SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario M1P 4Z7 Canada
Website: www.sluna.org E-mail: sluna@idirect.com MEDIA RELEASE January 25, 2007

Human Rights Watch Report dated January 24, 2007 re State Collusion
In Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group - Sri Lanka

We wish to state at the outset that we have applauded the previous research and reports of the Human Rights Watch organization on the mass scale abduction and child recruitment by the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and their extortion of members of the Tamil Diaspora in Canada and other Western countries to launch their final war to establish their mono-ethnic Tamil separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. We have been most impressed by the fearlessness and genuine interest of the key members of HRW in safeguarding the human rights of all individuals and especially that of children who are more susceptible to abuse.

We have made a quick study of the 100 page report released on the 24th of January, 2007, and make haste to submit our observations on several aspects which we found to be lacking necessary proof, and in some instances contradictory or inconsistent.

Alleged Abduction of Children by the Karuna Group:

The Karuna Group led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna, who was the Senior Military Commander of the LTTE, broke away from the latter armed terrorist movement with several thousand loyal personnel under his command in 2004, and also form a new political party called the TMVP. This move complicated the situation in the east, with the LTTE hunting down Karuna's supporters including their family members, giving rise to much hatred and a shadowy war between these two rival groups. In fact, Amnesty International in their report of February 2006, stated that the east was always volatile, but that after the split in the LTTE a climate of fear spread throughout the region with an escalation of human rights violations mainly due to the LTTE seeking to wipe out any dissent from within the Tamil community.

One of Karuna's first acts in 2004 was to release nearly 2,000 child soldiers in his ranks to move back in with their families. HRW points out that Karuna once again began to abduct children into his forces from around June 2006, where they attempt to link some members of Sri Lanka's Army as having been complicit in two separate abductions carried out in that month. According to evidence contained in the report, the affected families have stated that Karuna's people were accompanied by men carrying weapons dressed in Sri Lanka Army uniforms. It has also been said that Karuna's men also wore Sri Lanka Army uniforms and carried weapons when they visited the villages to forcibly recruit children and adults to their fighting units. This does not clearly prove that Sri Lanka Army personnel had participated as it could well have been Karuna's people dressed in army outfits.

Alleged Complicity in Abductions by the Government:

According to UNICEF data, they had recorded 208 complaints of children and adults having been abducted by the Karuna Group in 2006, which HRW guesstimates could be three times higher due to victimised families fearing to lodge reports. Evidence received by HRW states that the abductees were first held in political offices operated by the TMVP in the townships, which were guarded by Sri Lankan Security Forces personnel. Appeals made by the affected families to the army personnel on guard duty to intervene and obtain the release of their respective children or other family members were not acted upon by the security personnel. It has also been stated that the children and adults so abducted had signalled to their families to leave in order to prevent any harm to any of the parties concerned. In the circumstances, as the abductees very likely did not disclose their real situation to the Army personnel, the guards would find it difficult to act in such a situation especially as the forces are under orders not to be confrontational in order to adhere to the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE signed with the blessings of the international community. They cannot be accused of complicity or collusion, as they have used their discretion based on what they gathered at the time, though not aggressively enough as desired by sympathetic observers.

It is the policy of the government to provide security to all irrespective of their political leanings. All political offices of the various parties are provided with armed guards by the state. Even the LTTE which has been engaged in a protracted armed insurgency extending over two decades battling the government is provided with security for their political offices in government controlled areas, although the LTTE is using same for covert operations and manipulating the resident Tamil community. The LTTE in fact has sought and obtained government military protection for their leaders to move across government controlled areas to their military camps in the east.

Movement of abductees to Karuna's Jungle Training Camps:

The report points out that the abductees are moved from the political offices in the eastern townships to Karuna's military training camps located in the jungles of the Polonnaruwa district which is about 50 km away, and approximately 10 km from the Sri Lanka Army Base in Welikanda. It is the contention of the HRW that such a large number of abducted persons could not have been taken past the numerous military checkpoints in between, without the knowledge of the Sri Lankan forces. HRW also assumes that there are no other routes to the jungle training camps other than the main roads with a heavy military presence. Contrary to what is in the report, we cannot rule out the existence of jungle pathways from the villages to Karuna's camps that are far removed from the well patrolled main roads. The security forces cannot arbitrarily remove children accompanied by adults at the check points, unless they reveal their situation when their identity papers are being checked.

