Family care vital for ex-child combatants, orphans

By Manjula Fernando

Former Chairperson of the National Child Protection Authority and consultant to the Ministry of Child Development, and a very vociferous child rights activist Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne speaks of her own experiences with ex-child combatants and war orphans. She emphasizes the urgent need to review the existing adoption laws to find these innocent 'nobodies children' a family to care for instead of dumping them in institutions.

"The laws could be expanded to include more families qualifying to adopt children. Improved and expanded monitoring system would prevent any exploitation or abuse. In any case it is well-known that children in institutions are very vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and neglect."

Sri Lanka is recovering from a bitter prolonged conflict. One of the biggest issues were rehabilitation of ex child-combatants. As a child rights activist who has had vast experience on the subject would you call this effort a success?

After these ex-child soldiers have completed one year of rehabilitation, they were released to their parents. These children have been surrendering over the last two years. It started few years ago with small numbers. But when the war was over, all of them surrendered.

There were about 600 child surrendees (230 girls and 360 boys) in May 2009 and after.

According to the UNICEF database set up in 2003, there were 6000-7000 children with the LTTE. This may not be the actual number. The actual numbers could be much higher.

Something we must keep in mind is that this war in a sense was fought mainly by children, children between 10-12 upwards. They were forcibly recruited by the LTTE due to various reasons. They had no power in these areas to resist, some were from poor families, some were school dropouts.

Actually it is not unusual because in many other parts of the world, particularly in conflict ridden Africa and even in Nepal, it is the children from under privileged families who are recruited. The parents lack power to resist and object.

During 1983 - 2002, 60 per cent of the fighting cadres of the LTTE were children under 18 years. This continued even after the Ceasefire Agreement was signed.

One of the greatest triumphs for Child Rights is that after May 2009, no child has been forcibly recruited to conduct barbaric acts of violence.

None of these children (child soldiers) who surrendered have undergone any indictment or not found fault with any crime, because we have regarded them as victims of the circumstances, even though many of them have killed a lot of people.

I know this because I worked with them throughout the rehab process.

It was a fact that they were forced to do so against their will by the LTTE.

Some of them were recruited very young and they learned to kill as child combatants. They have killed people as teens. One third of the surrendees were females. Some of them were in active combat operations, some were helping in the camp, some had been doing police work in Kilinochchi.

While being with the LTTE they were not allowed to maintain any contact with their parents. I would say it is one of the worst and most brutal forms of child exploitation and abuse, shutting out contacts with family and parents is a blatant violation of basic human rights.

They were taught to kill and perform very serious offences. It was a very sad situation. Many organizations tried to stop child conscriptions. But their whole strength was these children. The LTTE did not stop it.

Personally I'm so happy about the conclusion of the war. I know it has brought peace to the rest of the country but to my mind the greatest thing is that it has stopped this practice of forcible child recruitment. The children were helpless.

Of course, there were other pull-factors, when children are in there teens, they get carried away, by the feeling of wearing a uniform and holding a gun. They also had three square meals, these are things that matter for children from under privileged families. These children told me that the LTTE fed them very well which was hardly the case in their home fronts.

After the rehabilitation period they were really happy. When they came to the rehabilitation centre the first thing we did was establish contacts with their parents. The ICRC was very much involved in this.

Some families could not be located and some were sick. But by and large we managed to find their parents. This was very important. In some instances the parents did not even know if their children were alive or dead. Finally when they saw each other it was a very emotional experience.

There were two rehabilitation centres for child soldiers in Poontottam, Vauniya and at Hindu College, Ratmalana. Children who has had basic education and ready to sit for their GCE Ordinary Level and Advanced Level were accommodated at Ratmalana Hindu College. They had been recruited during the final stages of the battle. The children who went to Poontottum was the ones who had dropped out of schools because of this situation. They were the most deprived lot.

It should never have happened but at least now we know that it is over.

Q:Are you satisfied that they are now fully rehabilitated and sending them back does not pose any threat to the society?

A:No. As they came to the centres, I used to interact with them. Young people and children are not like older people. They have a certain resilience and coping capacity. So very quickly they settled down to classes. It was amazing. We gave them literacy classes, vocational training.

Q:How did you deal with the psychological trauma. There must have been disturbing memories?.

