Saturday, 07 May 2005

Your Excellency Olara Otunu

Under-Secretary -General 

Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict

United Nations

New York

Your Excellency

Child soldiers and the Tamil Tiger Terrorists

We write to thank you for the follow-up action of the Security Council to adopt a new resolution to impose severe penalties on the parties recruiting child soldiers.

As you are aware, one of the main organizations violating the rights of the children is the LTTE also known as Tamil Tiger Terrorists operating in Sri Lanka. In spite of studies completed and sanctions proposed by UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, Amnesty International etc., the LTTE continues to recruit children as soldiers. 

If the rights of the children are considered to be important as the UN Resolutions specify, it is absolutely necessary to have a mechanism to enforce the declared objectives of the UN. In the case of the Tamil Tigers they have a history of using child soldiers as cannon fodder in the clashes with the Sri Lankan Defence Forces. The LTTE has also gone on a recruitment drive and an abduction binge to beef up their cadres depleted by the tsunami.  UNICEF has stated that more than 1600 children have been abducted or conscripted to join the LTTE from tsunami relief camps. Since signing of the Ceasefire Agreement with the Sri Lankan Government in 2002, the LTTE has recruited nearly 3,500 children according to authoritative human rights organizations. There are stories in the latest Save the Children report of molestation of both young boys and girls who are in LTTE captivity.

Besides, Your Excellency will recall that the LTTE has openly rebuffed your genuine efforts to halt this war crime. The agreement signed between your Excellency and the LTTE is in tatters. This wilful rejection of the UN agreement by the LTTE questions the will of the UN to implement its own agreements and commitment to protect the helpless Tamil children. The failure of the UN to pursue its declared objectives with a firm commitment to protect the child victims of the LTTE is apparent to anyone who witnesses the LTTE leadership travelling abroad with impunity and scant regard for guardians of human rights in the UN and other allied agencies. 

Your Excellency will agree that since agreements, resolutions and warnings issued by the UN have failed, the time has come for the UN to act decisively to send a clear signal to the LTTE and other predators of children. The LTTE should not be allowed to get away with war crimes. It is obvious that only the implementation of the severe penalties available to the UN can halt these crimes against children. 

One of the arguments touted to prevent implementation of firm action against the LTTE is that it will hinder the “peace process”. This is the line touted by Norway, which is seen increasingly as a partisan player trying to cover up the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the self proclaimed one-man ruler of Tamils, Prabakaran. 

It is quite apparent that giving all the concessions to the LTTE so far has not put a halt to forcible child recruitment, or made it a willing partner in the peace process. In April 2003, without reason, it walked out of the internationally guaranteed Oslo Accord and now, Anton Balasingham has openly declared that they are not bound by it. 

We believe that the LTTE can be made to observe the basic human rights only if the international community and the UN exerts maximum pressure. Since all avenues explored by the UN have failed so far we urge Your Excellency to take all required steps without any further delay to STOP RECRUITMENT OF CHILDREN AS SOLDIERS and take effective and meaningful steps to bring to book these criminals perpetrating war crimes. 

We also thank you for refusing recently to meet a LTTE delegation on this subject as their intention was purely to gain much needed publicity for their political gains.

Yours faithfully,

Dr D Jayasuriya

President

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka (SPUR)

Reg No. A 003 07777 M

PO Box 4066

Mulgrave    VIC 3170

Australia

URL of the Media Release is http://www.spur.asn.au/SPUR_20050507_Media_Release_Olara_Ottunu.htm