Obama Take Action: Sri Lankan Government targets Tamil Children

Children abducted from Sri Lanka camps: reports

Thu May 21, 2:16 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – Children are being abducted, with tacit government approval, from camps housing those displaced by Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict, human rights groups charged.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers said it had received verified reports of child abductions from camps in the main resettlement area of Vavuniya, often by paramilitary Tamil groups.

Children as young as 12 have been among those taken, the coalition said, suggesting that the paramilitaries -- who allied with the military in the fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- are being used to identify and weed out former Tiger child soldiers.

The Coalition claims to have received verified reports of abductions of under-18s from camps in Vavuniya, as well as recruitment and re-recruitment of children by paramilitary groups in the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have fled the conflict zone in the north. Without adequate protection, these traumatised and under-nourished children are vulnerable to abduction and other human rights abuses, the Coalition said.

The government has made little progress in establishing procedures for tracing and reunifying unaccompanied and separated children with their families.

Human Rights Watch said that vital issues for the Sri Lankan government include:   

• Providing full access for UN and humanitarian agencies to the detention camps for internally displaced persons and to the battle zone to treat the wounded;
• Stopping all forms of harassment, intimidation and threats against human rights defenders and journalists exposing past or present abuses;
• Ensuring protections against new violations of human rights against the Tamil population and persons the government may suspect of being LTTE members; and
• Addressing longstanding concerns in the Tamil community about discrimination and the government's commitment to treat Tamils as full and equal citizens under the law.

It suspects that anti- Tiger paramilitary groups such as the Eelam People’s Democratic Party and the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam are being allowed into the camps by the Government.

Verification of the claims is all but impossible as the Government is denying media access to the camps.

The reported abductions have added to fears over the fate of the refugees after the Government barred the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations from the camps.

The paramilitary groups have been allowed "unhindered" access to the camps which are tightly guarded by government troops, it said.

The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers is an umbrella group of global organisations which includes Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

"The motive is slightly unclear," said Charu Lata Hogg, a spokeswoman for the groups.

"Some are being taken away for ransom, they've been kidnapped for ransom, and there've been certain negotiated releases where mothers had some jewellery and they could negotiate a release right within the camp," Hogg told the BBC.