Over Rs. 88 m per month for food:

Businessmen, Tamil diaspora should help rehabilitation

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

The government, which is spending over Rs. 88 million monthly to feed nearly 11,000 youth including children who were misguided and brainwashed by the LTTE to fight for a separate country, is in need of additional funding to make the rehabilitation process more effective.

Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe told the Sunday Observer that the government alone cannot provide all the facilities for them but needs the support of businessmen, Tamils and Tamil diaspora to help them in giving vocational training and support for self-employment once they complete rehabilitation.

“We need financial assistance to give them support to start self-employment to make rehabilitation more meaningful”, he said.

Brig. Ranasinghe said that as a first step towards better integration the words ‘ex-cadres’, ‘child soldiers’, ‘ex-LTTEers’ and ‘surrendees’ had been erased from usage to prevent them from being further stigmatised. “ The adults are now called as ‘rehabilitatives’ and children are called as ‘victims’”, he said.

The Commissioner said that he was confident that except few hardcore LTTEers, the majority of the rehabilitatives would not engage in violence and they had developed hatred towards the LTTE for destroying their lives.

Following are the excerpts from the interview:

Q: How do you define the rehabilitation process where over nearly 11,000 ex-LTTEers are learning to become normal citizens ?

A: The main aspect of rehabilitation is to correct the youth who were misguided by the LTTE, through helping them to boost their self-esteem. Basically we follow the UN style defined for rehabilitation, which is based on giving vocational training aimed at preventing them engaging in violence.

The ultimate goal is to transform these youth to be useful citizens of Sri Lanka who will contribute to develop this country.

The two ‘R’s - rehabilitation and reintegration - are based on two categories, one is children and the other is adults.

As of today, the total number of inmates under rehabilitation is 10,732 which consists of 8,742 males, 1,990 females, 409 children.

Q: Before the presidential election, nearly 700 rehabilitated youth were released to their families. How long it will take to rehabilitate the others ?

A: The duration of rehabilitation is basically depended on their involvement with the LTTE. Some were with the terrorists for few weeks, few months and one year. In addition to the duration, there are some other aspects that we are looking for. There are 1,072 youth who were with the LTTE for less than three months, 876 and 1,174 had stayed with the LTTE for less than six months and less than a year respectively.

Their involvement with the LTTE was for a shorter period and they could be easily rehabilitated. But we need to do an analysis to find out their progress of rehabilitation before taking action to release them.

Our main issue of rehabilitation is correcting the hardcore inmates who need more time to change their minds, which have been brainwashed for years. Their mental situation is not yet set to adjust to the normal situation. They need more time to become normal.

Q: Nine months have already passed and how long do you need to rehabilitate them ?

A: According to guidelines stipulated by the UN, they can be kept for a year to rehabilitate. If they are not rehabilitated and need some more time to adjust their lives, then we have to follow another legal procedure to extend their stay.

We have to get detention orders to rehabilitate them for more than a year.

The CID has already taken statements from the hardcore cadres and issued detention orders. The officials are still identifying hardcore cadres.

The real hardcore LTTEers fled the LTTE on May 15 to 17 of the battle last year. They were fighting until the last and they were the lot who were trained LTTE cadres. They came mingling with the civilians. Some are still staying with the normal cadres and the CID is in the process of identifying them.

Q: Amidst some protests by the Tamil community, over 200 children are given the opportunity to continue their studies in Colombo. How are they coping up with their studies ?

A: They are doing well in studies as well as in sports. We together with the Hindu College authorities are taking maximum efforts to enlighten the lives of 212 girls and boys at the school. They are given the best of facilities. They are getting the opportunity to catch up their missed education and especially the lost childhood.

They thank the government for giving them the opportunity to study in Colombo. They say that they never thought the Sinhalese people would treat them so well as the LTTE gave a different image about the Sinhala people.

These kids are really clever and they have the strength and courage to forget their horrific past and concentrate on studies.

Initially there was a huge disparity between their knowledge and that of an average child because they had completely lost their studies. They are gradually catching up. Though the majority of them are attending lower classes than to their age, they are doing well in the classes.

Now they have become a part of the Hindu College and they are in the college cricket and netball teams.

