soldiers? What Child
Soldiers?
34
Child Recruitment 35
UNICEF and Underage Recruitment 37
Princeton Prof. says 'no' to Sri Lanka Child Monks 39
The Chairperson 27 March 2006
Members and Delegates - 62nd Session
United Nations Commission on Human Rights
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.
Distinguished Sirs / Mesdames,
Since TCHR was established, we have regularly submitted reports, statements and press releases on violations of human rights, especially on thematic issues. Child rights are no exception to this. We have defended the rights of children without discrimination – the fundamental Rights of the Child, rights affected by Child labour, Child prostitution and the issue of Child soldiers.
International law enshrines standards for excellent protection of the Rights of the Child. The UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the rights of the Child and its optional protocols and other covenants and conventions contain crucial articles protecting these rights.
Out of one hundred and ninety-one member states in the United Nations, not many have signed and ratified all the conventions, covenants and optional protocols. Some have signed, with reservations to certain articles but have never ratified, thereby preventing UN scrutiny.
Countries in conflict have their own political agenda with regard to Child rights. They use certain instruments for their political lobby and ignore others. Thereby the Child rights continue to be neglected in those countries.
As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, Child rights suffer pathetically at the hands of politicians. Instruments are used selectively and the international community, international NGOs, local NGOs and others are smartly manipulated by the government of Sri Lanka to promote it agenda.
A typical example of this are the two Optional Protocols (OP) to the Convention on the rights of the Child (CRC): (1) OP CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflicts (2) OP CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Both optional protocols were adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession on 25 May 2000. Sri Lanka signed the first OP - on the involvement of children in armed conflicts - on 21 August 2000 and ratified it on 08 September 2000, whereas the second OP – on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography was signed on 08 May 2002 but has never been ratified until today.
When we look at the reality of the situation in Sri Lanka, it is very sad to note that Sri Lanka is known as "Paradise for Paedophiles". According to media and NGOs, nearly 100,000 Children are involved in child prostitution in Sri Lanka. But there is no outcry by the government and some NGOs because this business generates massive income in foreign currency. Also as this business is run by those who have strong links with senior government officials, the problem in not raised and pressure is not exerted on Sri Lanka to ratify the "Optional Protocol on child prostitution and child pornography".
The Children in this business in the South, along the beaches are badly affected by HIV and various venereal diseases. This situation has persisted in Sri Lanka for many years.
Another important Children’s rights issue is Child Labour. According to various media and specialised organisations, it is estimated that there is a minimum of 150,000 child labourers in Sri Lanka.
At the same time, more than 110,000 Sri Lankan army deserters have caused another problem affecting children in the South. As the government did not find suitable replacements for these army deserters, the army started recruiting under age school children in the South with bogus birth certificates. It is important to note that when the optional protocol on children in armed conflict was initiated, Sri Lanka was one of the countries which lobbied heavily for the recruiting age for the State to be fifteen years old.
The matter of the non-state party to the conflict recruiting those of the same age has been repeatedly and strongly raised by the international community, as a child soldier issue. Credible reports have announced that the recruiting has been stopped.
Thousands and thousands of children in the NorthEast have been affected by the war: those who have been displaced, missed their schooling, suffered malnutrition, been traumatised by bombings and shellings, lost their parents, maimed by land-mines, disabled – all are in Children’s homes and receive no government help. These well-run children’s homes are helped purely by the Tamil diaspora.
These figures and facts have been systematically hidden from the international community by the government Sri Lanka. The attached report gives facts and figures on Child rights in Sri Lanka.
We respectfully urge you, the Chair and distinguished members and delegates of the Commission to seriously consider our appeal, and to take strong and immediate action. We kindly request you to urge the Sri Lanka government to sign and ratify the CRC’s Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, child prostitution and child pornography. We recommend that the Special Rapporteur with that mandate, carry out a field mission to Sri Lanka and report on the situation.
Thank you
S. V. Kirubaharan
General Secretary
Rights of the Child
Globally,
there are several serious problems affecting the human rights of children,
inflicting terrible suffering. It is a strong indictment against the adult
world that despite Conventions and Declarations protecting children under
international law, the exploitation of children persists. Child labour, child
pornography and prostitution, child trafficking and the use of child soldiers
affect many children world-wide.
Child
labour is pervasive in many Asian countries
and others such as Turkey, involving the exploitation of children for monetary
gain. Working long hours for paltry pay often in horrendous health and safety
conditions, these children, from the poorest of families are sometimes main
earners of family income. Going to school is simply a far distant dream for
these children. The Millennium Goal of primary education for all children is an
important challenge facing many countries.
Child
pornography abuses the body of the Child for the
sexual gratification of inadequate, damaged adults and for financial gain. It
is pervasive in many countries. In certain countries children’s increased
access to the internet makes them vulnerable to preying adults whose intent is
to abuse and exploit them sexually. Through criminal investigations into
allegations of child abuse there are more offenders being caught and brought to
justice for these heinous crimes, but it remains a massive problem. Among the
Asian countries, Sri Lanka stands out as a country where child pornography is
rampant.
Child
prostitution may be linked to the former two problems
mentioned. The child’s very body becomes physically violated, his or her
privacy invaded in the most intimate and damaging ways, resulting in various
possible physical and psychological health problems. Child prostitution in
countries such as Thailand and Sri Lanka is widespread. Powerful forces are
involved in organising it or creating the environment in which it can thrive
unimpeded by vigilant child protection mechanisms.
Child
trafficking is defined as: “The recruitment, transportation,
transfer, harbouring or receipt of children by means of threat, force or
coercion for the purpose of sexual or commercial exploitation or domestic
servitude.” (UN 2000). Economically deprived children are lured into leaving
home, given false expectations of a job elsewhere to earn a living and/or to
support their own family. These hopes are soon dashed, when they are
incarcerated in a situation of slavery, cruelly forced to work for the economic
gain of their captors. International networks of traffickers operate with
cunning. New international law instruments on trafficking now give increased
leverage to those challenging these exploiters. Child trafficking has even
involved children affected by the tsunami, in South of Sri Lanka.
Child
soldiers. Children are involved in the military structures of
many countries and international work on children’s rights now includes the
issue of child soldiers, mostly in countries in Africa, but also including
other countries such as Sri Lanka and Peru. In Sierra Leone and Uganda children
are forcibly trained in mutilating and raping family members, and looting homes
within their own community. Much documentation exists on these horrific
practices.
In
Sri Lanka the child soldier issue is highly politicised, and needs to be
understood in the wider and more holistic context of the violation of the whole
range of children’s rights. The Sri Lanka government, responsible for grave and
systematic violations against Tamil children, has sought to cover these up with
misinformation and propaganda and has benefited from the collusion of the
unwitting international community which, since 1983, started supporting this
government without neutrality.
Even
with the support of the international community, the Sri Lankan government
could not suppress the Tamil resistance movement which has the mass support of
the people, including 22 Members of Parliament. Therefore the government
started raising the child soldier issue, with small groups which do not have
popular support and so-called human rights organisations, with the intention of
discrediting the resistance movement. We place the attached facts and figures
and details in this report, before the international organisations in order
that the TRUTH be seen of how the rights of the child are neglected in Sri
Lanka by the state and the international community.
In
this report we will consider violations of the Rights of the Child especially
in two major areas of concern: Child prostitution, existing in horrendous
proportions on tourist beaches in the South of the island and Children affected
by the armed conflict in the NorthEast.
We
will show how instruments of international human rights law protecting
children’s rights, have been used selectively by the Sri Lanka government, to
further suppress the Tamil people, rather than protecting the rights of the
children in the whole of the island. We will examine the follow-on response by
the international community, concerned about child rights, yet oblivious to the
real situation in Sri Lanka. When a government’s biased approach is accepted
unquestioningly, serious injustices occur regarding public perceptions of a
freedom movement struggling to protect its people, including its children, from
the onslaughts of a government well practised in genocide.
Rights of the child in International Law
Date signed Date ratified
Instrument of International Law by Sri Lanka by Sri Lanka
20 November 1989 (CRC)
Convention on the Rights of the Child 26 Jan 1990 12 Jul 1991
25 May 2000 (CRC-OPAC)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts 21 Aug 2000 08 Sep 2000
25 May 2000 (CRC-OPSC)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights 08 May 2002 Not ratified
of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child pornography
ILO Convention 182
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, (No. 182)1999 01 Mar. 2001
17 June 1999
Minimum Age Convention, (No. 138) 01 Feb. 2000
26 June 1973
Other international law
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 11 June 1980
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 11 June 1980
Optional protocoal I
Optional protocoal II 03 Oct. 1997
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) Not signed Not ratified
Ottawa Landmines Treaty Not signed Not ratified
Universal Declaration of Human Rights – UDHR
The Sri Lanka government’s stance on :
(1) Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts (OP/AC)
(2) Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OP/CP)
(1) OP/AC (2) OP/CP
Ratification Immediate No action
Propaganda Very strong Non
Campaign by Local media Very strong Nothing
Campaign by International NGOs Very strong Ignored
Action by local NGOs Politicised Ignored
Funding for the NGOs Very Good * Not encouraged
Number in Sri Lanka Exaggerated figures + 100,000
(Because of the Ethnic conflict)
The approach to this issue This is highly politicised in Massive Income Sri Lanka, to justify the generator through Killing of Tamil children the Tourist industry
* Many local and international NGOs working on the OP/AC are funded by Sri Lanka, in order to look after its own interests.
On Child Rights, the priorities of the Sri Lanka government are crystal clear from the above chart. The problem of Child prostitution has existed in Sri Lanka for a very long time and is extremely grave, as can be seen from the information given in this report. Yet Sri Lanka has not even started to address this problem by agreeing to meet international standards. Sri Lanka has not taken the Child prostitution issue seriously, because it generates income in this country through the Tourist industry.
On the other hand, the question of children in armed conflict is dealt with by addressing the issue immediately – not because of concerns for children in armed conflict (the OP deals with all affected children not just children involved in military) but in order to use this issue to create propaganda.
Optional Protocol on children in armed conflicts (OP/AC)
1 - It is very unfortunate that this optional protocol has not defined the "Child soldier".
2 – This optional protocol is more for the interests of the state than for the rights of children. For that reason the recruiting age for the state has been brought down to 15.
3 – According to this optional protocol, when a child is under 18 years old and joins the government forces, s/he is known as a legal soldier. If the same child joins a non-state force at the same age s/he becomes a child soldier. NGOs who depend on states for funding their projects have also agreed to this arrangement.
4 – There is no mention of Child soldiers being tested to find out their real age. Because states have manipulated this protocol in such a way, any recruit with a bogus Birth certificate claiming their age to be sixteen could be accepted legally.
Fact book on Global Sexual Exploitation
Sri Lanka
Trafficking
10,000
to 12,000 children from rural areas are trafficked and prostituted to
pedophiles by organized crime groups. ("Sri Lankan children for sale on
the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26
Oct 1997)
The
military and political situation in Sri Lanka has led to an increase in
migration, which has made women extremely vulnerable to trafficking for
prostitution. (Indrani Sinha, executive director, "Paper on Globalization
and Human Rights," SANLAAP)
Prostitution
In
India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, child marriage is accepted and
considered the best method to procure girls for prostitution. (Indrani Sinha,
SANLAAP India, "Paper on Globalization and Human Rights")
Prostitution
Tourism
Sri
Lanka is one of the favourite destinations of paedophile sex tourists from
Europe and the United States. ("Global law to punish sex tourists sought
by Britain and EU," The Indian Express, 21 November
1997)
5,000
to 30,000 Sri Lanka boys are used by Western pedophile sex tourists in Sri
Lanka. (Sri Lankan activists, Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening Screws
on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February 1998)
600
advertisements for Sri Lankan children, most boys, appeared on the Internet in
October 1997. Child care experts in Sri Lanka warned that child prostitution
was being promoted to foreigners on the Internet, making it one of the worst
countries for child abuse. Local middlemen, mostly from Europe are used to find
children of the required age for paedophiles, who then travel to Sri Lanka.
