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Sri Lanka: Whether victims of forced recruitment and extortion by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) can approach the police or government authorities to obtain protection (January 2003 - December 2004)

According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003, the government of Sri Lanka was committed to protecting children but was limited in enacting this commitment by a lack of resources (25 Feb. 2004, Sec. 5).

In early 2003, the National Child Protection Agency, an independent agency set up by the government to investigate and report on child recruitment (HRW 11 Nov. 2004, 68), and Sri Lanka opposition parties "criticized the government for its failure to protect children from LTTE abductions" (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 17 Nov. 2004).

In June 2004, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that children who were recruited by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), along with their parents, have "no recourse to real protection from the Sri Lankan government" (29 June 2004). On 11 November 2004, HRW released a report entitled Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, in which it stated that:

... [L]ocal people do not see the Sri Lankan government as an effective mechanism for child protection in the North and East... (60).

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 (65).

The report also noted that army and police stations in the eastern parts of Sri Lanka are mainly staffed by Sinhalese officers who cannot speak Tamil (HRW 11 Nov. 2004, 66). According to the senior superintendent of police of Trincomalee, "parents would feel more comfortable reporting complaints in their own language" (ibid.). Other reports noted that parents often do not come forward and report incidents of child recruitment by the LTTE because they fear LTTE retaliation (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 17 Nov. 2004; BBC 7 Oct. 2003).

Arrests

The only reports found of arrests made in connection with LTTE child recruitment dealt with the arrest of two LTTE female fighters for forcibly recruiting two female children (AFP 17 Feb. 2003; Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 17 Nov. 2004). Information on the outcome of these arrests could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Government Initiatives Against Child Recruitment by the LTTE

As mentioned above, the National Child Protection Agency was established to investigate and report on child recruitment (HRW 11 Nov. 2004, 68). It is one of two such agencies, the other being the National Human Rights Commission (ibid.). According to HRW,

[b]oth agencies are woefully under-funded and receive little support from the government for their activities. ... 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. ...

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 (ibid.).

In 2003, the LTTE and the Sri Lanka government came together and formally agreed to the terms of the Action Plan for Children Affected by War, which was intended to end child recruitment (ibid., 7). One part of this plan involved the opening of three transit centres that would provide affected children, particularly in the north and east of the country, with vocational training, education, health care, and psychosocial care, among other things (ibid.). One centre opened in October 2003 and provided its services to only 172 children throughout its first year (ibid.). The other two centres were built, but never opened due to the low number of child soldiers that were demobilized (ibid.; see also Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 17 Nov. 2004).

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003 indicated that in 2003, the government also "began participation in an inter-regional project aimed to prevent and reintegrate children involved in armed conflict. The project was sponsored by the International Labor organization's International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor" (25 Feb. 2004, Sec. 5). Information on the status and effectiveness of that project could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Relocation

The November 2004 HRW report also stated that relocation to southern parts of the country and to larger, government-controlled towns in the east may provide some protection against LTTE recruitment, but that such a relocation is beyond the means of many rural families, which are poor and do not have the resources to accommodate such a move (11 Nov. 2004, 43, 67).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 17 February 2003. "AFP: Tamil Tigers Order Work Strike After Arrest of Two Women LTTE Fighters." (FBIS-NES-2003-0217 19 Feb. 2003/WNC)

BBC. 7 October 2003. Frances Harrison. "Outrage Over Tiger Child Soldiers." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3170692.stm> [Accessed 2 Dec. 2004]

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. 17 November 2004. Child Soldiers: Global Report 2004. "Sri Lanka." <http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=878> [Accessed 2 Dec. 2004]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2003. 25 February 2004. "Sri Lanka." United States Department of State. Washington, DC. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27951.htm> [Accessed 2 Dec. 2004]

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 11 November 2004. Vol. 16, No. 13(C). Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. <http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/srilanka1104/srilanka1104.pdf> [Accessed 2 Dec. 2004]
_____. 29 June 2004. "Sri Lanka: Tamil Tigers Again Abduct Child Soldiers." <http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/28/slanka8976.htm> [Accessed 2 Dec. 2004]

Additional Sources Consulted

Dialog.

The Forum for Human Dignity, in Colombo, did not respond to a letter requesting information.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, in Colombo, did not respond to a letter requesting information.

Human Rights Lawyer, Colombo.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, in Colombo, did not respond to a letter requesting information.

Unsuccessful attempts to contact the Centre for Human Rights and Development, in Colombo.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International (AI), European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), Freedom in the World 2004, Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), University Teachers for Human Rights (in Colombo).

Topics: Tamil, Militias, Forced conscription,