Radhika and Rock call for sanctions against Tigers

The Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy and Ambassador Allan Rock have appealed to the UN Security Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict to impose targeted sanctions against the LTTE.

The Security Council's Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict met on Friday to consider the reports of the Secretary General on children and armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Ambassador Allan Rock who submitted, to the Working Group, a report on the findings of his fact-finding tour of the island last year, also highlighted according to Unicef estimates, the LTTE have recruited 18,000 children as child combatants since 2001.

He also expressed regret that the LTTE leadership had not honoured a commitment given to him to cease child recruitment by January 1 this year.

Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam who headed the Sri Lankan delegation to the Working Group stressed that the continuing child recruitment by the LTTE is contrary to its own commitments.

Recalling the LTTE's failure to implement the public undertaking given to Olara Otunnu nine years ago and the Action Plan entered into in 2003 with the Unicef to release children in its ranks, Ambassador Kariyawasam welcomed the report, which identified the LTTE as a repeated offender.

He urged the Working Group to heed to the call of the Secretary- General and recommend to the Security Council to adopt targeted measures against the LTTE.

Responding to alleged abductions and recruitment of children by the Karuna Faction, he emphasized that the Karuna Faction was working with the office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and as well as Unicef, the UN Children Agency.

He said the Government condemned alleged abduction and recruitment of children by the Karuna Faction, adding that it would investigate the allegations.

The Government delegation also denied the allegation that the security forces were directly or indirectly involved in child abductions carried out by the Karuna Faction.

The Government delegation stated that those allegations were based on superficial and unverified hearsay material, adding that it could be unsafe for the Working Group of the Security Council to act on such unreliable material. It stressed that the Government had decided to adopt necessary measures to ensure an independent and credible investigation into these allegations.