(BBC, 8 Nov 1997)
Policy
and Law
Sri
Lanka tightened laws on the exploitation of children, making paedophilia a
non-bail able offence, with the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and
victims entitled to compensation. (Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening
Screws on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February
1998)
In
1996 the government raised The age of consent from
12 to 16, and made prison sentences, ranging from 10 to 20 years, mandatory for
sex offenders. No arrests have been made. Campaigners criticise the moves
as "cosmetic". ("Sri Lankan children for sale
on the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997)
Official
Response and Action
Police
set up a national desk for child abuse. Eleven foreigners, mostly Europeans,
were arrested. Most have either been deported, jumped bail, or been given
minimal fines. (Julian West, "Sri Lankan children for sale on the
Internet," London Telegraph, 26 October
1997)
Case
Two
Europeans were deported to face trial in their own countries last year on
charges of being paedophiles under a law that allows extra-territorial
jurisdiction. (Sri Lankan activists, Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening
Screws on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February
1998)
Pornography
Sri
Lanka is a principal source of child pornography for the United States and
Europe. (Laura Lederer, "Sri Lankan children for sale on the
Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26
Oct 1997)
Swedish
police seized 300 hours of film showing Western men exploiting Sri Lankan
children in 1995. ("Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet,"
Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997) (Courtesy
: http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/srilank.htm)
100,000 children aged 6 to 14 kept in brothels in Sri Lanka
Although
it is nearly impossible to provide accurate statistics about the number of
children involved in prostitution, the examples below provide an overview of
the problem8
Sri Lanka: 100,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14 are kept in brothels and an additional 5,000 children between 10 and 18 are working in tourist areas. (Excerpt
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1498)
Child care workers estimate
10,000 to 12,000 children are being prostituted in Sri Lanka
Little information exists on the trafficking of persons in Sri Lanka. However, the presence of child prostitution and illegal immigration indicates a high probability of trafficking. Sri Lanka has a reputation as a pedophile’s paradise. In 1997, it was considered the principle source of child pornography for the United States and Europe. Child care workers in Sri Lanka estimate that between 10,000 and 12,000 children are being prostituted, many of whom were orphaned during the 14-year civil war. According to a 1996 study by End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, almost 30,000 boys are in prostitution in Sri Lanka. In addition to child prostitution, other forms of commercial sex are increasing. It is estimated that one-third of women and children in prostitution in Sri Lanka were trafficked into the country. (Excerpt - http://www.protectionproject.org/human_rights/countryreport/sri_lanka.htm)
60
per cent of youth are drug addicts
Sixty five percent
of those aged between 15-35 in the lower income groups are involved in
substance abuse said R.K.P. Rajapakse, programme coordinators for Sri Lanka
Anti Narcotics Bureau - SLANA. "The main reasons for this, according to
the recent studies, is unemployment, low level of education, poverty and high
population density; particular in the Western Province," Rajapakse said. (Excerpts
– Sunday Leader, 17 July 2005)
* * * * *
Child trafficking and Labour
in Sri Lanka
250,000 between 500,000 child labourers in Sri Lanka
24. Another aspect of poverty is the incidence of child labour. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that there are between 250,000 and 500,000 child labourers in Sri Lanka today4 . The most common forms of child labour are domestic employment (i.e. as household servants), involuntary begging on the streets, child prostitution, working in the informal sector, in the gemstones industry and in sectors such as tourism and fishing. It has been estimated by the Government and by international organizations such as the ILO and United Nations Children’s Fund that there are 30,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka. The problem of child labour is especially prevalent in the plantation sector. In 1997, the total resident labour force of the plantation sector was estimated at 305,000 of which 33,000 (or 11 percent) were child labourers below 14 years of age.
(http://www.adb.org/Documents/CAPs/SRI/0102.asp)
150,000 children employed as servants
(http://www.clublk.us/postp53670.html - Posted: Apr Thu 28, 2005 6:49 pm)
"Sri Lanka recorded nearly 150,000 children employed
as servants and workers in homes and hotels around the country nearly three
years back" .
"According to UNICEF and ILO statistics, there are
nearly 40,000 child prostitutes in the country while 5,000 to 30,000 Sri Lankan
boys are used by Western paedophile sex tourists in Sri Lanka. Nearly 10,000 to
12,000 children from rural areas are trafficked and prostituted to paedophiles
by organised crime groups. "
Trafficking in Persons
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002
Released on March 31, 2003
Sri Lanka
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, Sri Lanka is a country of origin and destination for trafficked persons, primarily women and children for the purposes of forced labour, and for sexual exploitation. Sri Lankan women travel to Middle Eastern countries to work as domestics and some have reported being forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. A small number of Thai, Russian, and Chinese women have been trafficked to Sri Lanka for purposes of sexual exploitation. Some Sri Lankan children are trafficked internally to work as domestics and for sexual exploitation. There were unconfirmed reports that boys were trafficked to the Middle East as camel jockeys. (Excerpts - http://www.state.gov)
More than 500 children missing after Tsunami
Parents in Hambantota, Thangalle, Galle and Mahavali are looking for more than 500 children who escaped from the Tsunami disaster and living in various centres. A complaint has been made at Child care centre.
According to Prof Harendra Silva not a single child has been traced. The parents have said these children are being hidden for child slavery and prostitution. (Puthinam 27 May 2005)
Women, children sexually
abused after tsunami
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Deprived of the
safety of their homes, hundreds of thousands of women and children in the
tsunami refugee camps in southern Sri Lanka live in absolute fear of sexual
abuse.
Rising
incidents of sexual assault on displaced women and children has become a
serious problem for the authorities and the aid agencies engaged in relief
work.
"In
most camps in southern Sri Lanka, women and children are scared to step out of
their shelter after dusk," said a Western aid worker. "There have
been incidents of sexual assault on young women and children in some
camps."
Camp
residents and aid workers said that most of the sexual assaults took place when
the victim left the shelter in darkness either to find food or for some urgent
work.
"Women
and children in these camps are afraid to go out and fetch water from the tank
provided by us," said the aid worker. "They want protection from the
people who are abusing women and children, and it is the duty of the
state."
There
are military personnel in uniforms of all colours, from nations engaged in
relief operations. Even their presence has not reduced the number of attacks.
These soldiers do not provide security in the camps; they supply relief. The
lax security of the camps has come as a boon to the rapists.
"The
soldiers are not here all the time to protect us, so I do not go out of the
shelter after sunset," said 17-year-old Sriyani, who now lives in a camp
in the southern Galle district. "I have heard that many women and girls
have been attacked and raped, so it is better to stay inside till sunrise even
if I have to sleep on an empty stomach."
A
women's rights organization, the Women and Media Collective, conducted a
weeklong survey of the camps and its reports indicated that there was no safety
or security arrangement made for the camps.
"We
have received reports of incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation and physical
abuse of women and girls in the course of unsupervised rescue operations and
while residing in the temporary shelters particularly in the south," the
Women and Media Collective said in a statement.
At
least one case of gang rape has been registered with the police in the southern
Galle district, one of the worst-hit areas of the country. The victim was
admitted to the district hospital.
"I
was shocked to hear that a woman was gang raped," said another relief
worker of an international organization. "I could never imagine that these
people, who have lost their homes can still stoop to such a low level and abuse
women and children, who are homeless like them."
The
police and the national child protection authority have begun working with
non-governmental organizations to address the problem and collect details of
the assaults reported so far.
"We
have been getting reports of sexual abuse and harassment of women and girls who
are in the camps and also during the rescue operation immediately after the
tsunami hit us," said Sepali Kotegoda of Women and Media Collective.
"We do know that complaints of sexual harassment and abuse have been made
to the police in the south."
Teams
are being sent to police stations in these areas to collect details. They will
also visit the camps and get more information by talking to women, Kotegoda
said.
Non-governmental
organizations say that it would not be possible to get statistics of rape and
sexual assaults in the camps and villages around them, as many victims do not
report to the police fearing social stigma.
Additionally,
there is great concern by authorities in the region for the tens of thousands
of children who have orphaned by the tsunami. Authorities and relief agencies
fear many of them may be prone to kidnapping to be "sold" for sexual
favours.
United Nations Special Rapporteur
Report on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
E/CN.4/2002/88 4 February 2002
Sri Lanka
Communication sent
29 On 8 October 2001, the Special Rapporteur transmitted an urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, including its causes and consequences, concerning an allegation of slavery involving Ms. Palanithami Sasikala. According to the information received, Ms. Palanithami Sasikala was kidnapped on 28 September 1998 from her home on Vishu Kovil Road, Pethalai Valaichenai, by her uncle, Mr. Mudaliar Velupillai. He allegedly took her to his house and then handed her over to Mr. HHABS Opatha, an army officer attached to the Kayankeney Army Camp, Valaichenai, Batticaloa. Mr. Opatha then reportedly took Ms. Palanithami Sasikala to his mother’s house in Dambulla. Since then, she has reportedly been forced to work as an unpaid domestic aid, and has not been allowed to attend school. It has been further reported that on 2 July 2001, her family filed a complaint with the Kalumunai police, who asked Mr. Opatha to report to the station, which he did. However, it is reported that Ms. Palanithami Sasikala was not released. The two Special Rapporteurs were also informed that although the family had filed another complaint, no action had yet been taken by the authorities.
Communication received
30 By letter dated 20 December 2001, the Government of Sri Lanka informed the Special Rapporteur about the case of Ms. Palanithambi Sasikaran. The Government reported that an investigation had been initiated after a complaint was made to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka by an NGO, Home for Human Rights, on behalf of Ms. Palanithambi Sasikaran. According to the investigations, Ms. Palanithambi Sasikaran was handed over to Mr. Opatha of the Sri Lankan army by her grandfather when she was 12 years old and SL Rs 1,000/- per month was given to the grandfather for about one and a half years. According to the Government, there was consensus that the child was not being kept by Mr. Opatha or his mother forcibly. Furthermore, the inquiry did not show any evidence that Mr. Opatha took the child using his authority as an officer of the army. The Government further stated that the only issue, if any, to be examined would be the question of custody of the child.
* * * * *
Child Abuse and
Child Prostitution in Sri Lanka
Pedophiles' Paradise
10,000 Child prostitutes in Sri Lanka
UNICEF estimates that over half of the 30,000 child sex workers in Sri Lanka are boys. Hope for the Nations, a non-profit organization working in Asia goes further to say that as many as 30,000 boys are involved in Sri Lanka’s sex trade. Many are known as “beach boys” because they are often forced to work by those who own property along the coastline.
(Remarks by Hon. David Kilgour, MP for Edmonton Southeast and Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), at the 7th Annual Model United Nations Assembly, Grant MacEwan College, City Centre Campus, 10700-104 Ave., Edmonton - March 1, 2003) (http://www.david-kilgour.com/secstate/childsex.htm)
20,000 to 30,000 Child prostitutes in Sri Lanka
The sex trade in many countries involves young boys who are offered to European, American, and Asian tourists, sometimes as part of vacation packages:
Twenty to thirty thousand of Sri Lanka's child prostitutes are boys who are "rented" to tourist pedophiles. (Excerpts - http://www.nvaa.org/assist/chapter11sup.html)
Youth
prostitution on the rise
The instances of
prostitution amongst young girls and boys is high today, especially many of
whom are still in their teens. The trend, according to police sources is on the
increase, particularly in rural Sri Lanka.
Complaints of sexual offences against CHILDREN
received by police
1995 1996
1997 1998 1999
2000 2001
2002 2003 2004
Rape
155
168 308
385 609
668 685
714 753
930
Other
sexual
offences
50
204 113
187 423
586 419
484 579
515
Sexual
harassment
24
130 193
259 219
329 462
466 512
654
(Excerpts
– Sunday Leader, 22 May 2005)
One
out of 10 children sexually abused
One out of every
10 children interviewed by UNICEF said that they were subjected to sexual
abuse. According to the National Survey on Emerging Issues Among Adolescents In
Sri Lanka, most of the children who were victims in early adolescence were boys
(14%) while the statistics were the same with both genders in mid or late
adolescence (10%). (Excerpts – Sunday Leader, 17 July 2005)
Child
abuser's sex activities confirmed
Medical reports
submitted to courts confirm that three more children had been sexually abused
by the alleged British paedophile, Michael G Smith.
The three male
children, along with other two male children were with the Englishman, during
their visit to Mannar. The children are from Negombo and were living in the
neighbourhood where the suspect local family which provided safe haven for Mr.
Smith resided. The medical reports confirms that children were subjected to
kissing with several bite marks observed around their lips. (Excerpts
– Sunday Times, 9 October 2005)
Sri Lanka, hotbed for sexual exploitation of children
Sri Lanka police recorded 1643 cases of child abuse last year which was an increase compared to 1474 cases in 2002 and 1392 cases in 2001. Children’s rights activists are quick to warn that thousands of cases go unreported. One government figure estimates that there are over 30,000 cases of sexual exploitation of children on the island and although that number is in dispute, activists agree that the numbers are well in the thousands.
Of the 1643 cases reported last year, 734 of them were related to sexual abuse
and much to the alarm of children’s rights advocates, only a meagre 30 foreign
paedophiles have been arrested over the past two years and few have been
prosecuted. (Excerpts- June 23, 2004, 18:23 [TNS])
Sri Lanka notorious destination for homosexual paedophiles
In Sri Lanka - a notorious destination for homosexual paedophiles - child prostitution is described as "rampant''. "Commercial sexual exploitation of children is a significant problem, particularly child prostitution and child sex tourism,'' reports Ecpat. Some estimates suggest there may be as many as 10,000 "beach boys'' catering to male tourists on the south and south-west coasts.
(Malcolm Macalister Hall reports on the problem of sex tourism worldwide and what you can do to help prevent it. The Telegraph, Travel Section 13 September 2003 –
http://www.ecpat.org.uk/Global%20industry%20press.htm)
40,000 child prostitutes, more than half of them boys
With approximately 40,000 child prostitutes—more than half of them boys—Sri Lanka has been described as a ”pedophile’s pleasure centre.” Extreme poverty and years of civil war have left many children homeless and easy prey for sexual predators and traffickers. Sometimes boys and girls as young as 3 years old are captured. Others are sold to pimps for a few dollars by their desperately poor guardians or family members. (2003/06/22 - http://www.sermonindex.net)
Beach
boys –carriers of HIV/AIDS
"There is no
way to deny that our resorts are making money and the indirect income
generation is also high. It is to this indirect income generation that the
problem of male sex workers is tied" he observed.
