Allan Rock of the UN puts GOSL, LTTE and TMVP in the dock
November 14th, 2006
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj
The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tiger faction known as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP) have all been charged by the United Nations of various acts of omission and commission regarding the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
Former Canadian cabinet minister and ex-ambassador to the UN, Allan Rock has in a press conference held in Colombo sharply criticised all three parties to the conflict in this respect.
The criticism of the government is not about recruiting under-aged children to the armed forces. It is related to aiding and abetting the Karuna faction of the LTTE known as TMVP of conscripting minors. The LTTE is condemned for not honouring its earlier pledges and continuing with recruitment of minors.
Special advisor
Allan Rock was appointed recently as special adviser on Sri Lanka to Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the role of children in armed conflict. Rock undertook a 10 day field trip to Sri Lanka from November 6 to 14.
Rock visited Sri Lanka on an invitation from President Mahinda Rajapakse. He also met representatives of the LTTE and TMVP. Allan Rock conducted a press conference at the end where a statement was issued and questions answered.
The shocking disclosure from the media’s point of view was the accusations leveled against the Karuna faction’s (TMVP) recruitment of children and the state’s complicity in that.
Earlier the question of child soldiers in Sri Lanka was perceived as pertaining to the LTTE alone. Though it was widely known that the TMVP was conscripting under-aged children with the active support of the armed forces the fact that a respected UN official had articulated these charges for the first time had a bombshell impact on the local and foreign media.
Selective reporting
While sections of the local and foreign media have given prominence to the charges against the GOSL and its allied TMVP, the state controlled media has emphasised the condemnation of the LTTE by Allan Rock and blacked out the other charges.
Likewise the pro-Tiger media too while highlighting the accusations against the GOSL and TMVP has conveniently ignored Rock’s criticism of the LTTE.
At the Colombo press conference Allan Rock was required to answer queries raised by the media. The questions and answers along with selective reportage are likely to convey different impressions of Allan Rock’s revelations. However the statement released by the UN on Ambassador Allan Rock’s findings shows that he has been quite fair and forthright in criticising all three parties to the conflict.
The statement is excerpted here in full as it outlines Rock’s field trip and pinpoints the findings against the GOSL, LTTE and TMVP respectively:
Statement from the Special Advisor on Children and Armed Conflict
“Allan Rock, the Special Advisor to the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka, has concluded his 10 day mission to the country Colombo, 13 November.
During those 10 days, the mission visited Colombo, Ampara, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts. The mission enjoyed the full cooperation of the Sri Lankan government and met with all parties concerned with the ongoing conflict. In his meeting today with President Rajapakse, the Special Advisor expressed his appreciation for the extensive efforts made by the Government of Sri Lanka to facilitate his visit and access to all areas.
The purpose of Mr. Rock’s visit was to ascertain first-hand the situation on the ground, mainly in the north and east, with a particular focus on compliance with the Action Plan for Children Affected by Conflict.
The Action Plan was endorsed by the Government and the LTTE following their commitment during peace talks in 2002 and 2003 to work with UNICEF and the Government to end the recruitment of children and to release under-age recruits in their ranks.
The mission’s initial findings reveal that the LTTE has not complied with its commitments under the Action Plan to stop child recruitment and release all the children within their ranks. Under-age recruitment continues and the LTTE have yet to release several hundred children as verified by UNICEF.
The mission also found that the so-called Karuna faction continues to abduct children in government-controlled areas of the east, particularly Batticaloa District. Since May of this year, 135 cases of under-age recruitment by abduction have been reported to UNICEF, with evidence that this trend is accelerating.
The mission also discovered a disturbing development involving the Karuna abductions. It found strong and credible evidence that certain elements of the government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna faction.
The mission met with the parents of many of the abducted children in Batticaloa District. As a result, it learned of eye-witness evidence that links the Karuna faction abductions to certain government elements. Based on the evidence as a whole, the mission concluded that some government security forces are actively participating in these criminal acts.
Apart from the issues of child recruitment and abductions, the mission also observed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in certain areas of the north and east. During his visits to Vaharai and Jaffna, Mr. Rock saw first hand the fear, isolation and critical unmet needs of IDP children there.
The Special Advisor met with the leadership of the Muslim Community in Batticaloa and elsewhere, and learned of their feelings of isolation and vulnerability. The mission concluded that special efforts should be made to acknowledge the rights and needs of the Muslim Community.
With respect to attacks on civilian areas, the mission called on all parties to respect their obligations under International Humanitarian Law.
In the case of LTTE, the mission reminded it of its obligation to ensure that military assets are not placed in areas where civilians, especially children, can be at risk. It also called on the LTTE not to engage in the use of civilians as human shields.
With respect to the Government, the mission reminded it that it has a responsibility to ensure that no civilians are targeted in military operations.
On these various issues, Mr. Rock sought and received several assurances and commitments by the parties involved.
The LTTE gave him assurances that they would work with UNICEF, commencing immediately, to accelerate the release from their ranks of all children, with the objective of completing that process by January 1, 2007. They also committed to better training for their military commanders in relation to recruitment, and a process of discipline for those who do not comply.
The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), on behalf of its military wing Karuna, undertook to publish formal policy statements forbidding under-age recruitment, and to release any children who may now be in its ranks. The TMVP agreed to work with UNICEF in an effort to trace the whereabouts and arrange the release of those abducted children whose families have complained to UNICEF.
Mr. Rock also received assurances from President Rajapakse concerning the allegations that elements of the Sri Lankan security forces have been complicit with the Karuna faction in its child recruitment, and that they participated in or facilitated child abductions. The President made clear to Mr.Rock that he will order an immediate and thorough investigation to determine whether such things have occurred and, should the evidence support that conclusion, he will take action to hold accountable those who are responsible.
The Special Advisor welcomes all such assurances and will seek concrete evidence of compliance by all parties before the submission of his formal written report to the Security Council in January next year.”
“It is increasingly clear that children are at risk from all sides,” said Rock. “It is crucial that ways be found to monitor and protect their rights and interests. Wherever I traveled, I saw with my own eyes that systems meant to safeguard children’s rights are either deteriorating or absent. It is apparent that there is an urgent need for an independent monitoring capacity to ensure that children affected by the conflict are protected,” stated Rock.
Assurances
All three parties namely the GOSL, LTTE and TMVP have given assurances to Allan Rock that they would attend to the issues raised and rectify matters. While welcoming such assurances Allan Rock has explicitly stated that he would seek compliance by all parties before he finalises his report. The Special Adviser to the SGSR will compile a vivid report and submit it to the UN Security Council in January next year.
The ‘faulted’ parties have an opportunity therefore to adopt correctional measures in the next few weeks and re-furbish their images. If they think that they could fudge matters as they have done in the past they could be sadly mistaken. The UN Security Council is taking an active and keen interest in issues such as these and has gone in for sanctions. The focus is more on ‘ensuring application’ rather than ‘elaborating standards.’
Congo and Sudan have felt the impact of these new directions. Monitoring and reporting mechanisms are underway in Burundi, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Strategy
Sri Lankan national Radhika Coomaraswamy was designated UN Special Representative on Children in armed conflict to the UN Secretary-General in February this year. Coomaraswamy assumed duties in June. In September she addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In that speech Coomaraswamy outlined the strategy and goals of the UN in addressing this issue.
Four relevant paragraphs from Radhika Coomaraswamy’s address are excerpted below:
“In the last years my office has advocated a re-direction of the international community’s energies from the elaboration of standards to ensuring their application on the ground. One of our great successes has been to engage the Security Council in a serious consideration of these issues.
“The Security Council itself has moved from general statements on protection of war affected children to the endorsement of the Secretary-General’s monitoring and reporting action plan. This involves the adoption of the monitoring and reporting mechanisms in Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, DRC, and Cote D’Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Nepal in order to provide the council sufficient timely, objective, accurate and reliable information to call violating parties to task and to take appropriate action, including sanctions, against repeat violators.
“Of course, this work is done in close partnership with the United Nations country teams in these countries. Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005) also creates a dedicated Security Council Working Group on children and armed conflict, consisting of all its members, to review monitoring reports, consider other relevant information presented to it, and recommend concrete and targeted measures against violators as well as bring monitoring information to the attention of other destinations for action.
“Under the chairmanship of France, the Security Council working group has held five formal meetings since November 2005; terms of reference of the group have been developed, a yearly work plan developed and two in depth monitoring reports deliberated.
“In June this year my office contributed to the report of the Secretary General on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo with regard to children and armed conflict. Based on the work of the monitoring and reporting mechanism set up under Security Council Resolution 1612, it outlined the violations by several actors including the security forces of the state.
“As a consequence of this report the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict adopted certain conclusions and recommendations including writing to the government of the DRC to ensure that it takes effective action against impunity, urging MONUC to be more proactive in arresting Laurent Nkunda, a gross violator of the rights of children, and in requesting the sanctions committee to take necessary action against the MRC. This was a historic occasion, Mr. President, in that the Security Council has now taken concrete targeted measures against those who continue to violate the rights of children with impunity.
“In August this year my office, in close consultation with the UN Country Team and partners, contributed to the report of the Secretary General on children and armed conflict in Sudan. It highlighted incidents and patterns of violations by state and non state actors including the Janjaweed militias, the Sudan armed forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, Sudan Liberation Army and the Popular Defense Forces. We now await the conclusions and recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on the situation in the Sudan.
“Mr. President, the establishment of the Security Council working group signals, in a very visceral way, the council’s full intention to deepen its engagement on what is, at its very heart, a human rights protection issue with obvious peace and security elements. Furthermore, the creation of the Security Council working group ensures that the protection of children in armed conflict is no longer left to a once-yearly glance during the open debate, but a sustained attention to the issue throughout the year.”
Writing on the wall
If the UN Security Council does pursue these issues with vigour and interest as advocated by Coomaraswamy the writing could be on the wall for countries violating rights of children in armed conflict.
While the LTTE and TMVP will be penalised for conscription the GOSL could be in greater trouble. For one thing an elected, democratic sovereign government has to adhere to higher standards. Also apart from the child soldiers issue there are other aspects too like education, nutrition, health etc. of children in armed conflict. The Rajapakse regime is woefully lacking in these respects.
Unless the Rajapakse regime gets away from its militaristic approach to issues and mends its ways, the GOSL could face strictures like Congo in the future.
Allan Rock’s forthcoming report could determine the future course of events in this respect. Sri Lanka is truly between (no pun intended) a rock and a hard place!
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