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XII. Response by the National Government

The government of Sri Lanka has not, until recently, spoken out on the LTTE’s recruitment and use of children, perhaps not wishing to jeopardize the peace process. In spite of ample evidence of child recruitment by the LTTE, the government has taken little action to protect children in government-controlled areas.  The government has effectively abdicated its responsibility to international organizations such as UNICEF, ILO and Save the Children.

The government is admittedly in a difficult situation.  Given the government’s numerous violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the conflict, the Tamil population mistrusts the government and the state security forces.  Another major challenge is that the government’s control over the eastern districts is largely nominal.  A senior government official conceded that the LTTE controls the administration of the East, even in areas under official government control, and that the government has very little influence over what happens in these areas.¹⁹⁹  For instance, while the government of Sri Lanka funds the health, education, and food services throughout the country, in the East even in areas officially controlled by the government, the LTTE controls the distribution of these resources.

The government has, however, done little to address the local population’s suspicions of the state.  For example, security forces in the East, whether army or police, are almost entirely Sinhalese.²⁰⁰  While every station does have some Tamil officers who can investigate and record complaints, there is no question that language—and all that it signifies in this conflict—keeps people from reporting to the police.²⁰¹  The Senior Superintendent of Police of Trincomalee admitted that parents would feel more comfortable reporting complaints in their own language, and that it would be a very good idea to hire more Tamil-speaking officers.²⁰² 

A particular concern is protection for the children released from Karuna’s forces whom the LTTE is specifically targeting for re-recruitment. A senior policeman in Trincomalee told Human Rights Watch that “we can’t provide extra protection for [these] families.”²⁰³ Persons under the government’s authority remain the government responsibility. As one human rights activist told Human Rights Watch, “The state has an obligation to protect its children. Concerned individuals have talked about taking vulnerable children out of the Northeast to provide them with safe haven in the south, but they don’t have the capacity. The government should do that.”²⁰⁴

The Sri Lankan government has yet to convince critics that it can actually protect such children. In October 2000, at least twenty-six Tamil inmates of the Bindunuwewa rehabilitation camp were killed by an Sinhalese mob armed with clubs and machetes. The victims were all former members of the LTTE and were aged between fourteen and twenty-three. The Tamil population saw these killings as further evidence of the government’s lack of concern for their safety. Following lengthy and controversial proceedings, two police officers and three villagers were sentenced to death for the killings, with the remaining thirty-six indictees cleared for various reasons.²⁰⁵ 

According to local and international NGOs, former child soldiers often have difficulty obtaining identity cards from local government offices. “Individuals with identity cards can travel more freely. If you have no card, you are under suspicion,” an international NGO staffer told us.²⁰⁶ The NGO reported that the local government officials are afraid of repercussions from the LTTE for giving identity cards to former combatants. In other cases, local government officials are pro-LTTE, and children and parents are afraid to apply for documentation. The government has the responsibility to ensure that all young people, including former child soldiers, have this protective documentation.

Local observers also suggest that given the past history of government harassment and abuses against former or suspected LTTE members, the government should issue a formal amnesty to all former child soldiers for their participation in the LTTE. Some NGOs report that local communities are fearful of accepting former combatants because they fear government reprisals if the cease-fire breaks down.²⁰⁷ Children under threat of re-recruitment fear that, should hostilities resume, the government might harass or prosecute them.  This keeps them from seeking help from government agencies.  The government has no history of prosecuting former combatants, but the government’s pre-cease-fire history of harassing LTTE members contributes to continuing fears.  The government should not provide amnesty to persons alleged to have committed war crimes, but it should amnesty children whose only criminal offense was their participation in the LTTE. Amnesty would make it much easier for these former child combatants to reintegrate into Sri Lankan society.

In Colombo, the National Child Protection Agency (NCPA) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) are independent agencies established by the government.  Both these agencies, in different ways, have the mandate to investigate and report on the problem of child recruitment.  Both agencies are woefully under-funded and receive little support from the government for their activities.  The National Child Protection Agency has twenty-six staff nationwide, a number far from sufficient to cover the spectrum of its mandate.  The NHRC has been issuing important reports from Colombo, but a visit to its regional offices makes it clear that it is not getting sufficient support.  A member of the NHRC in Trincomalee said that they report regularly to the chair and the NHRC, but do not find out what steps have been taken in follow up.²⁰⁸ 

The NHRC has proposed monitoring the situation in the East in partnership with various international actors.  For such monitoring to be successful, the NHRC would have to be capable of deploying monitors throughout the East.  Monitoring on this scale would contribute significantly to a lessening of the abductions of children, and the attendant intimidation and abuse of parents that is going on now unabated.  But for this to be successful, the NHRC needs the support of the national government and international donors.