[child-rights] Sri Lanka: Karuna group abducts children for combat

Government Complicit in Forced Recruitment of Young Tamils

(New York, January 24, 2007) -- With the complicity or willful blindness
of the Sri Lankan government, the Karuna group has abducted and forcibly
recruited hundreds of children in eastern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch
said in a report released today.

The Karuna group, led by V. Muralitharan, a.k.a. Karuna, a former
commander with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), split from the
Tamil Tigers in 2004 and now cooperates with the Sri Lankan military in
their common fight against the LTTE.

In the new 100-page report, "Complicit in Crime: State Collusion in
Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group
(http://hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0107/)," Human Rights Watch documents
a pattern of abductions and forced recruitment by the Karuna group over
the past year. With case studies, maps and photographs, it shows how
Karuna cadres operate with impunity in government-controlled areas,
abducting boys and young men, training them in camps, and deploying them
for combat.

"The Karuna group is abducting children in broad daylight in areas firmly
under government control," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights
Watch. "The government is fully aware of the abductions but allows them to
happen because it’s eager for an ally against the Tamil Tigers."

Based on research in Sri Lanka, including areas where the Karuna group
operates, the report features testimony from two dozen family members of
boys and young men abducted by the Karuna group. They described armed
Karuna members forcibly taking their brothers, nephews and sons from their
homes, workplaces, temples, playgrounds, public roads, and even a wedding.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has documented more than
200 cases of child recruitment by the Karuna group in Sri Lanka’s
eastern districts, where the group is active. But the real number is
certainly much higher due to underreporting.

Children are not the only targets. Human Rights Watch found that the
Karuna group has abducted and forcibly recruited hundreds of young men
between ages 18 and 30. Human Rights Watch knows of only two cases in
which the Karuna group abducted girls. It generally targets poor families,
and often those who have already had a child recruited by the Tamil
Tigers.

At least since June 2006, and probably before, the Sri Lankan government
has known about the Karuna abductions. The districts of the east where
they have taken place are firmly under government control, with myriad
military and police checkpoints and security force camps.

"After years of condemning child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers, the
government is now complicit in the same crimes," said Jo Becker, child
rights advocate at Human Rights Watch, who has written extensively about
the Tamil Tigers. "The government’s collusion on child abductions by
the Karuna group highlights its hypocrisy."

In one incident in June 2006, the Karuna group abducted 13 boys and young
men, holding some of them for a while in a shop across the street from an
army post. Some of the parents pleaded with the soldiers to intervene. Two
soldiers spoke with the Karuna group members, parents told Human Rights
Watch, but the soldiers did not stop the abduction.

On the same day in another village, soldiers from the Sri Lankan army
gathered seven boys and young men in a field, checked their IDs, and took
their photographs. Members of the Karuna group arrived that night and
abducted four of the seven, although it remains unclear in this instance
whether the army forces were deliberately acting in collusion with the
Karuna group.

After abducting boys and young men, the Karuna group often holds them
temporarily in the nearest office of its political party, the Tamil Makkal
Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), which are routinely guarded by the Sri Lankan
military or police. Parents told Human Rights Watch that they either saw
their abducted sons in these offices or TMVP officials confirmed to
families that they had been there.

After a few days, the Karuna group usually transfers abductees to one of
its camps in the jungle about 10 kilometers northwest of Welikanda town in
the Polonnaruwa district, about 50 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa
town. Welikanda is where the Sri Lankan Army’s 23rd division has its
base. The area is firmly under government control, as is the main A11 road
from the eastern districts to the Welikanda area. Travel through the area
necessitates passing through numerous army and police checkpoints, and
transporting abducted youth to the camps would have been impossible
without the complicity of government security forces. The Karuna camp at
Mutugalla village is near a Sri Lankan army post.

"Not only do government forces fail to stop the abductions, but they allow
the Karuna group to transport kidnapped children through checkpoints on
the way to their camps," Becker said.

Human Rights Watch said that the Sri Lankan police are also complicit in
their unwillingness to seriously investigate complaints filed by the
parents of abducted boys and young men. In some cases, the police
reportedly refused to register parents' complaints. In other cases, the
police registered the complaint but failed to undertake what the family
considered a proper investigation. In no known case did the police secure
the child’s release.

In a November interview with Human Rights Watch, Karuna denied allegations
that his forces were abducting or recruiting children. He said his forces
had no members under age 20, and that they would discipline any commander
who tried to recruit a person under that age. He subsequently made
commitments to the UN to issue policy statements banning child
recruitment, to release any child found among the Karuna group’s
ranks, and to provide UNICEF with access to his camps.

On January 2, 2007, the TMVP, Karuna’s political party, provided
UNICEF with regulations for its military wing, stating 18 as the minimum
age for recruitment, and specifying penalties for members who conscript
children.

There is no sign yet that these commitments are being honored. Local human
rights activists and international agencies report that the Karuna group
continued to abduct boys and young men in November and December 2006.

In November, after UN envoy Allan Rock raised allegations of government
complicity in Karuna abductions, the Sri Lankan government promised an
investigation. Instead, government and military officials launched attacks
against Rock’s credibility.

"The government must stop making excuses and launch a serious and
impartial investigation of government complicity in Karuna crimes," Adams
said. "If the government won’t investigate, then it must allow an
independent, international inquiry."

The LTTE has long abducted children into its forces, and used them as
infantry soldiers, intelligence officers, medics, and even suicide
bombers. Human Rights Watch documented the practice in a 2004 report,
"Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka."

The new report includes updated information on Tamil Tiger child
abductions and urges the UN to impose targeted sanctions on the group
because of its status as a repeat offender. The UN should insist that the
Karuna group immediately adopt and implement an action plan to end all
recruitment and use of child soldiers, and consider targeted sanctions if
it fails to do so, Human Rights Watch said.

On February 9, a UN Security Council working group on children and armed
conflict is scheduled to consider reported violations against children by
all parties to Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. The working group will
make recommendations for Security Council action.

In the meantime, Human Rights Watch called on the Tamil Tigers, the Karuna
group, and the Sri Lankan government to stop the recruitment of children.
The Karuna group and the Tamil Tigers should immediately release all
children among their ranks.

Human Rights Watch Press release