Thaindian News

London, July 28 (IANS) Despite the end of hostilities, children in Sri Lanka continue to be at risk of forced recruitment, arbitrary detention and other human rights abuses, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers said Tuesday.
In a new briefing to the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the Coalition urged the Sri Lankan authorities to act immediately to protect conflict-affected children.

Children are among dozens of people who have been detained by security forces in internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Vavuniya, in the island’s north, apparently for their alleged links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In one case in June, a group of four or five girls and boys from a camp in Menik Farm were reportedly detained and questioned by the military.

One of the girls admitted that she had been with the LTTE for two days. The children were subsequently taken away and there has been no news of them since.

Said the director of the Coalition, Victoria Forbes Adam: “Given the background of large-scale disappearances in Sri Lanka, there are grave fears that some of the reported incidents of children and adults being removed from IDP camps may represent enforced disappearances.”

The Coalition has received reports of continued abductions for ransom and forced recruitment of children by pro-government armed groups.

“The end of the 25-year-long conflict represents a unique opportunity to release and reintegrate all former child soldiers and to assist thousands of other conflict-affected children in Sri Lanka,” Adam said.

“It will take concerted and coordinated efforts by Sri Lankan authorities and the international community to ensure that this opportunity is not squandered,” she added.