NGO claims that
while tourism is pitched as one of Sri Lanak's most profitable industries
earning an estimated US$300 million a year – the industry is however
blamed for the prolific growth in boy sex workers on the beaches. Statistics
show that by 2004, Sri Lanka had an estimated 8,000 people living with HIV out
of whom 800 were children.
Chairperson, NCPA
Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanna told The Sunday Leader that while child sex workers
faced a high risk of contacting HIV, it was also very difficult to identify
these children as cases were hidden and kept confidential. "Although these
children face a high risk of the disease, they keep it hidden and continue with
their trade. There are many children under the age of 18 who are involved in
the sex trade that the authorities are unable to identify due to the lack of
proof to support such evidence", Dr Wijemanma said. (Excerpt –
The Sunday Leader 24 July 2005)
Fighting child prostitution in Sri Lanka
(November 2004 - http://www.om.org/newsbytes/1104.jsp)
Several factors, including the legality of prostitution and the presence of organized crime rings, have contributed to making Sri Lanka a cesspool of sexual exploitation. Research in '97 showed that Sri Lanka is the principal source of child pornography for the U.S. and Europe. Several indigenous ministries operate homes where rescued boys and girls can receive food, clothing, education and medical care for these children are especially susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. Through counselling many have accepted Christ as Saviour. All receive special tutoring so they can enter state schools and obtain an education, a key to finding legitimate jobs and not falling back into prostitution. (excerpt - CHRISTIAN AID/HCJB 4 Oct.'04)
Sickening
News of the World investigated :
Tsunami killed their mum.. now we catch grandpa selling them to paedophiles
(Sunday 30th January 2005)
ANGEL-faced orphans Chamilka and Gemhani lost their mum and their home to the tsunami but now face a greater horror—being sold to sex beasts by their granddad.
The terrified sisters survived the killer wave after it struck the village of Hikkaduwa in Sri Lanka. But after their dad lost his mind with grief and fled the country, they were left in the clutches of evil Aruma Somadasa.
Now he wants to sell them to paedophiles for £5,000 each. "You can take both girls, take them abroad if you want, or take just one," he said.
"You can do what you like with them, they are naive and can be moulded,"
Abuse
For years vile Somadasa has supplied boys and girls to sex tourists who pay just £1 a night to abuse them.
Our investigators were tipped off about him by a local, who said: "This man is trying to make money from the tragedy in the lowest possible way. It is sickening." We tracked Somadasa to a refugee centre in Botapola.
His eyes lit up as he saw Western faces approaching and in a mixture of broken English and Singhalese told how the tragedy had affected his family. But he was more worried about the material possessions he had lost than the fate of his grandchildren—or his dead daughter Kopige.
"The cottage where my grandchildren lived is gone but I suffered badly too. Although my house is not totally destroyed, the building is damaged and my fridge, cooker and TV set are destroyed."
As Somadasa spoke the innocent girls cuddled up to him. Chamilka, nine, managed a nervous smile and Gemhani chipped in: "I'm nearly eight, it's my birthday soon!"
But getting back to business Somadasa said: "You better decide quickly if you want them—I have been approached by an American man and two British men as well."
He said the girls could stay in Sri Lanka and just see the buyer when he visited—or he could sell them permanently.
Raided
"I don't mind if someone pays some money and takes them away for a little while," he said.
"They can see the girls whenever they visit Sri Lanka and the girls will go with nobody else. If someone can pay me one million rupees (£5,000) for each girl then it's OK." But on Tuesday, after a tip-off from the News of the World, local child protection officers raided the shelter, taking the sisters into care.
Somadasa was arrested for trying to sell them in an illegal adoption. He was bailed and faces trial next month.
Following our investigation, Professor Harendra De Silva, chairman of the National Child Protection Authority, swung into action. He said: "I have instructed all Western embassies not to grant visas to children and for all adoptions to be suspended. It is alarming that paedophiles are targeting children at such a time." (ONLINE EDITION Sunday 30th January 2005 – News of the World)
(http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/news/news4.shtml)
Rapists,
abusers prey on disaster victims
By Liz Minchin
January 5, 2005
"Lots of
children are being abducted and taken away for slavery . . . This robbing of
children, it's happening on a large scale," Kantha Shakti executive
director Rohini Weerasinghe told The Age.
Even on the day
the tsunami struck, women were abducted, she said. There has been no news of
those women since.
Other reports of
abuse have been equally shocking.
"The fingers
have been cut off dead bodies for the rings, and even the dead bodies (of
women) have been abused according to what we hear, she said. "There is a
young woman who has been gang-raped . . We have not seen these things, but this
is the news we hear from reliable sources."
The Sri Lankan
Government has confirmed that it is investigating abuses of tsunami victims,
including an incident in which an orphaned and homeless girl, 17, was gang-raped by
six men near Galle in the south.
Professor Harendra
de Silva, head of Sri Lanka's National Child Protection Authority, told The
Island newspaper that women and children gathered amid chaos in makeshift
shelters across the country were at greater risk of sexual abuse.
But others believe
opportunism alone does not explain the abuse of people whose lives have already
been shattered.
Ms Weerasinghe
said: "This is a country that went through a (civil) war for 20 years, and
when a country goes through war there is moral and political degeneration, and
people become very desensitised to violence. But of course ultimately it is the
powerlessness, the unequal power of women in this society that is responsible
for this being able to happen."
(http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/01/04/1104832109413.html?oneclick=true)
Tsunami Unexpectedly Aids Child Sex Trade
(POSTED: 9:21 pm PST February 1, 2005 - UPDATED: 8:26 pm PST February 2, 2005)
NEAR COLOMBO, SRI LANKA -- 'Thailand for girls, Sri Lanka for boys.' It is a curious, but seemingly innocent phrase until you find out who came up with the slogan. Child advocates say it was coined by child predators to notify other predators where it is easiest to get the gender they prefer in child prostitutes.
In Sri Lanka an estimated 30,000 children are trapped in the child sex trade -- 70 percent of them are boys. They are almost always children from the poorest of the poor families; families too hungry to want to know what happens to their child when they disappear for a few days.
Maureen Seneviratne, child advocate: "We found that many of these people were taking it quite for granted that a boy would be taken down to a southern beach or a West Coast beach or right into the heart of the country in the hill country and brought back in about a week or two with a little money. With about 10 U.S. dollars. Ten U.S. dollars was a fortune to these people."
Seneviratne has worked the Sri Lanka streets for 10 years trying to stop the child sex trade that preys upon the poor. She says the tsunami created thousands of poorer and desperate families -- making their children prime targets for child predators.
Seneviratne: "There is an endless demand. And we can't cut off the demand all we can do is cut off the supply."
The neighbourhood where she works is inhabited by the most desperate -- families originally displaced by war or poverty, families who stole a bit of government-owned land close to the ocean so they could fish for food.
Seneviratne: "We didn't make it very clear at the beginning that we were trying to stop trafficking and prostitution."
KTVU's Sara Sidner: "Why did you do this?"
Seneviratne: "Because if we went and told them that they would have chopped our damn heads off. That's why. Because they said, 'Oh, you are coming in here to stop our income. What are you bothered about our boys if a boy goes with a man he doesn't get pregnant. It's the girls we look after we are not bothered about the boys.'"
Seneviratne: "We started by offering them programs of education."
Sara Sidner: "Are these children going to school?"
Seneviratne: "Oh no they’re not going to school, they haven't school uniforms. We can't give them two meals a day, what school? They do any work that comes to hand."
Seneviratne was not put off by the families' resistance or the threats on her life she received from those who traffic in children.
Seneviratne: "The first program that we did here in one of the school halls they came drunk at 10 in the morning."
Seneviratne: "They came in dirty cloths a cloth and jacket not washed. No slippers..."
Many Children still abused and neglected in Sri Lanka
(By Damitha Hemachandra, Daily Mirror 08th October,
2003)
Child
prostitution, child labour, violence against children and general
inconsideration of children's feelings and views are evident in Sri Lanka.
According
to the Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority, Prof. Harendra de
Silva, nearly 20% of boys and 10% of girls get sexually abused in their own
homes and schools at the hands of parents, teachers or someone known to them
while Sri Lanka recorded nearly 150,000 children employed as servants and
workers in homes and hotels around the country nearly three years back.
According
to UNICEF and ILO statistics, there are nearly 40,000 child prostitutes in the
country while 5,000 to 30,000 Sri Lankan boys are used by Western paedophile
sex tourists in Sri Lanka. Nearly 10,000 to 12,000 children from rural areas
are trafficked and prostituted to paedophiles by organised crime groups.
The
use of children for alcohol and drug trafficking is a serious problem while the
authorities are yet to crack the countrywide network, which deals with child
trafficking and prostitution.
"No
one actually knows the correct number of child prostitutes and children
involved in trafficking," says Prof. de Silva adding that ground research
is yet to be performed on these subjects.
Accordingly,
an unofficial survey conducted by the ILO, showed that nearly 35,000 children
are now employed mainly at shops and small factories.
Yet
the main threat lies in commercial fishing spots more commonly known as
vaadiyas.
According
to the recent ILO report, one of the most destructive forms of child labour in
Sri Lanka prevails in the fishing industry. Children are recruited in fishing
'vaadiyas' most of which are situated in remote areas and children are kept in
conditions of virtual slavery.
The
situation has reached a climax today where the world identifies Sri Lanka as a
paedophiles' paradise. Although the government estimates that there are 2,000
active child prostitutes in the country private groups claim the number is as
high as 40,000.
Most
of these children, 80% of whom are boys, are sexually exploited in tourist
centres and are trafficked around the country to serve the tourists.
"Unlike
child labour, sexual harassment is a closed issue which will include less
public involvement," says Prof. Harendra de Silva.
(Excerpts
- http://www.childprotection.gov.lk/newsUpdate0810200301.htm)
Stemming child sexual abuse: NCPA's role
The demand for child pornography and child prostitutes is staggering to say the least. In 1998, 600 advertisements, of a sexual nature, appeared on the Internet for Sri Lankan children! The local police are often unsure how to tackle the problem as it is so vast and widespread. They allege that 10,000 to 12,000 children from rural areas are trafficked and prostituted by organised crime groups to paedophiles staying at various seedy seaside hotels. Coastal districts of Bentota, Beruwala and Galle are hit the hardest due to poverty.
Children, as young as 10, can be seen roaming the beaches, where foreigners lay sunning themselves, looking for clients. Most often they find an ever-willing `uncle', who draws them in with promises of imported sweets and a few rupees.
(Excerpts http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/02/14/fea03.html)
US State Department
2,070 complaints of violent crimes against children
Country report on Human Rights Practices 2005 - Sri Lanka
Released on March 8, 2006
Sri Lanka
………, On October 25, following the arrests of 25 prostitutes and the 2 men who operated the brothel that housed them, the deputy inspector general (DIG) of police responsible for Nugegoda ordered the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who led the raid, to release all of those arrested. The ASP refused, processed the arrested persons, and complained to higher authorities. In the ensuing investigation, authorities learned that the DIG received $6 thousand (approximately SLR 613 thousand) per month to allow the brothel to operate. At year's end authorities had not charged the DIG, and no action was taken against him.
Children
During the year the Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women received 2,070 complaints of violent crimes against children.
Child prostitution was a problem in coastal resort areas. The government estimated that there were more than two thousand child prostitutes in the country, but private groups claimed that the number was as high as six thousand. Citizens committed much of the child sexual abuse in the form of child prostitution; however, some child prostitutes were boys who catered to foreign tourists. Some of these children were forced into prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking). The Department of Probation and Child Care Services provided protection to child victims of abuse and sexual exploitation and worked with local NGOs that provided shelter. The tourist bureau conducted awareness-raising programs for at-risk children in resort regions prone to sex tourism.
Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, the country was a point of origin and destination for trafficked persons, primarily women and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labour and sexual exploitation. The country was a source for trafficked women. Some women were trafficked under the guise of legitimate employment to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar for the purpose of coerced labour and sexual exploitation. A smaller number of Thai, Chinese, and Ethiopian women were trafficked to the country for commercial sexual exploitation. Women and children were trafficked internally for domestic and sexual servitude. Boys and girls were victims of commercial sexual exploitation by pedophiles in the sex tourism industry.
Internal trafficking in male children was also a problem, especially from areas bordering the northern and eastern provinces. Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere, a domestic NGO, estimated that there were 6 thousand male children between the ages of 8 and 15 years engaged as sex workers at beach and mountain resorts. Some of these children were forced into prostitution by their parents or by organized crime.
d. Prohibition of Child Labour and Minimum Age for Employment
The minimum age for employment is 14, although the law permits the employment of younger children by their parents or guardians in limited family agriculture work or to engage in technical training. An amendment to the Employment of Women and Youth Act prohibits all other forms of family employment of children below 14. A child activity survey, carried out in 1998 and 1999 by the Department of Census and Statistics, found almost 11 thousand children between the ages of 5 and 14 working full time and another 15 thousand engaged in both economic activity and housekeeping. The survey found 450 thousand children employed by their families in seasonal agricultural work throughout the country.
