Sri Lanka 'complicit' in child-soldier recruitment

Sri Lanka 'complicit' in child-soldier recruitment

Amal Jayasinghe

AFP

March 29, 2007

CHILD SOLDIERS: The Sri Lankan government has been condemned by a human rights group for failing to probe the recruitment of child soldiers and of even being complicit in their forced recruitment by the pro-government Karuna group.

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COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka came under fresh attack Thursday for failing to probe the recruitment of child soldiers as the government faced more allegations of abductions and extra-judicial killings.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) offered new evidence of state complicity in the forced recruitment of child soldiers by the "Karuna group," which is allied to security forces.

The allegations follow international concern over Sri Lanka's deteriorating rights record, with reports that more than 750 people have "disappeared" with the escalation of fighting between troops and Tiger rebels since December 2005.

Dozens of bodies of people killed execution-style have been found in swamps or roadsides in recent months and police investigations have drawn a blank.

However, police have said some of their own men and security personnel may have been involved in abductions, extortions, and killings.

"Despite promises to investigate abductions of children by the pro-government Karuna group, Sri Lankan authorities have taken no effective action and abductions continue," the rights watchdog said in a statement.

The group also pointed the finger at the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the government's warring partner, saying they too continued to recruit child soldiers despite repeated pledges to end the practice.

In January, Human Rights Watch accused the government of "hypocrisy," saying in a 100-page report that Colombo was guilty of the same practice for which it had denounced the Tamil Tigers.

"In February, the parents of one abducted child and two abducted young men told Human Rights Watch how Karuna casdre had abducted their sons in recent weeks," the group said.

The rights group said it had seen children under the age of 17, some armed with assault rifles, guarding offices of the Karuna group in the eastern district of Batticaloa, while Sri Lankan soldiers and police passed by.

"When government troops at a military base look across the street at children standing guard at a Karuna office and do nothing, it is hard to believe the government is taking any meaningful steps to end this abuse," the group's Asia director Brad Adams said.

"The Karuna group's use of child soldiers with state complicity is more blatant today than ever before."

A top UN official has also accused government forces of rounding up children to be recruited by the Karuna group, which is also fighting the Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

The Karuna group led by renegade Tiger leader V. Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna, has tacit support of government forces.

"The government says it needs evidence to start an investigation, but it already has ample information," Adams said. "In addition to UN documentation and testimonies in our report, many families have made formal complaints to the police."

The last report by Human Rights Watch on the issue, released in January, said the government was fully aware of the abductions of children by the Karuna group but allowed them to happen because it needed an ally against the LTTE.

"The Karuna group is doing the government's dirty work," Adams said. "It is time for authorities in Colombo to stop this group from using children in its forces.

"The LTTE is a notorious repeat offender of child recruitment. It is a shame that government forces complicit with the Karuna group are now involved in the same ugly practice."

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