Another factor which HRW failed to acknowledge was that the east was highly volatile as noted in the first paragraph, and the region was split between government controlled townships and the countryside being illegally dominated by the LTTE, with no clear cut boundaries and blurred lines marking the no-go zones for the opposing combatants. Contrary to what the HRW spokesperson told the BBC, the government was not in full control of the east and only gained control after ousting the LTTE from Vakarai just last week. Furthermore, the HRW is aware that a series of battles was thrust on the government forces by the LTTE starting with the stoppage of water fed to farmers from Mahaoya ( Mavilaru) in July 2006, and other unprovoked attacks on the Naval Base in Trincomalee, lightning strike on Muttur town, clearing of Sampoor to secure the naval base, attacks on the forward defence lines to the Jaffna Peninsula resulting in the closure of the A9 road. The government and the security forces hands were full to meet the armed actions of the Tamil Tiger Terrorists and bring relief to internally displaced persons who were being used as human shields by the LTTE. Alternate delivery methods had to be put in place by sea despite threats from the Sea Tigers, as the LTTE refused to allow food shipments to Jaffna by road as a counter to the government closing it to civilian traffic from the Vanni region held by the LTTE for security reasons, thereby depriving the LTTE of extorted funds from Tamils visiting their relatives in Jaffna. Added to this, there was natural disasters such as earth-slips caused by torrential rain and floods in many parts of the island to contend with.

All of the major disruptions noted above took place between July 2006 and January 2007, when the reported abductions are said to have taken place. The security forces have had their hands full protecting civilians and safeguarding public assets, whilst risking their own lives from constant attacks aimed at them by the LTTE using anti-personal mines, claymore mines, grenades, mortars, artillery fire, explosives laden vehicles and boats, snipers, suicide bombers and every conceivable weapon in their arsenal. All attacks carried out by the LTTE against civilians and security forces after the CFA of 2002 were in government controlled areas including the capital city of Colombo despite the greater vigilance and larger security force deployed in the capital. Being in control of regions has not enabled the government to prevent these attacks by the LTTE, just as much as the superior forces employed by the USA and some of her allies including Great Britain to bring peace and stability to Iraq has not succeeded in preventing the callous destruction of life and serious violation of human rights of the population at large.

Alleged Inaction by the Police :

The police just as the armed forces have been performing a very difficult task in the face of a violent insurgency mounted by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists to forcibly carve out a separate state for Tamils by dismembering Sri Lanka's sovereign terrain. The report speaks of police failing to record complaints of abductions or failing to take any action. There were other victim families that did not report to either the police, the SLMM, or the ICRC owing to threats or lack of confidence in the authorities.

Considering the ground situation, with the large number of issues to be dealt with, it would have been a case of prioritizing immediate life and death situations over other complaints of missing persons involving a great deal of time and energy, and searches being restricted by 'No-Go' zones put in place by the CFA of 2002. Neither did the police or army have the luxury of men and means to sweep the jungles to apprehend the abductors and rescue the abducted children or adults.

Continued abduction of children by the LTTE:

UNICEF has recorded 5956 abductions carried out by the LTTE for forced recruitment between January 2002 and December 2006, with 1012 of these being children under the age of 15 years which is considered a war crime. In this case too if we were to apply the thinking of the HRW, the number of children abducted would be twice or three times as much, as some families refrain from reporting such incidents for fear of reprisals by the LTTE. The SLMM having investigated the complaints of abductions, ruled that 1743 cases as CFA violations on the part of the LTTE.

The LTTE had earlier given a pledge to the UN Special Representative Olara Otunnu in 1998 to release all child soldiers in their ranks. They have disdainfully scorned the UN and totally ignored their undertaking to release the abducted children, which has finally spurred the UN in 2007 under the new Secretary General to introduce measures that would affect the leaders of this terrorist movement. The LTTE had given similar pledges to UNICEF in 2001 and 2003, but none of which were honoured. The LTTE's supposed humanitarian wing called the TRO even received as much as 30 million rupees from UNICEF to set up half-way homes for rehabilitation of the released child conscripts, which project ended with a fraction of this sum being spent for shabby facilities with a larger portion being funnelled to the LTTE, and the homes remaining vacant as only a token of about 35 child soldiers were set free. The continued abduction of children by the LTTE and failure on the UN's part to have the LTTE fulfill its pledge is a black mark on the organization.