Many child domestics reportedly were subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Regular employment of children also occurred in family enterprises such as family farms, crafts, small trade establishments, restaurants, and repair shops. In 2003 International Labour Organization/International Program for Elimination of Child Labour sponsored a rapid assessment survey on domestic child labour in 5 districts found child domestic workers (under 18 years) in roughly 2 percent of households, but the prevalence of child domestics was much larger. (Excerpts - http://www.state.gov)
2,000 child prostitutes in the country
Country report on Human Rights Practices 2004 - Sri Lanka
Released on February 28, 2005
Sri Lanka
Children
During the year, the Bureau for the Protection of Children and Women received 1,841 complaints of violent crimes against children.
During the year, 39 cases of pedophilia were brought to court and were pending at year's end. Child prostitution was a problem in certain coastal resort areas. The Government estimated that there were more than 2,000 child prostitutes in the country, but private groups claimed that the number was as high as 6,000. Citizens committed much of the child sexual abuse in the form of child prostitution; however, some child prostitutes were boys who catered to foreign tourists. Some of these children were forced into prostitution (see Section 5, Trafficking). (Excerpts - http://www.state.gov)
7,000 boys aged 15-18 years are self-employed prostitutes
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002
Released on March 31, 2003
Sri Lanka
Children
Child prostitution is a problem in certain coastal resort areas. The Government estimates that there are more than 2,000 active child prostitutes in the country, but private groups claim that the number is much higher (see Section 6.f.). The bulk of child sexual abuse in the form of child prostitution is committed by citizens; however, some child prostitutes are boys who cater to foreign tourists. Some of these children are forced into prostitution (see Section 6.f.).
Section 6.f - Internal trafficking in male children was also a problem, especially from areas bordering the northern and eastern provinces. Protecting Environment and Children Everywhere (PEACE), a domestic NGO, estimated that in 2001 there were at least 5,000 male children between the ages of 8 and 15 years who were engaged as sex workers both at beach and mountain resorts. Some of these children were forced into prostitution by their parents or by organized crime (see Section 5). PEACE also reports that an additional 7,000 young men aged 15 to 18 years are self-employed prostitutes; however, some organizations believe the PEACE numbers to be inflated. (Excerpts - http://www.state.gov)
'100 kids abused daily' in Sri Lanka
(BBC News - 9 February 1999 )
By Colombo Correspondent Susannah Price
The first scientific study on the scale of child sexual abuse in Sri Lanka has concluded that 100 young people are sexually exploited or abused every day on the island.
The draft report prepared by a local organisation called Protecting Children and Environment Everywhere found that while foreign paedophiles came to Sri Lanka to have sex with young boys, it was girls who suffered most from abuse within the community.
The scale of the abuse has never been widely investigated. The researchers into this first draft study on sexually exploited and abused children concluded there were between 10,000-15,000 boys involved in the sex trade, not only in beach areas but also in the hill country and near other tourist sites.
They found the boys were mostly aged between eight and 15 and while most of them came from fishing hamlets and coastal villages, about a third were lured from the inland rural areas by promises of work.
The study said most foreign paedophiles came from western Europe but pointed out the involvement of local agents and pimps. (Excerpts)
The year the children suffered
(BBC news - November 8, 1997)
Sri Lanka
A judge and two policemen from Switzerland arrived in Sri Lanka during February 1997 as part of an investigation into a suspected Swiss paedophile.
A senior police official said the suspect had a young Sri Lankan boy with him when he was arrested in Bern. He said the man may have taken more Sri Lankan boys to Switzerland.
In October 1997 child care experts in Sri Lanka warned that child prostitution was being promoted to foreigners on the Internet, making it one of the worst countries for child abuse.
(Excerpt)
Sri Lanka
'child abuse' arrests
(Frances Harrison, BBC World service – 8 October 2003)
Ten men, including
two Buddhist monks, have been arrested in Sri Lanka in connection with
allegations of sexual abuse of at least 11 boys in an orphanage in the capital,
Colombo. Two hundred and seventy boys and girls - many of them war orphans -
are currently being questioned by police officers attached to the country's
National Child Protection Agency.
The head of the
agency, Harendra de Silva, said it was possible other alleged child victims
would come forward as the 120 girls in the home had not been interviewed yet.
Those thought to have
been abused were mostly Sinhalese but included one Muslim boy as well as three
Tamils.
An official at the
children's home said the two monks arrested were not from the orphanage itself
but from a nearby Buddhist temple.
The same official
alleged that a lady had come to the home and paid the children money to make
false allegations against the monks.
The child
protection agency says the 10 arrested men will be charged in court and under
amendments to the law will face very tough penalties if found guilty.
Mr Silva said they
had investigated about 15 cases in the past seven years where Buddhist monks
were implicated in child abuse but he said the judicial process was slow.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3175846.stm)
Impact of 20 years of war
on the Tamil children
Neither international outcry nor news in the international media
50,000 children out of school in the affected region
COLOMBO, 22 January 2004 - It is estimated that 50,000 children in the affected region are out of school, around 140,000 have been displaced from their homes while landmines have killed 20 and maimed 17 children in 2003 alone. In the North East there is a serious deficit of education and health staff. More than 5,800 additional Tamil medium and 200 Sinhala medium teachers are needed.
In 2003 ‘catch up’ education programmes reached 23,500 children, a total of 244 school buildings were refurbished and the recruitment of teachers to address the deficit has begun.
(Excerpt from UNICEF Press release)
Jaffna
children suffer trauma
(BBC – 15 September 2000)
The most worrying
aspect of the fighting for local people in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna
peninsula is the traumatic effect it has on children.
The incessant
shelling and bombing of Tamil Tiger positions by helicopters and aircraft can
be heard even in the relative safety of Jaffna town - still held by the
government.
They have
nightmares and end up screaming in the night Psychiatrist Daya Somasundaran
said. The rest of the peninsula is under siege, and child psychiatrist,
Professor Daya Somasundaran, says the constant bombardments are having a
devastating effect on the mental state of children.
"For the last
few months, I think this has now become the norm almost. The level of sound and
level of destructive power has really escalated to an unbearable level,"
Professor Somasundaran says.
"Many of
these helicopters actually fire from areas where civilians are so that you are
really under the helicopter when it fires," he adds.
He says the trauma
experienced by children takes many different forms, but will leave deep scars.
(Excerpts)
Mostly children killed
Associated Press Report, 18 March 1996 - Seventeen Tamil civilians,
mostly children and the aged were killed by Sri Lanka helicopter gun ships on
16 March 1996 in the village of Nachchikuda in the East. About sixty were
seriously injured. The affected people had earlier fled Jaffna when their homes
came under military attack during the time the Sri Lankan armed forces launched
a military offensive to capture Jaffna from October 1995 to December 1995.
Particulars of the 16 killed, released by official sources in Nachchikuda were:
Julian Delin (Baby
Boy) 6 Month from Gurunagar; Kanthasamy Senthilkumar(Child) 09 from Koddady;
Kanagasingam Tharsini (Child) 10 from Anaikoddai; Anton Mary Amalini (Child) 12
from Maniyan Thoddam; Anton Jegadeepa (Child) 12 from; Navanthurai Antonipillai
Lawrencestayn (Child) 15 from Anaikoddai; Zavier Consal (Child) 15 from
Navanthurai; Mahendiran Yalini (Girl) 18 from Navanthurai; Ponnambalam
Selvarasa (Boy) 18 from Maniyan Thoddam; Soosaipillai Amalotpararani (Girl) 21
from Mathagal; Victor Lucia (Girl) 23 from Gurunagar and many other adults.
Navalay Church massacre
38 under aged Children killed, another 98 injured
On 9 July 1995, Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the St Peters Catholic church in Navaly. There were about 2000 internally displaced people have sought refugee in this church.
In this bombing 147 innocent people were killed and nearly 200 people were injured.
Name Sex Age Address
P. Balavalli
F 13
Kantharodai, Chunnakam
S. Pratheesh
M
16 Navaly North, Manipay
P. Ketheeswara
M 17
Vellantheru, Jaffna
R. Chithra
F 15
Navaly South, Manipay
U. Satheeshkumar
M 13
Nitsaman,Chankanai
U. Ushanthini
F
12 Nitsaman,Chankanai
Jegatheesan Jeevadas
M
17 Navaly South, Manipay
Vethushan
M
12 Vellantheru, Jaffna
Dharshini
F
14 Vellantheru, Jaffna
Piranavan
M
05 Vellantheru, Jaffna
P.
Mathivathana
F
12 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
C.
Thaceswary
F
17 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
S.
Jeyabalini
F
19 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
Pirahatheepan
M
07 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
K.
Kajanthan
M
09 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
V.
Jeyanthan
M
04 Chullipuram West, Chullipuram
S.
Piratheepan
M 13
Kuhanthiram valavu, manipay
K.
Kailrajah
M
09 Murugan kovilady, Navaly
K.
Vinoba
F
05 Murugan kovilady, Navaly
R.
Thanushala
F 05
131 Mount Carmal Rd, Gurunagar, Jaffna
R.
Sasikala
F
02 Kandy Road, Chavakachcheri
R.
Chandrakanthan
M
13 Navaly South, Manipay
P.
Sutha
F
11 Navaly South, Manipay
T.
Nareshkumar
M
11 Navaly South, Manipay
P.
Indrakumar
M
15 Chulipuram West, Chulipuram
K.
Thevachelvi
F
10 Kaddupulam, Chulipuram
A.
Yogeswaran
F
16 Kapiranjoy Camp, Chunnakam
S.
Gopikan
M
13 Uduvil, Chunnakam
N.
Thevaganesh
M 15
Uyarapulam, Anaicoddai
V.
Abirami
F 10
Uyarapulam, Anaicoddai
K.
Vasikaran
M
10 Tholpuram, Chulipuram
B. Ananda
Alagan
M
16 Tholpuram, Chulipuram
T. Sujeeva
F 17
Navaly South, Manipay
P.
Krishnakumar
M
01 Vadaliadaippu, Pandaththarippu
R.
Rajamohan
M
16 Araly South, Vaddukkodai
Child of Thevar
F 10
Petnathy Road, Kokuvil
Child of
Thevar
F
07 Petnathy Road, Kokuvil
Child of
Thevar
F
05 Petnathy Road, Kokuvil
(Father S. Thevar (50) and his three daughters from Petnathy Road, Kokuvil)
What was the response of the Sri Lanka government and the human rights organisations based in G8 countries to these killings? Nothing.
In fact, the Sri Lanka government justified these killings.
Kumarapuram
Massacre
13
under aged Tamil children killed
Sri-Lankan troops
from the 57th mile post near kilivetti massacred 24 Tamil civilians
and severely injured 28 others. Four succumbed to their injuries and later died
in hospital. One of those killed was a heavily pregnant woman. 17 year old A.
Thanalakshmi was gang raped by soldiers before being killed. Among those killed
were seven children under the age of 12, the youngest being 3 years old. Troops
had prevented the injured from being taken away for medical treatment until
9.30 the following morning.
Name
Age Sex
Thurairajah
Karunakaran
15 M
Arumaidurai Santhyaluxmy
15 F
Kanakarajah Subashinirajah
15 M
Vinayakamoorthy
Suthahara
15 M
Ramajeyam
Kamaleswar
13 F
Thangavel
Kala
12 F
Shanmuganathan
Nizandan
11 M
Sundaralingam
Prabaharan
11 M
Amirthalingam
Rasanighandi
10 F
Theepan
Patiny
09 F
Sivapakiyam
Thiraiyampan
06 F
Pakkkiyarajah
Vasanthini
06 F
Sundaralingam Subasini
03 F
(Excerpt - February 1996, Sri-Lanka Monitor - British Refugee
Council)
A
school bombed in Jaffna - 42 children killed
On 22 September 1995, Nagerkovil Central School in the Jaffna peninsula was
bombed. The intensified aerial bombing and shelling by Sri Lankan government
forces came about within hours of the government's imposition of Press
Censorship midnight September 21. The bombing of the school happened at12.50
p.m. during the school's lunch break when several of the school children were
gathered under a shade tree in the school compound. 25 school going children
were among 40 Tamil civilians killed on the spot. Twelve were six and seven
year olds. Nearly 200 others were injured, most of them students in the same
school. Elsewhere in the area, 15 other civilians were also killed in the
course of the same bombing raids. The scene of the attack was visited by the
International Red Cross. Pieces of human flesh were strewn around the area
including the tree branches, making identification impossible. The total death
toll later increased to 71.
Earlier, on the
same day, Pucara bombers targeted Manalkadu and Katkovalam in the Vadamardchi
area killing six persons. A small Catholic church was also damaged in the
bombing. In another incident in the early hours of the same day, intense
shelling from the Palaly army camp killed seven members of the same family
including four children of varying ages, The shelling began at 3.00 a.m. and
continued until 7.00 a.m.
Medicines Sans
Frontiers reported on 23 September that of 117 injured Tamil civilians admitted to
hospital during the offensive on Thursday and Friday more than half had died
from their wounds.
In a new offensive against Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan warplanes have bombed civilian targets, killing at least 42 children, an international relief agency said Saturday. The rebels issued a statement from London saying 71 people had died in the bombing campaign Thursday and Friday in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, the stronghold of Tamils fighting for independence.
Under strict new
censorship rules imposed by the Sri Lankan government on Thursday, no
information about the offensive was allowed to be published in that country.
