Rock findings and recommendations
Following are excerpts from the report by Ambassador Allan Rock, who visited Sri Lanka recently as a special envoy of the UN under secretary general for children and armed conflicts on a fact-finding mission on child recruitment.

* The ceasefire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE has been seriously hampered by heightened levels of violence. Since early December 2005, violence has escalated dramatically, including military confrontations in the north and east; suicide bombings and claymore mine attacks in all parts of the country; and increased death and injury of civilians.

*. From 1 November 2005 to 30 September 2006, UNICEF received reports of 513 children recruited or re-recruited by LTTE. These figures only represent the number of cases reported to UNICEF, and there were indications that the prevailing security situation might be deterring families from reporting cases.

* Concerns have also been expressed regarding the civil defence training provided by LTTE to civilian communities throughout the north and east. UNICEF received reports of children as young as 16 years being included in the training programmes. School principals and teachers were also required to attend, affecting children's schooling.
Reports were received from Batticaloa, Ampara, Trincomalee and Kilinochchi districts of children not returning after attending the training programmes and it is suspected that they have been recruited.

*. As at 30 September 2006, UNICEF had received 128 reports of children being recruited by the Karuna faction. In the space of one week in mid-June, UNICEF received 30 reports alleging that children had been abducted by the Karuna faction in the areas of Santhiveli, Kiran, Mankerni, Valachchenai and Iruthayapuram (Manmunai North). Only boys were taken. All of the cases involved forced recruitment and abduction, in some cases by armed men who openly identified themselves as members of the Karuna faction.

* During the period from 1 November 2005 to 30 September 2006, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission received 195 complaints of child abductions, including 110 complaints against LTTE, 79 complaints against a non-ceasefire agreement entity (the Karuna faction) and 6 complaints against the Government of Sri Lanka.

* Bombing raids were conducted by the Sri Lankan air force against LTTE positions as part of retaliatory actions of a limited duration, causing death and injury to children.

* In Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts, school attendance rates have decreased in many places because of fear of recruitment and the general security situation.

* The escalation in violence since July 2006 has curtailed access to civilians affected by the conflict in the north and east of Sri Lanka, restricting the delivery of humanitarian assistance and raising concerns about the security of humanitarian personnel…
Recommendations

* I recommend that the Security Council consider expanding its focus and give equal care and attention to children affected by armed conflict in all situations of concern; and to give equal weight to all categories of grave violations beyond the recruitment and use of child soldiers to include the killing and maiming of children, rape and other grave sexual violence, abductions, attacks against schools or hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access for children.

* I encourage the Security Council to continue to call upon parties to prepare concrete time-bound action plans to halt the recruitment and use of children in violation of international obligations applicable to them, and to expand the call for action plans to all situations of concern.

*. I call upon donors to ensure that adequate resources and funding are available to national Governments, the United Nations and partners, for the rehabilitation and reintegration of all children who have been associated with armed forces, and to develop relevant and effective programmatic action that reinforces the rehabilitation and reintegration efforts for children, ensuring long-term sustainability and success of such interventions.

*. I welcome the Security Council's continuing consideration of effective targeted measures against parties to armed conflict who continue to systematically commit grave violations against children in armed conflict in defiance of Council resolutions.

* I encourage State parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child to take measures to support the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, to strengthen national and international measures for the prevention of recruitment of children for armed forces or armed groups and their use in hostilities, in particular by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; enacting legislation that explicitly prohibits by law the recruitment of children under the age of 15 years into armed forces/groups and their direct participation in hostilities.