Chief Minister Chandrakanthan of Sri Lanka has pledged that the “child soldier issue” relating to the children being held by the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikai (TMVP) Party will be “concluded in the next three months.” According to the minister, the TMVP party has already handed over the children to their parents and relatives. However, UNICEF still accuses the party of still holding upwards of 100 children in its ranks.
In addition to opening three offices to deal with finding, rehabilitating and returning the children to their families, Sri Lanka is publicizing the plight of child soldiers in their new campaign “Bring Back the Child“. The program “targets armed groups, vulnerable communities, and the children affected.”
Filed under: Sri Lanka, United Nations , bring back the child, child soldier, Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and UNICEF last Thursday created a new initiative called ‘Bring Back the Child’, designed to eliminate the recruitment and use of child soldiers in that country. The national program is designed to prevent child recruitment and also “promote the release of all recruited children” in Sri Lanka.
The multimedia initiative will be broadcast on television, radio and through newspapers, billboards and posters nationwide. The program promises rehabilitation and reintegration services for the children that are released. President Rajapakse said that “the total under age — under 18 years — recruitment by the LTTE in December 2008 was 6,288″ and remarked:
The whole world knows that the strategists of LTTE terror continue to hold Tamil civilians hostage for their cause and have increased the recruitment of children to carry arms for terror.
Filed under: Laws, Treaties, Sri Lanka , child soldiers, LTTE, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, War
January 23, 2009 • 11:09 am
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said in a press release on January 21, 2009 that the LTTE (Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka) needs to immediately release children held in its ranks, “stress(ing) that both authorities and humanitarian partners should prepare to separate these children and reintegrate them back into their families.”
In other news, the Tamil Tiger breakaway group TMVP reported on Friday that they “will release the last 20 child soldiers it has in its ranks within two weeks, the group’s leader said.”
“UNICEF says thousands of children are caught in the fighting in Sri Lanka, and estimated in mid-September that at least 1,500 were still serving as soldiers.
See this blog entry for more information.
Filed under: Sri Lanka, United Nations , child soldiers, LTTE, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, United Nations
December 4, 2008 • 1:24 pm
Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a Sri Lanka militia (and breakaway faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels) backed by the government, has agreed Thursday to release 60 child soldiers it currently has fighting in its ranks.
Human Rights Watch has claimed that from June 2006 to December 2006 they forcefully recruited several hundred children.
According to the International Herald Tribune today:
When it split from the mainstream rebel group [Tamil Tigers] in 2004, TMVP released thousands of underage fighters and aligned itself with the government to fight the rebels. However, when hostilities increased it resumed kidnapping children to be trained as fighters with the backing of government forces, according to the U.N. and human rights groups.
According to the latest UNICEF records, there are 133 pending cases of child recruitment by TMVP. However, 71 of the recruits are now over 18 years of age, spokesman James Elder said. [The mainstream rebels, who have a long history of recruiting minors, have 1,424 cases pending against them but 1,316 of the recruits are now over 18, Elder said.]
After their release, it is essential that these children receive proper rehabilitation and reintegration back into society.
Filed under: Human Rights, Sri Lanka, United Nations , child soldiers, human rights watch, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, War
October 20, 2008 • 10:13 pm
…but the government of Sri Lanka has denied their appeal.
On October, 10, Sri Lanka submitted an application to the European Union “to extend the generalized system of preferences plus (GSP+) concessions, and had submitted information to show that the country was in compliance with European rules.” In turn, the EU requested that Sri Lanka comply with international standards for civil and political rights and submit to a probe ensuring their compliance, including issues relating to child soldiers.
International trade minister G L Pieris responded (from this article):
Sri Lanka had been an independent state from 1948, and was a functioning democracy where there was rule of law, and it was beneath the dignity of an independent state to submit to such an investigation.
More on child soldier issues in Sri Lanka:
Filed under: Human Rights, Sri Lanka , child soldiers, children, european union, LTTE, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers, War
August 19, 2008 • 5:13 pm
…in releasing, treating, rehabilitating former child soldiers in their country. United Nations Under-Secretary for Children in Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy met with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama late last week. She noted that…
…progressive developments have taken place in Sri Lanka in relation to children, including the release of child soldiers, re-integration of children back to their communities and the setting up of rehabilitation centres for them.
And specifically on how they are handling the problem of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) in Sri Lanka, the Foreign Minister said:
…several programmes have already been implemented [throughout the country] to ensure the protection and well being of children.
Check out these other postings on DDR for more information:
Filed under: Sri Lanka, Treatment Centers, United Nations , child soldier, children, Sri Lanka, United Nations, War