They have freedom. Their parents and relatives are allowed to visit them. They who never stepped outside Vanni had seen important places like Museum, Zoo in Colombo, giving them the feeling that they are like children in Colombo. They are taken to enjoy the food in popular food parlours.

We are going to have ‘Cricket for change’ with the help of British test cricketers who are scheduled to arrive Colombo in mid March. The UNICEF funded program will train six girls and 18 boys on playing cricket in a professional way. A final match will also be played to show their talents.

Q: There are reports that some of the children whom were released want to return to the school but their parents keep them at home?

A: Yes, these children want to return to Hindu College and Poonthottam camp as they want to study and get further training. But their parents forced them to stay at home as they want them to do cooking, fetching fire wood and looking after their small children at home. As they are not minors I do not have the authority to bring them back. But if they come back with their parents’ blessings we can coordinate with the school authorities to accommodate them as a service.

Q: There are couples who are undergoing rehabilitation and also married cadres. How do you facilitate them in this rehabilitation program, which is mainly aimed at integrating them back with their families ?

A: I believe reintegration begins at home and then it is extended to the society. I mainly want to re-unite these families. The family ties will strengthen their bondage. Then it is easy to integrate them to society.

Yes, there are some couples and over 3,000 married cadres whom we are taking care of. The families of those husband and wife are both in rehabilitation centres are shattered as their children are living with their relatives or friends at IDP welfare centres. A project proposal has been submitted to the IOM which agreed to find donors to set up family parks, where these couples can live with their children until they complete rehabilitation process. This is not a closed camp and daily they need to report to the officer-in-charge and they can follow the vocational training courses. They will be given all medical, schooling and recreational facilities.

The peace villages concept ( Sama Grama) is the other that I am looking forward to set up. There are over 3,000 married cadres. Under this project they will be allowed to live with their families. We plan to set up three peace villages with 200 semi permanent houses in each. There will be a vocational training hub in each village.

These married cadres are worried about the well being of their families, which are moved in poverty. They lack food and other basic while these cadres are living in comfortable environment.

They say that they are lucky to be in the rehabilitation centres as they are getting all what they want.This project will allow their families to enjoy the same facilities. There will be a reporting system and their families are allowed to move from the camps.

Until they are resettled they can stay in the villages and the IOM has also agreed to fund this program.

Q: You said that the words like ‘former child soldiers’, ex-combatants’ and ‘former LTTEers’ are not in your dictionary in your efforts to rehabilitate them.

A: Yes, we have dropped all these words from our vocabulary. I humbly request the society, government officials and also the media to drop these words.

These children are ‘victims’ or ‘victims of Prabakaran’. What will happen when we call them as child soldiers, the word will register in their mind. Instead they will develop stigma. The past will haunt their minds each time they are called child soldiers or ex-combatants.

We always tell them that they are children of Sri Lanka and they are victims. These children are taking this in a nice way.

There was a meeting with the Government Agent of Vavuniya and some Government officials including Child probation officers. I was silently listening to their speeches and they used the word ex-soldiers.

Then I asked them how does the society treat these children differently when the people who are entrusted to protect the children are still calling them ‘child soldiers’.

The need of the hour is to create a situation where the society is ready to accept them - children and also the adults - as normal citizens.

First I call them as ‘rehabs’, then ‘rehabilitatives’ and now I want to call them as ‘rehabilitatees’.

Q: You have already completed nine months rehabilitating these youth. What is your assessment and what are the challenges ?

A: Initially these rehabilitatees looked at us with fear. They had continuous epileptic attacks and cried in fear. We had to do lots of religious and spiritual activities to control their fear. Meditation and music helped us to bring them back to normal. Especially those who were with the LTTE for just six months suffered a lot. They were in shock and all of them had a fear-psychosis about Sinhalese as they were brain washed by the LTTE.

Q: There is no guarantee that the LTTE is completely destroyed and can you give a guarantee that these rehabilitatees will not engage in violence when they go back to society ?

A: We are very confident that those who were with the LTTE for shorter periods of time will not go back to violence.

They have developed an anger with those who conscripted and dragged them away for heavy fighting. They hate the LTTE and curse the LTTE for destroying their lives.

They do not want to have another such ‘disaster’. What the most rehabilitatees want is to lead a peaceful life with their families. They have high hopes for a better future.