The Doctors Without Borders (Medicine Sans Frontier) relief group released a
statement in Paris saying about 200 people were wounded when bombs fell on a
school near Point Pedro on the northern coast Friday.
Of some 150
children who were wounded, 15 died within three hours of being brought to
hospital, the relief agency said. It said 42 children have died at the hospital
since Thursday, but did not say how the other children received fatal injuries.
The main rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said 25 children
were killed when the Nagerkoil Central School was bombed at lunch time Friday.
More people were killed when planes bombed towns in the area, the rebel
statement said. New censorship rules prohibit the publication or broadcast of
information related to Sri Lanka's 12-year civil war without approval from a
military censor." (Sri Lanka Bombs Civilians, 23 September 1995
13:46 The Associated Press) The British Refugee Council, Sri Lanka
Monitor reported
Massacre of Tamil youths in a detention Centre
2nd November 2000
Dr. Brian
Senewiratne,
MA(Cantab), MBBChir(Cantab), MD(Lond), FRCP(Lond), FRACP
Consultant Physician - Brisbane
Clinical
Associate Professor of Medicine - University of Queensland, Brisbane. Australia
The massacre of 24
unarmed Tamil boys in a Rehabilitation Centre run by the Sri Lankan Government
must arouse international condemnation. This is a gross violation of
International law and International Covenants to which Sri Lanka is a
signatory.
In accordance with International Law, authorities holding detainees are responsible for their safety and security at all times and in all circumstances. There are no exceptions.
A week ago, on 25
October 2000, Tamil boys aged between 14-23 were massacred by Sinhalese
hoodlums at the Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre, some 3 miles from
Bandarawela town in the hill country of Sri Lanka. This Rehabilitation Centre
is jointly run by President Kumaratunge's Presidential Secretariat, Child
Protection Authority, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction, National Youth Services Council and the Don Bosco Technical
Centre.
The youths were
detained under the notorious "Prevention of Terrorism Act", which
breaches every international convention. A police unit and 12 home guards
recruited from the neighbourhood were in charge of security. It is important to
appreciate that the young detainees were being held without charge or trial.
They had been demanding that charges be filed against them or that they be
released. They were denied the judicial process to which they have a right
under the U.N. International Convention on Civil and Political Rights to which
Sri Lanka acceded in 1980.
Article 9 (2)
states "that persons arrested should receive prompt notification of
reasons for arrest and any charges made against them. Article 9 (3) states that
they should be promptly brought before a judge and brought to trial or
released.
At 5.30 am on the
morning of 25 October 2000, 2000 Sinhalese thugs stormed the Rehabilitation
Centre wielding knives, machetes, axes and iron rods.
They hacked to
death some 24 detainees and set fire to the buildings. 16 detainees were
seriously wounded and another 7 injured and twenty were missing. It is liked
that the death toll will rise in view of the seriousness of the injuries and
the refusal of the staff of the local Bandarawela hospital to treat the
injured. The death toll has, in fact, already risen and currently stands at 29.
It could rise further.
President
Kumaratunge and her government must take full responsibility for yet another
blot in Sri Lankan history.
The Sri Lankan
Foreign Minister, perhaps one of the most disgraceful and despicable Foreign
Ministers we ever had, distributed large numbers of copies of the booklet
“Impact of Armed Conflict on Children the Sri Lankan case”, to delegates at the
International Conference on war affected children held in Winnipeg, Canada
(September 10-17,2000)
If what we have
seen in Bindunuwewa is the outcome of this “rehabilitation program”, the
International Community must act. Or do we wait for the next massacre?
It would appear
that all the talk of “safety and welfare of child soldiers”, “rehabilitation
and reunification into society” etc., are fine words for international
consumption and propaganda.
(The
author is a physician of Sri Lankan origin, a Sinhalese, who now resides in
Australia)
(Excerpt - Courtesy www.sangam.org)
136,000 IDPs are children in the North-East
The education and health of the children and young people in the North-East has suffered immensely as a result of Sri Lanka’s protracted conflict. In 2003, there was an estimated 50,000 children out of school in the North-East; 20 children killed by landmines; 17 children injured by landmines and 9,250 children in 48 registered homes and 55 in unregistered children’s homes. Of the 400,000 remaining IDPs in Sri Lanka, it is estimated that 34% (136,000) are children.
(Excerpt – Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation of Sri Lanka - http://www.mrrr.lk/02.htm)
270,000 displaced children
Access to education for the 270,000 displaced children is undermined by the recurrent nature of displacement itself, which make it difficult for regular school attendance. Other factors include malnutrition, poverty, lack of teachers and unavailability of schools, which are occupied by IDPs (Save the Children-UK, May 2000).
Call to increased action for Sri Lanka's war affected children
UNICEF, COLOMBO, 22 January 2004 - It is estimated that 50,000 children in the affected region are out of school, around 140,000 have been displaced from their homes while landmines have killed 20 and maimed 17 children in 2003 alone. In the North East there is a serious deficit of education and health staff. (Excerpt - http://www.unicef.org/media/media_19036.html)
Survey
reveals alarming malnutrition in North East
Stripped from
basic facilities such as clean water, hygienic food, a clean environment or
basic medical facilities, the residents of the northeast have been battling
high rates of malnutrition amongst their women and children for more than 20
years.
Speaking to the
Sunday Leader, Director, UNWFP, Jeff Taft-Dick said that there were three
groups of undernourished children in the northeast – those who were
underweight, children who were stunted (low height for age) and children who
were wasted (low weight for age). Taft-Dick said that while the national level
of underweight children varied from 27% to 30%, the northeast recorded a
stunning figure of 37%.
While the rate of
wasted children island wide varied from 14% to 15%, the northeast recorded 22%
and the national figure for stunted children stood at 15%. The north east
recorded a figure of 18%.
"Malnutrition
levels in the Mullaitivu District is on the rise and in some areas, the rates
are so alarming that the percentage is over 40% which is scary", Taft Dick
said. (Excerpts – Sunday Leader, 9 October 2005)
Out of 16,000 children, only a quarter found properly nourished
Peter Popham
reports from Sri Lanka on the desperate plight of the hundreds of thousands of
ordinary Tamils affected by the war in the north.
A recent survey of
16,000 children, found that only a quarter were properly nourished. More than a
third were suffering from third-degree malnutrition, the level beyond which
children exhibit distended stomachs and skinny frames. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that small numbers of people have already died of starvation. (Excerpt
– The Independent, 10 February 1998)
16%
of tsunami affected children malnourished
Neglected by the
authorities concerned, an alarming 16% of tsunami children have now been
identified as suffering from high levels of malnutrition by UN agencies. (Excerpts
– Sunday Leader, 17 July 2005)
Save the Tamil Children of Sri Lanka
by Joyce Muthuraj
Rapes of Teenage Tamil Girls
How
many incidents of rapes of Tamil women by Sri Lankan soldiers and police were
reported to the Sri Lankan government after he became the Sri Lankan foreign
minister? How many of these incidents were teenage Tamil girls? How many of
these raped women were murdered after the rape? How many soldiers and police
were charged with these crimes? (Is it less than 5%?) Why only very few
incidents, those that received international attention, resulted in filing
charges? Can the Sri Lankan foreign minister explain why other incidents were
just swept under the rug by the government? Is it true that those reporting
rapes (rape victims' relatives) are sometimes tortured and murdered in cold
blood within army barracks? Can the foreign minister deny that many of the rapes
take place in army barracks? Can this happen without the knowledge of army
officers? Can the Sri Lankan foreign minister cite one case, just one case that
was filed because an army officer reported the rape or murder? The very few
rapes that resulted in filing charges were the result of REPEATED requests by
international relief agencies. The army's way of handling the situation is to restrict
the international human rights agencies to enter Tamil areas under army control. Now
that the Sri Lankan foreign minister is expressing concern about Tamil children
to world leader, did he ever ask the Sri Lankan President to take action on
each and every reported case of rape of Tamil teenage girls? Did President
Kumaratunga refuse to do so? What was her explanation for the increasing number
of teenage rapes and no action by the government?
Cold Blooded Murders of Tamil Children
Not counting Tamil children killed by Sri Lankan Air Force bombings and army shelling, how many Tamil children were killed in cold-blood by Sri Lankan soldiers and police by point blank shootings or by using knives and hatchets? How many cases were brought to the government's attention and in how many cases any action was taken? Is it less than 1%? Will the Sri Lankan foreign minister provide a list of such massacres reported by international human rights organizations and identify governmental action in each incidence, such as cases filed against the alleged murderers, disposition of the case, number of convictions and punishment? To our knowledge, not a single soldier or police is punished. (Excerpt - – Tamil Tribune, December 1997 – ID 1997-12-02)
Caring for the children affected by war
The Tamil diaspora and well-wishers fund the following homes for children who have lost their parents in the war. Visitors, including TCHR, have witnessed the immense efforts of staff in the homes to give the children a nurturing and loving environment, to ensure the children attend school and live in small home groups with a high ratio of adult carers to children.
Children Home Number of
Children
Kurukulam Children’s home 500
Senthalir Children’ Home 80
Kandaruban Arevucholai 227
Chencholai Children’s Home 250
Iniya Vazhvu Illam (children with visual and hearing difficulties) 260
Malarcholai (Home for abandoned women and their
children, 45 women) 34
Children home in Batticaloa
620
Gandhi Children
Home
247
Baharathy Children Home
169
Jayanthy Nagar Children
Home
45
Puneetha Pummee Children Home
120
Vivekanantha Children
Home
35
Sakthi Mallar Children
Home
38
Theruppalukammam Children
35
Katheroli Children
Home
52
Maneekavasakar Children Home
35
(There are many other children home in the
NorthEast)
Child soldiers
Security
forces encourage 15 year old school children to join the army
"The security
forces are campaigning in schools, to encourage 15 year old school children to
join the army. When I comment on this, they call me a traitor. If it is so, is
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar also a traitor, who is campaigning in
foreign countries saying that LTTE is recruiting children to their
forces?", asked Opposition Leader Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe in the
parliament on 7th May 1998.
He pointed out
that the Army launched a campaign in schools to recruit school children into
the army while Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed
Conflict was visiting the country.
"Ranil
Wickramasinghe says that Deputy Minister of Defence, Anuruddha Ratwatte has
announced plans to recruit 15,000 school children in the Army to see that his
image is not affected.
Doesn't the Opposition leader wish the troops of Operation Jayasikurui to advance towards Kilinochchi?", asked a minister at the press meeting held later.
Children under 18 in Home Guard duty and armed groups
aligned with the Sri Lanka government
The Coalition estimated that upwards of 75,000 children were fighting in governmental armed forces, paramilitary groups or militia and non-governmental armed groups throughout the region, some having been forcibly recruited. The worst affected countries had been Afghanistan, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
….There is also evidence (in Sri Lanka) of children under 18 being engaged in Home Guard duty and by armed groups aligned with the government. (Excerpts from the speech made by Rory Mungoven, the Coalition's coordinator of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers - ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF CHILDREN AS SOLDIERS: Conference Report - 15-18 May 2000)
Sri Lanka military lists 70,369 soldiers as deserters
(Who replaced these deserters? Children from the South)
COLOMBO Friday 22 April 2005, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka's military said Friday it has listed over 70,000 soldiers as deserters and appealed to them to get de-listed so they can lead a normal life and stop running from the law.
Brig. Daya Ratnayake said 80,661 soldiers deserted military ranks during the two decade war with Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended with a cease-fire in 2002.
The army launched its first major drive to delist the deserters in October 2003, but only 10,292 deserters responded.
"We appeal to all of them to come and start the process of de-listing,'' Ratnayake said of the new campaign that starts on May 9.
"The deserters will be given a chance to obtain a clearance certificate from the army to continue their livelihood as normal citizens of the country,'' he said.
Ratnayake said there has been a 70 percent drop in the number of deserters since the cease-fire. Sri Lankan media often carry reports of increasing involvement of army deserters in organized crime.
Sri Lanka, a small island country of 19 million people, has about 125,000 personnel in the armed forces. – (AP)
Child soldiers in the Sri Lanka military
After passing areas with many Army and Navy camps and sentry points, the condition of the road changed abruptly to that of a badly maintained road. We were told that we had just passed the town of Mathavachchy and had approached the outskirts of Vavuniya which is the border area of the Northern province, a Tamil dominated area. When passing Army camps and sentry points, we were able to observe many under-age government soldiers in the Sri Lankan army! Also we saw many home guards on duty at various check and sentry points.
Also there are many under age soldiers in the Jaffna peninsula, especially at the Palaly airport. These under aged were recruited with bogus birth certificates manipulated by the government from the Grama Seveka (local village leader) level. Under aged children with government help obtain bogus birth certificates from the government departments, showing them as over 18 years old.
When the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflicts (OP/AC) was being drawn up, Sri Lanka was one of the countries that worked hard to reduce the recruiting age to 16 for states. There were more than 100,000 army deserters in the Sri Lanka army and as not many recruits above the age of 18 came forward, the government was forced to recruit under age children. This was done with government sponsored bogus birth certificates. This is one of reasons that the optional protocol never provided for any Child soldiers being tested to find out their real age. (Excerpts from – TCHR mission report)
Child soldiers speak to the media
07 November 2005 - Two underage youths, Suresh Kandasamy (16) and Babu Selvam (15), and another foreign returnee Shanmugam Sarwarajah (21), recruited with promise of financial incentives by paramilitary Karuna Group surrendered to the Liberation Tigers and talked to media at Solaiyaham Conference Centre in the LTTE administrated area of the Batticaloa district. The cadres said they were under continuous monitoring by the Sri Lanka Army and decided to escape when they were sent on missions to attack LTTE posts.
