Tamil children 'being abducted' from detention camps

A number of children in camps for people displaced by Sri Lanka's Tamil conflict have been abducted, international human rights groups say.

The groups say they have verified reports of disappearances in the Vavuniya area and are calling for the United Nations to investigate.

A spokeswoman for the groups, Charu Lata Hogg, said the motives for the abductions were unclear but some children were being questioned about alleged links to the Tamil Tiger rebels, or LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).

Tens of thousands of children were among those displaced in the recent fighting, many finding themselves in government-run refugee camps.

It said it had received verified reports of abductions from camps in and around Vavuniya in the north.

It alleges that groups like the EPDP, PLOTE and the TMVP-Karuna faction - all Tamil paramilitary groups affiliated to the government - have unfettered access to the camps despite the presence of the Sri Lankan military.

"The motive is slightly unclear," said Ms Hogg.

"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.

"In other cases the children have been taken away for questioning for their alleged links to the LTTE, so they are suspected of being former child soldiers with the LTTE."

Without independent scrutiny, it says, children are at risk of human rights abuses, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance