2009   2008   2007   2006   2005   2004   2003

CPA Press release on 3 February 2007

Child Protection Authority
Kilinochchi

3 February 2007

Implementation of the underage recruitment part of the Child Protection Law –

in LTTE areas

Following the introduction of the Child Protection Law in the areas administered by the LTTE, the Child Protection Authority (CPA) was strengthened to monitor the implementation of the Child Protection Law. The immediate focus of the CPA has been to prevent underage recruitment as stipulated in the law.

Following the introduction of the Child Protection Law in the areas administered by the LTTE, the Child Protection Authority (CPA) was strengthened to monitor the implementation of the Child Protection Law. The immediate focus of the CPA has been to prevent underage recruitment as stipulated in the law.

CPA is happy to report the completion of the implementation of this aspect of the law in the northern districts that are administered by the LTTE. CPA has worked closely with the LTTE and UNICEF to achieve this. The work put in by all three bodies towards this effort is very much appreciated. Some issues remain to be resolved and these are the subject of on going discussions with UNICEF as described later in this press release. The status of the release of and the prevention of recruitment of underage youths is first described below.

Northern districts

Release: After an accelerated process of release there remain less than 50 cases in the database of under-17-year-olds to be traced and released, which the CPA is pursuing. In fact there is less than this number in the UNICEF database. UNICEF of course holds on to a further 40 cases of youths released to a vocational training centre thus boosting the number in the UNICEF database to more than 60. The cases of youths training at this vocational centre are one of the subjects of ongoing discussions with UNICEF.

Recruitment: The list of new recruitment during the months of November and December 2006 handed to the CPA by UNICEF has only 17 cases of under-17-year-olds recruited by mistake and all of them have been released resulting in no one under the age of 17 being recruited since November in the northern districts.

Yet, even in the northern districts UNICEF database does not reflect this effort and achievement because of the difference in the minimum age of recruitment set at 17 in the Child Protection Law and at 18 by the UN.

Eastern districts

Release: There are 142 cases from the three eastern districts of under-17-year-olds that the LTTE undertook to release which the CPA is still working on. The delays are caused by lack of access and communication which has only becoming worse over time.

Recruitment: The list handed over to the CPA by UNICEF, of new recruitments in the months of November and December 2006, is very intriguing. The list has 34 cases of recruitment of under-18-year-olds and all except three of the cases are from GoSL areas and not LTTE areas of Batticaloa and Ampara.

The accessibility for CPA of the east in general is very difficult and to GoSL areas in particular is extremely difficult. CPA is therefore unable even verify the authenticity of cases of alleged recruitment by LTTE in GoSL areas. UN bodies are also fully aware that underage recruitment by other groups with tacit support of the GoSL is very prevalent in GoSL areas in the east.

Differences in the minimum age

The difference in the minimum age, of seventeen set in the Child Protection Law and of eighteen by the UN, is one of the issues of ongoing discussions. CPA is of the view that the hard work that has gone into achieving what has been achieved in the northern districts ought to be acknowledged in order to move forward in this issue.

CPA discovered very early in its work the difficulties in implementing the law in the eastern districts due to access and communication difficulties. CPA has not given up its efforts in the eastern districts. However, the ongoing attacks by the GoSL forces have made CPA’s work even harder.

Judging the performance

The ability and determination of the CPA to implement the law must therefore be judged from what has been achieved in the northern districts.

UNICEF’s position of judging the progress made in this issue by using 18 as the minimum age and also including eastern district cases is therefore a misrepresentation of the efforts and the results of the CPA and is totally unjust. By denying what has been achieved in the northern districts, UNICEF and other UN bodies will fail to promote child rights and be guilty of using Optional Protocol as a propaganda weapon.

This concern that the underage recruitment is more a political weapon against the LTTE rather than a child rights issue is further reinforced by the process that was used to write the 1612 report, under Security Council Resolution 1612 on Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC). This is explained below.

The Secretary General’s report on CAAC in Sri Lanka under 1612

On 15 January, Secretary General’s report (SG-report) was released as required under Resolution 1612 of the Security Council.

On 10 January, LTTE received from an official UN channel, a draft of this report titled, “Sri Lanka report final 20 December”.

LTTE also has in its possession the “confidential” 1612 report by the Sri Lanka 1612 Task Force appointed by UN and based in Colombo. LTTE obtained this TF-report through undisclosed sources.

The layout of the draft SG-report received by LTTE is exactly same as that of the TF-report. Clearly, the draft SG-report was written based on the TF-report. However, there were several insertions and omissions going from the TF-report to the draft SG-report creating an acute bias against the LTTE. LTTE wrote to the concerned UN representatives about this on 12 January, citing the TF-report as well.

In the final SG-report released on 15 January, the layout but not the contents of the draft SG-report was changed. Thus the exact match in layout between the draft SG-report and the TF-report was removed in the final SG-report. This modification was done between 12 and 14 January in a hurry!!

The Security Council will be meeting on 8 February to discuss CAAC in Sri Lanka and will use this acutely biased SG-report for its deliberations.

03 February 2007

Print this

Email this