A:Psychological trauma was there. For instance we had special teams to go and talk to these children. Particularly in Ambepussa centre. Again it was not the same for everyone. There were few who had deep emotional and psychological trauma, but some not to that extent. But I am hopeful that given an opportunity to return to normal environment, to their families to live in their own community, it will be very healing to the children.

Moreover, the fear of recruitment is not there now. Many ex-combatants were keen to lead normal lives, some wanted to go abroad and some wanted to get married. Their aspirations varied.

Incarcerating these children indefinitely is also damaging. There are various civil society groups and also UNICEF helping them find their own feet in the society, the reintegration process is still continuing.

One girl told me that now they can walk around without fear. By the manner in which they did their examinations and training at the rehab centres, I really have hope that they will become good citizens despite the deep scars inflicted by their past agonizing experiences.

Q:Did you got a feed back on the children who were re-integrated?

A:We have not done any surveys as such but we may undertake to do something like that in the future. At some point we need to re-visit those children and see how they are faring. The contact details are all there.

Quite a lot of boys wanted to go abroad but they cannot go until they are 18. The girls were 'easier' actually. They were happier to go back. Some of them were getting ready to marry and some wanted to get back to school. I was even surprised that some who were in their 20s wanted to resume their schooling, we had to find alternative study opportunities like vocational training for these children.

Q:What was the response from the society towards these ex-child soldiers?

A:The response was much better than we expected. But there were a few children who did not want to go back to their home towns. There was this particular girl, she was bit older about 26 years, she did not want to go back. She wanted to go to her relatives' living close to Colombo. Some wanted to get their passports and find overseas jobs.

We tried our best to accommodate their wishes without forcing them to go back.

Q:Who were actively involved in the re-habilitation process?

A:Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, at the outset it was the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Yes, UNICEF was very much involved in the program.

Before 2008 there was only one law in Sri Lanka to address rights of children and women. But in December 2008 a new gazette that specially covered children was introduced.

And we tried to confirm to the UN convention on the rights of the child and 'Paris Principles' When we did the new gazette for children the UNICEF and the Child protection Authority was involved. The policy framework was actually done by the authority, putting down the policy guidelines. Many other organizations were also involved.

Q: There were nearly 600 war orphans according to State data. They are being cared for in children's homes. In your opinion could this be the best solution?

A:These war orphans had been put in orphanages in Mannar and Vauniya.

They are run by private parties but under State supervision.

Department of Probation and Childcare is very much involved in their well-being. So these children are certainly getting protection. They go to school. But of course where orphans are concerned it is sad because they lack a family.

I have been discussing with the Commissioner of Probation and Child Care on the need to modify our adoption laws. The policies regarding adoption are somewhat strict. It has been done with the best interest of the child in mind. But I would strongly advocate reviewing them and bring in modifications to support adoption process. Without keeping orphans in institutions it is best to find them a family.

The laws could be expanded to include more families qualifying to adopt children. Improved and expanded monitoring system would prevent any exploitation or abuse. In any case it is well-known that children in institutions are very vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and neglect.

There is a big demand from Sri Lankan diaspora, both Sinhalese and Tamils, to adopt orphans. I cannot say for certain but the numbers are in the hundreds. Our laws have been a deterring factor for these prospective foster parents.

There has to be certain guidelines and conditions but providing a family is far better than keeping children in an institution.

A very successful foster parenting scheme was introduced for orphans after the boxing day tsunami in 2004. The tsunami left us with about 600-700 orphans and a further 7000 children with just one parent. Our program proved to be very successful.

We must also take into account our cultural values. Our culture is such that the extended families in most instances come forward to look after the children.

If they are given some assistance and support definitely the children would be far better off under their care.

Just dumping them in an orphanage is not the best way out, because by the age of 18 these children must find their own way, they must leave the orphanage. If they don't have a family to turn to, where can these children go?

Q:Will these foster parents agree to adopt overage children?

A:Usually people like to adopt babies and small children. Some of these war orphans range from 4 to 6 years of age. When there is a request for adoption we are trying to get war orphans into the picture. There is a positive attitude now.

The law must also support this development. They are protected in an orphanage but that's not a solution.

Once a head of UN body in Colombo, approached me for help. She wanted to adopt a Sri Lankan child. The lady who was in her 40s had her own child but she was a divorcee.

According to our law being a divorcee is a disqualification for adoption. Her case was really unfortunate. I think the law must give space for individual assessment without clamping down a blanket ban.

Pic: Sulochana Gamage