Suresh and Selvam
from the Tamil village of Karapola in the Polannaruwa district, were kidnapped
by Karuna Group cadres in August of 2005. Suresh said, he was kept inside a
bunker for six days by a key operative of the Karuna Group, Jim Kelly Thatha,
at the Sri Lanka Army camp located in Kakachiaveddai. Suresh was promised Rs
6000 a month to work for the group.
Suresh said he was
given training on operating guns at the Sri Lanka Army camp and was engaged in
missions against the Tigers. A few days ago, Suresh surrended to the LTTE when
he was sent with a pistol to gun down a person at Mandoor bridge, he said.
Selvam kidnapped
by the paramilitary cadres riding in a Dolphin van was taken to a paramilitary
camp in Thivuchenai, Welikanda, located close to a Sri Lanka Army base. He said
the paramilitary cadres were also involved in robberies in Oddamavadi area in
Valaichenai. He was also given 6000 rupees as salary. Selvam said he knew of at
least seven Tamil youths who were brought to the camp and were killed there.
Shanmugam
Sarwarajah (21) from Kokkaddicholai said Karuna operative Markkan convinced him
to return from Qatar and join their group. According to Sarwarajah, there were
at least 65 persons in the paramilitary camp in Thivuchenai where he was given
training. He was also recruited for payment.
Sarwarajah said
that after a month of training he was taken to Chenaipuram Sri Lanka Army base
in Welikanda in a Buffel RPC vehicle and introduced to Capt. Kumarasinghe, the head
of the base. The paramilitary group received supplies, instructions and was
under complete supervision of the Sri Lanka Army, he added.
Paramilitary recruits underage boys
03 February 2006 - The paramilitary cadres, Karuna Group recruited a 15 year boy, Arulraj Senthilnathan from the village of Punnaichcholai in Batticaloa.
He said to the press in Batticaloa that while he was fishing in a river near his village, he was forcefully recruited by the paramilitary group known as Karuna Group in August, last year. He further said that he was trained in a Sri Lanka Army camp in Polannaruwa, to shoot and operate handguns. Here all well known paramilitary leaders, Tamils have trained him. There were about fifteen muslim youths among the trainees and there were Tamils with Indian accent. Totally there were about 70 under age youth in training.
Soon after the training he was posted to sentry points in the training camp. According to Senthilnathan this training camp is well protected with 200 Sri Lankan military soldiers and on the night Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham was murdered by the paramilitary forces, there were celebrations in this camp.
When he was sent on vacation, he managed to escape with his family into the area which is administrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – LTTE.
Child soldier issue is prioritised
to cover up the horrendous violations
The accusation of child soldiers has ulterior political motives. This is obvious to anyone visiting Batticaloa. Every house in the Batticaloa district has a tragic tale to narrate. The horrendous massacres, rape, hacking to death, looting, arson etc were wide spread during the twenty years of war in the East. No one cared for those people. But the Child soldier issue is prioritised and put on the agenda with a political motive only to cover up the horrendous violations that took place in the East.
The problems faced by children are many in this world. The social and economic problems faced by the children are equally important to the issue of child soldiers. Child prostitution/pornography and child labour are rife in Sri Lanka and are totally ignored. According to the latest statistics there are about 40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka.
The government of Sri Lanka, and a few local and international NGOs are raising the issue of recruiting child soldiers in Sri Lanka as a major violation of human rights. The international NGOs who are raising this issue say that they under an obligation because Sri Lanka has signed and ratified the CRC "Optional protocol on involvement of children in armed conflict - on Child Soldiers". Sri Lanka ratified this optional protocol within a month of signing the document.
Rights of the children cannot be selectively enforced. Every right mentioned in the CRC has to be considered seriously. In fact, there is a (CRC) "Optional protocol on sale of Children, child prostitution and child pornography". Sri Lanka signed this on the 8th May 2002 but has not ratified it. Why is there a delay in ratifying this optional protocol? Will this affect the tourist industry in Sri Lanka?
The 40,000 Child prostitutes in Sri Lanka has become a serious issue. Poor children in the South are forced to become ensnared in prostitution by the government. This violates all the international norms of conduct and human rights. This outrageous forced prostitution affects the children’s health and sanity.
Here the international NGOs have a great responsibility of lobbying the Sri Lanka government to ratify the Optional protocol of the CRC on the sale of Children, child prostitution and child pornography. This issue is also equally important to that of child soldiers. International NGOs should not be ignorant of this. (Excerpts from TCHR mission report November 2004)
"Decrease
in recruitment and a rise in children being released"
UNICEF
Spokesperson, Geoffrey Keele
"The
government and the LTTE have to sit at the peace table soon and begin
discussions before it is too late," UNICEF Spokesperson, Geoffrey Keele
said.
However, Keele
also added that due to the current situation in the north-east and the
prevailing extreme poverty which many people face, the children saw the Tamil
Tigers as the only saviours who would provide them help, an opinion shared by
many humanitarian agencies working in the north-eastern theatre.
"What we have
to understand is these areas do not offer these children any job opportunities
and the economic development in the north-east very slow, unlike in the other
parts of the country, where children have several opportunities for their
future – these children have nothing," Keele said.
The UNICEF
Spokesperson added that despite the growing political tensions between the
government and the LTTE, both parties had to discuss peace based on
humanitarian issues. "Since the ceasefire agreement, a lot of positive
things have emerged and we have seen a decrease in recruitment and a rise in
the number of children being released. Although, tensions are now increasing,
it is never too late for both parties to begin discussing peace," Keele
added. (Excerpts – Sunday Leader, 31 July 2005)
UNICEF expressed satisfaction
13 February 2006 - UNICEF representatives expressed satisfaction in the sharp decline of the number of under-age youths joining the ranks of the Liberation Tigers after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, during a meeting held with the LTTE's Child Protection Unit at the LTTE Peace Secretariat building Sunday, LTTE officials said.
Both delegations acknowledged and appreciated the commitment shown by the other party in the protecting the rights of children, sources said.
Some of the many children released by the LTTE in 2004
Date No. Children released
22/01/2004 202
13/04/2004 150
26//06/2004 269
26/06/2004 1,800
26/06/2004 998
July 2004 34
August2004 24
09/09/2004 449
Significant decrease in child recruitment
Since the ceasefire agreement in Sri Lanka in February 2002, a significant decrease in child recruitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been reported, and a number of children have been released and returned to their families. UNICEF is now working with LTTE to help develop an action plan for the social reintegration of children still with them, including providing assistance for returning the children to school and accessing vocational training, as called for in the peace negotiations. UNICEF and the LTTE have also agreed to develop procedures for monitoring and preventing child recruitment in the future. (Excerpt from UNICEF Press release - www.unicef.org/protection/files/childsoldiers.pdf)
Kanuna’s cadre
COLOMBO, 16 April 2004 – UNICEF has confirmed the tragic deaths of two child soldiers in the LTTE fighting that took place in Sri Lanka’s east last week. The children were 17 and 18 year old girl. Both girls were in Kanuna’s cadre at the time of their death. (Excerpt from UNICEF Press release)
TCHR REPORT - December 2004
We met several representatives of civil society in Jaffna, parents and victims of war and others, especially to discuss the issue of child soldiers. We also witnessed many debates, arguments, eyewitness accounts, etc on the subject of child soldiers in Sri Lanka.
A civil society organisation in Jaffna gave us a list of 96 persons from the Jaffna district who said they had volunteered to join the LTTE between November 2002 and June 2003, but were sent back home by the LTTE on the grounds that they were not accepting any volunteers. (Please refer to - http://www.tchr.net/econ_soc_volunterst_list.htm)
According to the members of the civil society in the North East, the subject of Child soldiers was a one-sided story which has copious media coverage in the Colombo racist media.
According to some academics in Sri Lanka, this issue is taken up by organisations, which “do” human rights as “Business”. Such informed persons continue to say that “the more you pay, the more they exaggerate and highlight”.
Residents of the North East complained that those who raised the Child soldiers issue now in Sri Lanka, never uttered a word about what really happened to the people, including the children, in the North East. They said fathers had either been killed or were in prison; mothers and sisters had been either raped or killed; houses and schools had been destroyed by aerial bombing or shelling and undamaged schools are still occupied by Sri Lanka soldiers.
Furthermore, an economic embargo had been imposed on the Tamil regions for more than a decade resulting in massive ongoing health problems and the conditions in which internally displaced people (IDPs) live are still deteriorating.
The government and some local NGOs are not bothered about what is happening to the Tamils in this country. But, they raise the child soldier issue to discredit the LTTE. They know very well that they can spread all sort of fictions against the LTTE and convince the international community, said a human rights activist DC in Colombo.
A school teacher LR told us "this UNICEF should have been active ten years ago in the North East. It is too late, after all the damages have been done successfully to the Tamil children, the Sri Lankan government has allowed the UNICEF and other institutions to talk about the child soldiers here". (Excerpt – TCHR mission report, December 2004)
Child soldiers, abusive child labour, child prostitution and
trafficking have similar root causes
Jo Becker of Human rights watch
Ms Becker said the Coalition recognized that the issue of child soldiers may be new for many participants. During the next few days, we would learn about the dimensions of the problem in this region and share relevant experience - both from this region and from other parts of the world – in order to identify possibilities for action. Although some participants may not have worked directly on the issue of child soldiers, they had very valuable experience to share from related areas, such as abusive child labour, child prostitution, and trafficking – all of which have similar root causes. (Excerpts from the speech made by Ms Jo Becker, the Steering Committee Chair of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers - ASIA-PACIFIC CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF CHILDREN AS SOLDIERS: Conference Report - 15-18 May 2000)
Human Rights Watch and its report on Sri Lanka
Since (1983) the armed conflict started in the Tamil homeland between the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) several reports have been published of fact finding missions made by some international organisations, UN Special Rapporteurs, UN Special representatives of the Secretary General and others.
All these reports contributed to an accepted understanding that the human rights situation for the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka was horrendous and serious. The first report was produced by the International Commission of Jurists - ICJ soon after the July 1983 communal riots in which Tamil people were butchered, properties were looted and destroyed, Tamil’s owned business enterprises were ransacked. Other reports of course were published after the ICJ report.
What was said by Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has not even been said by the President of Sri Lanka.
When we compare those reports with the report published on Sri Lanka by “Human Rights Watch” on 2 November 2004, one wonders whether the reports published earlier by other organisations were wrong. Also it makes one question the way, HRW is given publicity in various Western cities.
Is this a task or a programme of a Human Rights organisation? The recommendations in this report are puzzling. They raise questions as to whether HRW has changed it policy to carrying out political work.
Political lobby in Western cities
A political lobby in western cities including in London and Toronto was organised to promote the report. TCHR members were amongst the audience in the London meeting. With our wide experience in the field of human rights, it is our duty and our right to give an analysis of this report and its approach.
When we refer to many human rights reports we see that human rights organisations whether national or international, normally come out with their findings. Whatever they are, the recommendations always reflect the findings of the mission.
Usually the recommendations by a human rights organisation are based on the improvement of legal matters concerning the violating party. It may be government security forces or non state actors in UN terminology.
But here the recommendations are very different from that. When one analyses all the recommendations in this report, the political agenda becomes glaringly obvious.
Normally a human rights organisation will look into the law and see how certain articles are violated and in which area they have breached their international obligations. Their recommendations will then be based on these matters.
This report, initiated by Jo Becker is not one hundred percent, but two hundred percent anti LTTE. It is surprising that this report was so important at a time where the peace process was in stale-mate.
In this report, there is not a single word about the massacre that took place in Bindunuwewa where nearly 25 children and young people were butchered by Singhalese thugs with the help of Sri Lankan police.
We should not ignore the remark made by one of the Tamil parents attending the meeting in Toronto when the report was promoted: “So you think that you care more about our children than we ourselves do!”
The HRW report was published in November 2004 and never mentioned the alarming scale of the Child prostitutes issue in Sri Lanka despite the fact that HRW claims that it advocates for child rights.
Not even bothered about the Tsunami affected children – their dire food, shelter, clothing, health needs etc. Human rights watch never released any statement about the children suffering after the tsunami.
International organisations like Human rights watch are adding fuel to the fire of the ethnic conflict in by taking sides in the conflict in Sri Lanka. These organisations are obstacles for a peaceful negotiated settlement in Sri Lanka.
Two American kidnapped in Jaffna
During the period when Ronald Reagan was the President of USA (May 1984), two Americans known then as the Alan couple from Ohio in USA were kidnapped in Jaffna by the Douglas Devananda group. Presently Douglas Devananda is a minister in the present cabinet in Sri Lanka.
A person belonging to this anti LTTE group was given a platform in the London meeting organised by Human Rights Watch and Jo Becker. This person spoke in Tamil and the manipulated English translation was given to the English speaking participants. The Speech in Tamil and its English translation was not the same.
