Govt. denies HRW charges

By Asif Fuard

The Government has denied allegations made by the New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) which recently accused it for not taking any action against the Karuna faction for abducting and recruiting children for armed conflict.

The Government’s stance on the child soldier controversy comes in the light of the Human Rights Watch releasing its 100-page report accusing the military of collaborating with the Karuna faction to recruit children in its battle against Tamil Tiger rebels.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told The Sunday Times that the New York-based Human Rights Watch lacked evidence to back up its allegations of military support for enlisting child soldiers.

“UN special envoy Alan Rock who visited the country last year said there is credible evidence that the Government is involved in abducting and recruiting children for combat. I am still waiting for Rock’s credible evidence which he has failed to give,” Mr. Rambukwella said.

The detailed 100 page report titled "Complicit in Crime — State Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group,” has interviews with parents and children caught in the midst of the ethnic conflict.

Last Monday evidence of the Karuna group abducting and recruiting children for combat was unearthed when five teenagers who escaped from a Karuna camp surrendered to the police. They were later handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Polonnaruwa SSP Jayantha Wickremasinghe told The Sunday Times that the five children were abducted and then forcibly given weapons training.

The children who were said to be below the age of 19 were reported to have gone missing from their homes in Trincomalee, Dimbulagala and Valaichchenai.

One teenager who was 16 told the police he was abducted by a few armed men who had come in a three-wheeler to the rice mill where he worked. They had tied him and had forced him into the three-wheeler and taken him to a camp in Welikanda, he said.

Last Tuesday six youths from Chavakachcheri were reported to have gone missing during an extensive cordon and search operation conducted by the Army. The youths were suspected to have been abducted by the Karuna faction. The father of a missing youth had lodged a complaint at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC). When the Chavakachcheri police was contacted by The Sunday Times they said they were unaware of six youths going missing.