Annexes
Child Soldiers and the Law
"A
double standard is no legal standard - and cannot be passed of as such"
A Survey - Nadesan Satyendra
15 November 2004
The Geneva Conventions Additional Protocols of 1977, imposed a minimum age of 15 for recruitment into the armed forces of a state. The same minimum age applied to recruitment by armed groups. The Geneva Conventions Protocols also required that children under the age of 15 should not be allowed to take part in direct hostilities.
Twelve years later
in 1989, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child
reiterated the 15 year minimum age for recruitment. The Convention bound State
Parties and made no reference to armed groups.
In 1998, the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provided, inter alia,
that the Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of war crimes and that a war
crime would include 'conscripting or enlisting children
under the age of fifteen years' into national armed forces or armed groups or
using them to participate actively in hostilities. The Sierra Leone Special Court, Appeals Chamber in 2004 took the view that the Rome
Statute simply codified that which was already 'customary international
law'.
In 1999
the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention was adopted by the
International Labour Organisation. The convention provided, inter alia, that
each Member which ratifies the Convention shall take immediate and effective
measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child
labour as a matter of urgency. It also provided that 'for the purposes of this
Convention', the term 'child' shall apply to all persons under the age of 18
and that the term “the worst forms of child labour” included 'forced or
compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict'.
In 2002 the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child provided that
State Parties may not compulsorily recruit those under 18 years.
However, the Optional Protocol retained 15 years as the minimum age for voluntary
enlistment. In addition, schools operated by or under the control of the
armed forces of the States Parties were excluded from the operation of Article 1
of the Protocol.
States may
'advertise and market' their armed forces to 'persuade' those under 18 to
enlist. It was reported in 2002 that the US Army spent two years and more
than $7-million to develop and implement a free Windows game as a recruiting
tool targeted at teenagers. Again "the key objective of the British
ARMY Magazine is to encourage teenage boys and girls under the recruitment
age of 16 to move from a simple 'interest' in the Army to a position where they
actively consider a career." (see also Child Soldiers? What Child
Soldiers?)
The Optional Protocol
however provides a different standard for armed groups. The Protocol requires
that armed groups may not 'under any circumstances', recruit persons
under the age of 18 years.
Furthermore whilst
the Optional Protocol requires that States Parties shall take all feasible measures to
ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18
years do not take a direct part in hostilities, the Protocol requires of armed
groups that they may not 'under any circumstances' use in hostilities,
persons under the age of 18 years.
The Protocol
provision relating to all 'feasible measures' was interpreted by the United
Kingdom which ratified the convention in the following manner –
"The United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will take all feasible measures
to ensure that members of its armed forces who have not attained the age of 18
years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
The United Kingdom
understands that article 1 of the Optional Protocol would not exclude the deployment
of members of its armed forces under the age of 18 to take a direct part in
hostilities where: -
a) there is a
genuine military need to deploy their unit or ship to an area in which
hostilities are taking place; and
b) by reason of
the nature and urgency of the situation:-
i) it is not
practicable to withdraw such persons before deployment; or
ii) to do so would
undermine the operational effectiveness of their ship or unit, and thereby put
at risk the successful completion of the military mission and/or the safety of
other personnel."
Of course, armed
groups (not being parties to the Protocol) do not have the right to
'ratify' the Protocol subject to 'declarations' and or 'reservations.'
The short point is
that the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2002
applies a double standard - one for State Parties and another for armed groups.
The Geneva Conventions Additional Protocol II, 1977 did not adopt a double standard.
Neither did the International Convention on the Rights of the Child,
1989. Nor for that matter did the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court, 1998. It appears that State parties to the Optional
Protocol, (after perhaps September 11) have found a common political
interest in imposing more stringent conditions on armed groups than the State
parties cared to impose on themselves.
Several questions
arise here. Can State parties by a Treaty amongst themselves impose obligations
on 'armed groups' engaged in a struggle for self determination and who reject
the jurisdiction of the State which seeks to conquer and rule? Can State
parties by a Treaty amongst themselves change that which was recognised as a
rule of 'customary international law' by the Sierra Leone Special Court -
Appeals Chamber? Has the Optional Protocol which entered into force in
2002, crystallised into customary international law?
It appears that
the Protocol itself recognises that the terms in relation to armed groups are
not 'directly applicable' and required that 'States Parties shall take all
feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption
of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices.' The
Optional Protocol casts the responsibility to enforce the terms in
relation to armed groups on the State Parties.
There is also a
further and important matter that must be addressed.
The obligations
which the State Parties to the Optional Protocol have sought to impose on armed
groups breaches the fundamental principle of equality before the law enshrined
in all Human Rights instruments. Like has not been treated alike. A double
standard is no legal standard - and cannot be passed of as such. Here, the
comments of the International Red Cross in its Introduction to the Optional
Protocol are not without relevance –
"..The ICRC welcomes the fact that the issue of non-state actors has been included in the Optional Protocol, but regrets that the provision imposes a moral, as opposed to a legal obligation. Although Article 4 also provides for criminal prosecution under domestic law, this is likely to be of limited effect, because those who take up arms against the lawful Government of a country already expose themselves to the most severe penalties of domestic law, and because the capacity of a Government to enforce its laws is often very limited in situations of non-international armed conflicts. Third, it is uncertain whether non-state actors will feel bound by a norm which is different from that imposed on States, and thus whether it will be respected..."
ICRC was right to
point out that the Optional Protocol 'imposes a moral, as opposed to a legal
obligation' on armed groups. However, the morality of the obligation itself is
called in question by the double standard employed by the Optional Protocol.
It appears that
therefore that the current situation in international law in relation to child
soldiers may be summarised as follows:
1. Conscripting or enlisting children under
the age of fifteen years' into national armed forces or armed groups or using
them to participate actively in hostilities is a war crime.
2. Conscripting or
forcibly recruiting children under the age of eighteen years by State Parties
or armed groups is a breach of the Optional Protocol to Child Convention.
3. All feasible measures shall be
taken by State parties to ensure that members of their armed forces under the
age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities and failure to
take such 'feasible' measures is a breach of the Optional Protocol to Child
Convention.
4. Enlisting
children under the age of 18 years by State Parties is not a breach of
international law.
5. Enlisting
children under the age of 18 years by armed groups is not a breach of the
Optional Protocol, (and not by any means a 'war crime') though armed groups may
have a 'moral obligation' to avoid doing so.
Having said that,
it may be helpful to remind ourselves of the words of Dr Colin J Harvey,
Assistant Director,
Human Rights Centre, School of Law, Queen's University of Belfast in September
2000:
"International
law is political. There is no escape from contestation. Hard lessons indeed for
lawyers who wish to escape the indeterminate nature of the political. For those
willing to endorse this the opportunities are great. The focus then shifts to
inter-disciplinarily and the horizontal networks which function in practice
in ways rendered invisible by many standard accounts of law. This of course
has important implications for how we conceive of law's role in ethnic
conflict. We must abandon the myth that with law we enter the secure, stable
and determinate. In reality we are simply engaged in another discursive
political practice about how we should live..." (Courtesy – www.tamilnation.org)
Child
Soldiers? What Child Soldiers?
UK
Association of Publishers 2004 Award for Most effective public sector
title - Army Magazine, British Army
Recruiting Group - Haymarket Customer Publishing
"The
key objective of ARMY Magazine is to encourage teenage boys and girls under
the recruitment age of 16 to move from a simple 'interest' in the Army to a
position where they actively consider a career...The judges felt that 'the
magazine is clearly on brand and appropriate; it has very high production
values and the back-up research results were impressive.'"
Uncle
Sam wants you (to play) – 2002 Summer's hottest online game, America's
Army, brought to you gratis by, well, America's Army
"It's nice to
think that only this 18-year-old will look at this or play it at home. It
doesn't happen that way," Merin said. "You're going to have
brothers and sisters and cousins and other kids 11 and 12 and 13 years of age
who can't process or truly understand the reasons for this, and do not truly
appreciate the difference between reality and this type of fantasy..."
UK's
Reservations to Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
2002
The United Kingdom
understands that article 1 of the Optional Protocol would not exclude the deployment of
members of its armed forces under the age of 18 to take a direct part in hostilities
where: - a) there is a genuine military need... and ..
Recruitment
of 16 and 17 year olds actually increasing in British army - BBC 12 June 2001
"The report
notes that recruitment of 16- and 17-year-olds is actually increasing at a time
when the British Army is finding it difficult to fill its ranks with older
recruits. It says aggressive advertising campaigns and recruitment drives have
helped boost the ranks of young soldiers..."
Britain says like any other employer it should be able to recruit people
straight out of school
"..Campaigners
also back a UN optional protocol to raise the minimum age to 18. They say
younger people in the armed forces are too vulnerable. But the UK and many
other nations, including America, reject the proposed limit. Britain says like
any other employer it should be able to recruit people straight out of
school, and they are all volunteers for a long-term career.."
British
Army opposes move to raise recruitment age from 16 to 18 - BBC 22
June 1998
"..the army
describes the UN's initiative as "potentially disastrous".
"We lose the ability to attract the young individual at the appropriate
time to a career of first choice. We are unable to offer those young people who
want an army career the opportunity to have that career," said Brigadier
Freddie Viggers, from Army Recruitment.." (Courtesy – www.tamilnation.org)
Child Recruitment
by K. Mylvaganam
In the Colombo-based newspapers the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are blamed for child recruitment, abduction and forcible conscription. These newspapers never uttered a word when the EPRLF under the leadership of Varatharajaperumal, aided and abetted by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), conducted forcible conscription of children even of tender ages during 1985 to 1989.
UNICEF also has accused the Tigers for recruiting children under the age of 18. I live in Vanni and I do accept that there is some truth in the allegations made by UNICEF, but definitely not to the magnitude to which it is magnified and exaggerated by the Colombo press.
I worked for the North East Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR) for some time last year. During that time I did receive complaints from some parents that their children who were under 18 have been recruited by the LTTE. On receipt of such complaints we took up the matter with the LTTE and requested them to produce those children for verification.
Let me present here specifically some cases for the readers. Once there were five such complaints. A date was fixed for the parents and their children to be brought together in our office at Karadipoku, Kilinochchi. A representative from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Mr. Lars Kjerland, invited by me was also present. I started to record the proceedings.
All those five children maintained that they were 18 and over, but the parents disputed their statements. None of the five recruits said that they were forcibly taken in by the LTTE. They all joined voluntarily they said. When I asked the parents for the birth certificates of their children, none of them were able to produce the certificates. All of them said that they got lost during the exodus in October 1995 when nearly 500,000 people had to move out of Jaffna. That was a true statement.
It is so difficult to judge the ages of these children as most of them are under nourished. Two of the children definitely looked to be under 18, hence I told those two that their parents are better judges of their ages and that they have to go with their parents. One of the youths agreed to my proposal without protest, but the other one started to cry. He did not want to go with the mother. With a little more advice and persuasion, both by me and Lars, he agreed finally.
Out of the three left, two were girls. Both the girls and the boy adamantly refused to join the parents. The mother of one of the girls broke down and wept severely. Out of pity for her, I suggested that her daughter join the mother. She vehemently refused to accept my suggestion. When I tried to persuade a little more, she said "If you send me with my mother today I will go, but I will come back to join the LTTE next week."
The other two remaining maintained that they were not 18 but 19. One of them openly accused the father for his excessive drinking habits and beating the mother and her siblings. Hence I had to request the parents of those three to produce the birth certificates for us to do the needful.
At this time, during the ceasefire, it is possible to obtain birth certificates at the Jaffna kachcheri (government office). But the parents never turned up thereafter.
The first two youngsters and their parents were taken to the office of UNICEF in Kilinochchi for the formal handing over.
This is the true situation prevailing here in Vanni.
Now let us take the whole of Sri Lanka into this perspective. With the LTTE there may be a few hundred who are under the age of 18. [The UN maintains the number is 1,500. -- Editor] This is not acceptable, but can be dealt with if everyone works together.
But what is happening in the South of Sri Lanka?. A few months back the Sunday Leader published a photograph of a child 12 years old in camouflage uniform holding an AK47 riffle in his hand standing on sentry duty outside the base of a paramilitary group working in collaboration with the Sri Lankan army.
There are several thousand children under 15 who are abused for sexual needs. According to the National Child Protection Authority (N.C.P.A.) nine hundred thousand (900 000) children under 16 are employed in some form or other. Poverty at home has compelled their parents to send them for work. How many children are SOLD by the parents to brothels in the Colombo city and in its suburbs?
We see humpty number of children, most of them under ten years old, begging on the streets of Colombo, Kandy, Matara, Kurunagala and even in Vavuniya. You will also find them in the army controlled areas of Jaffna and Batticaloa as well. The president of the N.C.P.A. Dr. Hiranthy Wijeyamanna said that most of the children begging on the roads of the big cities are under 8 years old. This is because people tend to pity the young ones and give more to them than to the older children. Hence those unscrupulous gangs who employ these children go for the very young ones, preferably the handicapped ones. According to her some of these children may collect up to Rs.2000.00 a day. In the old days people gave 5 or 10 cents to the beggars. Now it is either Rs.5.00 or 10.00. But the children get only a few rupees and some food at the end of the day and the employer grabs the rest. These children are not provided any facilities either. They are continuously watched by the members of the gang that employs them. They sleep on pavements inhaling exhaust fumes emitted by the belching vehicles, amid the stinking market garbage. I shudder to think what they do when it rains in the nights.
Some of these children are used by the drug barons as carriers of their contraband. It is an easy guess as to where such children will end finally - drug addicts and the crimes connected with it.
One always sees children hawking something or other at market places, roads, on temple premises, railway station and bus stands. They do not attend school.
Whilst condemning the parties, whoever they may be for recruiting under aged children to fight, why are all those international organisations, the SL government and the Colombo media who shout so much about the LTTE recruiting a few hundred children intentionally or otherwise, tight lipped when it comes to nearly a million children in the south who are either begging or under all sorts of employment for meagre wages.
In the LTTE controlled areas you cannot see a single beggar or even a child selling things, though these areas are the most poverty stricken places in Sri Lanka. The reason is that the children who do not have anyone to take care of them are looked after by the LTTE. These kids are put into homes meant for them. They are well looked after in those homes, not only by providing food and shelter but with LOVE. They are sent to ordinary schools just like any other children.
There are several homes in Vanni itself - Sencholai, Kantharuban, Gurukulam and Ilamthalir to mention a few. No one uses the terminology "Orphanage" here as the children are not considered orphans.
To cite one example, I visit Sencholai whenever I find the time. The lady in charge is called Janani, who was at the Jaffna university before she joined the movement. She is lovingly called ' Periyamma' [elder aunt] by the kids. Those under 7 or 8 are allowed to take turns in batches of four or five to sleep in her room. It is a great joy for them and they await for their turn anxiously. The youngest is only a few months old and the eldest is 22. It is like a family calling each other 'Akka' [big sister] or by name if the other one is younger. The caretakers are all 'Chithys.'
'The mentally retarded people are kept in a home of their own and nursed properly and given medical treatment. Psychiatrists and psychologists from among the Tamil Diaspora are taken there regularly to provide treatment and train the nurses and the local doctors.
Alternatively, disabled children (in Tamil Eelam the word "Disabled" is not used) are kept separately in special homes. There are a good number of them who have lost some limb or hearing or eyesight due to the war. They are not only cared for and nursed, but are given the opportunity to learn things that they are interested in. To begin with, it is compulsory that they follow the ordinary course of education until they pass the OL examination. Subsequently, depending on their ability and aptitude, they are offered courses in computing, masonry, carpentry, classical music, Baratha Natiyam,etc. I once attended a cultural night organised by them. Their performances were excellent. One girl who is completely blind performed Baratham comprising of Alarippu. Jatheeswaram and a Patham beautifully like a professional.
The Sinhala owned media and the Sinhalese political parties cry from the top of the roof about the "child recruitment" by the LTTE. But why are they so silent about the child abuses that is so prevalent in the Sinhala dominated areas where several hundred thousands of children are affected?
Before I conclude this article, I wonder whether it is correct to recruit under aged children into religious monasteries, a common practice within Buddhism. In the majority of the cases the children are taken in, of course, with the approval of the parents with a view to make them as Buddhist monks later. But is it proper to decide the future of a child at such a tender age without the consent of the child? Do not these children have the right to decide what they want to be when they are grown up?
(Courtesy - www.sangam.org, January 27, 2006)
UNICEF and Underage Recruitment
by Jayantha Gnanakone
Dear UNICEF,
I certainly am glad that I have received a response from UNICEF on this issue. Now the whole Tamil diaspora and the UN can have a full discussion on the actual facts, fiction and the law on the issue of Geneva Convention Article 77, the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and childrens' rights. As the UN, UNICEF, the ICRC and the US are very well aware, only the Geneva Conventions are international law, and the rest are wishful thinking for the future.
Shown the past good will of the LTTE towards UNICEF on the issue of underage children as combatants, if the UN and the International Community mandate the Optional Protocol as international law, I am certain LTTE would agree to cooperate with such laws. However, it also should be common courtesy for the UN to provide observer status to the LTTE.
Recruitment targeting teenagers
It has been unequivocally confirmed to me that the GoSL armed forces take their campaign to the villages to recruit Singhalese youth at 15. I am aware the US government targets children at 14 and 15 into paramilitary services to join the marines and other armed services units, known as the ROTC, with summer training of 4-8 weeks at Camp Pendleton. CA. There the kids receive different kinds of basic military training and, above all, receive thousands of dollars in cash for coming for training. They are constantly brainwashed about the benefits of joining the armed forces on a permanent basis and also promised tens of thousands of dollars in benefits for their college education, etc.
Don't you forget that I have two teenage children in an American high school and I am fully exposed to the armed forces recruiters visiting the high school targeting 15 -16 year olds. The US armed forces spend millions of dollars in their advertising budget (all 4 forces), targeting teenagers who are below 18.
Two sets of rules
To have two separate sets of rules, one for states which practice state terrorism, where they can recruit at 15 and above, and another for liberation organizations fighting a civil war for 3 decades against the government of GoSL and India with their meager resources and private funding, is nothing but an act of Hypocrisy, Chicanery and Dishonesty.
I believe that there will be presentations at the upcoming 62nd Session on human rights in Geneva on the legality and morality of non-state members being prevented from recruiting under 18s, when governments are allowed to recruit those over 15.
UN organizations which attempt to demonize the Tamils and the LTTE are very wrong. Where does the UN, which itself is engulfed in corruption, nepotism, wastage, and misappropriation, get its moral right to formulate laws which are not fair and just directed against liberation movements fighting State Terrorism, oppression, repression, and blatant discrimination?
May I ask you how many rapes, molestations, arrests, incidents of torture, beatings, shootings, shellings, bombings, incarcerations of under 18 children has UNICEF prevented in the last 23 years? Where were you and UNICEF when all the under 18s were and are victimized on a daily basis?
Where were they when the Bandaranayake-Kumaratunghe-Rajapakse regimes denied medicine, food, and fuel for the Tamil children for years during the embargo? The death and destruction, as well as untold suffering, is well documented and has been totally ignored by most INGOs, as well as foreign diplomats, for 22 years.
But the UN and UNICEF want to mandate unjust laws that would make it illegal, criminal for under 18 and over 15 children to participate in combat against such evil forces, but are unable to prevent children from all ages being barbarically brutalized by Sinhala racist mobs, sponsored by the government itself, and its armed forces.
Defence against state terror
Let me tell you that I, from when I was a child of 9 years old, have been a victim of state terror in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1977, and 1983. I could have been brutally murdered in any one of these years of state-sponsored terrorism and pogroms, and the UNICEF or UN would not have cared a damn.
The Tamils have picked up arms as an act of self-defence, so such laws formulated by corrupt and dishonest officials sitting in their ivory towers of New York, Geneva, London and Washington do not matter. The living conditions under State Terror, and Mob Terror are totally different from the sanguine conditions of children in world cities of New York, Geneva, London and Washington. The ground reality is totally different.
Other abuses of children's rights
As UNICEF professes genuine interest in all children, can you tell me why the UN and UNICEF have turned a blind eye and blatantly ignored the gross violations which are transpiring on an hourly basis in the Sinhala South? Since UNICEF when it is convenient plays deaf, dumb and blind like the proverbial monkeys - See no evil, Hear no evil, and Speak no evil...Let me detail such violations of over 200,000 children.
1. Child pornography
2. Child prostitution
3. Child labour and slavery
4. Child exposure to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases
Is this because the LTTE is an easy target and, if the above issues were raised more vigorously, UNICEF would not be welcomed so enthusiastically by the GoSL, whose permission the UN feels is necessary to operate on the island?
Let me tell you that Tamils are tired of this Hypocrisy, Dishonesty, and Chicanery.
The UN and power
Diplomats speaking in Geneva or New York do so at the behest of powerful countries and their own political agenda. There is more to it than international law and human rights law on the issue of recruitment over 15 years and under 18.
I am a retired DC 8 pilot and I have seen air force fighter pilots being
trained, after being recruited at 16. So trying to corner a liberation
organization about the Optional Protocol/Geneva Convention rules is
nothing but dubious. It is deliberately kept ambiguous for only one reason.
That is to use and abuse it by the UN and powerful states for their own
advantage and convenience. That is pretty obvious.
My point is the law needs to be applied uniformly and universally.
Geopolitical interests
Additionally, why this issue of underage recruitment receives such priority, especially after one of the worst natural disasters in human history is mind boggling, when for the 5th year there has been no fighting in the Tamil homeland. Therefore, for the UN and UNICEF to concentrate their efforts so diligently and forcefully of the well-being of children above 15 and under 18 is nothing but suspicious. (Excerpts – Courtesy, www.sangam.org)
Princeton Prof. says 'no' to Sri Lanka Child Monks
Kyodo News
COLOMBO -- A campaign by Sri Lanka's prime minister to recruit 2,000 children into Buddhist monastic orders to cope with a shortage of monks has met criticism from a scholar who says child ordination is against Buddhist doctrine.
Gananath
Obeyesekere, an anthropology professor at Princeton University, says the
campaign targets children as young as 5 years even though Theravada Buddhism
doctrine states that a boy must be at least 15 years of age to become a monk.
The
Buddha himself ordained at just 5 years his only son Rahula, but this was
regarded an exception rather than a rule, Obeyesekere said. After being rebuked
for the act by his own father, the Buddha specified that one must not only have
parental consent to ordain a child, but that the child must be 15 years of age.
If not, the youth must have the ''physical maturity'' of a 15-year-old.
Sri
Lanka's project to mass-recruit children into Buddhist orders disregards these
considerations, says Obeyesekere, himself a Sri Lankan Buddhist.
Prime
Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, who is also minister for Buddhist affairs,
is the father of the campaign and is encouraging public donations for the
endeavor.
The
project includes sponsors for each novice monk and a monthly allowance drawn
from a fund of contributions.
Reportedly,
more than 1,000 people have already applied, although the final figure was not
immediately known, nor was the breakdown of their ages.
The
prime minister told reporters recently that he conceived the plan after
receiving thousands of letters from senior Buddhist monks complaining, among
other things, that fewer people were joining the clergy. This, he said, had
even led to the closure of many temples around the country.
''I
found there was a problem and this is the solution,'' he asserted. He believes
his plan will strengthen Buddhism in the country and bolster the ranks of a
clergy that was in danger of dying out.
But
Obeyesekere, in his remarks published in the Colombo newspapers Sunday Island
and the Daily News, says if more monks are needed for the orders, older people
should be recruited as they are increasingly given to meditation and usually
have a good knowledge of the Buddha teachings.
Most
have meager pensions, so free monastic board and lodging would be added
incentives, the scholar, who has written extensively on Buddhism, suggested.
But
one major reason Obeyesekere opposes child recruitment is that the very young
are vulnerable to sexual abuse, which he says is ''notoriously associated''
will all forms of institutionalized monasticism. The possibility of child abuse
in Buddhist monasteries ''must be faced honestly and squarely,'' he stressed.
Unlike
adult monks, children have little chance of resisting sexual advances, the
professor added. ''Even the presence of guardians, or sponsors is not
protection. How does the guardian inquire into such possibilities when the mere
talk of homoerotic practices is taboo?,'' Obeyesekere asked.
He
also asked why those promoting the campaign have not set an example by being
ordained themselves or having their own children or grandchildren ordained.
The
prime minister's office, however, reacted hotly to the criticism.
One
of Wickramanayake's personal assistants said any opposition to the project
''was affiliated to a conspiracy to wipe Buddhism from the country.''
The
prime minister has only the best of intentions, he said, on condition of
anonymity, noting ordinations take place only with the consent of parents and
high priests of the temples concerned and the scheme provides children with
food, lodging and education that poverty may otherwise have denied them.
(http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/world/facts/104-notochildmonk.htm)
Almost every area of Government policy
affected children in some way
(Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations – 16 July 1999)
Almost every area of Government policy affected children in some way, Mr. Annan said; but children had no vote -- no say in the political process. It was up to adults to defend children's rights, knowing the terrible costs that society as a whole would pay if it failed to look after them. The whole future of the human race would be determined by how the world cared for its children today.
Mr. Annan then told the children in the audience not to wait until they had grown up -- they should learn their rights now and also should begin preparing for the time when they would have to protect the rights of their own children.
* * * * *
“No
country or region is immune”
(UNICEF executive director Ann Veneman - Asia-Pacific human rights
conference in Beijing)
“Children are forced into prostitution, begging and
soliciting, labour on plantations and in mines, markets, factories and domestic
work.”
In
the Asia-Pacific region, especially in Southeast Asia, the sex trade is a major
factor behind the smuggling of people. (30 August 2005)
* * * * *
Child prostitution and sexual exploitation are
rampant in many parts of the world
Address by Hon. David Kilgour- MP Edmonton Southeast and Secretary of State
Child
prostitution and sexual exploitation are rampant in many parts of the world and
is often fed by a sex tourism industry rooted in the so-called "developed
world." Canada as worked hard at the United Nations to realize a Protocol
to the Convention of the Rights of the Child, designed specifically to deal
with this threat. It will require countries to criminalize activities
associated with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
It urges countries to extend their jurisdiction on such matters to acts
committed by their citizens abroad. There should be no tolerance anywhere for
such activities at home or abroad.
(The People’s Peace and Human Rights Conference - University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 7, 2000)