Special UN Envoy Allan Rock:

We are of the opinion that the choice of Allan Rock was a poor one, especially with his previous Liberal Party baggage, where his party had a close relationship with the LTTE's front organizations in Canada for electoral gains in about ten ridings in the Greater Toronto Area which depended on the promised block voting by the Tamil Diaspora in return for soft pedalling Canada's anti-terrorism laws against the LTTE. The exclusion of the LTTE from Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act by the Liberal Party went against the recommendations of Canada's Intelligence Services. It was also a well known fact that the LTTE front organizations paid $7.2 million for purchase of 60 tons of explosives including 10 tons of RDX from the Ukraine, which was used in the truck bombing of the Central Bank in Colombo and packing of 264 suicide suits work by Black Tiger Suicide Bombers to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi of India, President Premadasa of Sri Lanka, several other Sri Lankan leaders, and to kill and maim thousands of innocent civilians in that country. It was also known that 30 percent of the funding for the LTTE was raised in Canada, but the requisite measures to suppress the financing of terrorism with Canadian funds in keeping with Canada's international obligations did not materialize under the Liberals.

HRW had in a four week period obtained testimony from about two dozen families about alleged abductions carried out by Karuna's group, and the supposed failure or inaction of the Sri Lankan Security Forces to intervene and obtain the release of the abductees. The report also states that some youth had volunteered to join Karuna's forces. Karuna has denied any abductions and further stated that his group has not had any help from the Sri Lankan forces except for armed guards at his TMVP political offices. Allan Rock too on his shorter visit to Sri Lanka in November has probably met with some of the same families and the SLMM which had intimated that they too had got wind of the abductions but did not have any conclusive evidence, went with the charge of alleged complicity of members of Sri Lanka's Army in child abductions by the Karuna group directly to the media, basing his findings on mere hearsay evidence.

There is a high degree of possibility that most of the complainants were set up by the LTTE to accuse both the Karuna Group that they seek to liquidate in blood, and at the same time discredit the Government of Sri Lanka which has been raising the child recruitment issue to their detriment. The HRW knows having done other research in respect of extortion of the Tamil Diaspora in Canada and other western countries, that ordinary Tamils are extremely fearful of the LTTE and would not voice their views even though they live 10,000 miles away from the Tiger leader's hole in the jungles of Mullaitivu, as they know of the harm that can come to them and their relatives from this ruthless terrorist organization. What chance have Tamil civilians living in the east of Sri Lanka, next door to the Tiger Murder Machine, to act against the orders of the LTTE?

Government of Sri Lanka and the HRW Report:

The Government of Sri Lanka has clearly expressed its zero tolerance on the question of child recruitment, and has openly declared that such acts by any person or movement will be dealt with the maximum possible punishment permitted by the laws of the state. The government has always sought the help of UN Special Rapporteurs and international representatives to monitor human rights in Sri Lanka. The government and its armed forces are openly encouraging the child soldiers to surrender to the nearest army camp before they may be re-united with their parents and families. The government has permitted organizations such as HRW, Amnesty, UN Envoys such as Allan Rock to freely conduct inquiries at all times.

The government is confident that they have nothing to hide, and has in fact invited an International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIEGP) to monitor their Commission of Inquiry into recent alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka. These eminent persons have been drawn from leading countries such as the USA, UK, Japan, Netherlands, India, EU, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia and Canada.

The HRW has admitted from their own accounts that the police and army did intervene in some instances, but did not pursue the matter to the end. They have pointed out that letters addressed to the President and Minister of Human Rights in November 2006 had not been responded to by these leaders even by January 15, 2007. Considering the huge upheaval that the country went through recently as a result of unprovoked terrorist violence and other natural calamities which affected large sections of the population, it is not unduly late as they relate to very serious allegations that need to be carefully investigated. Furthermore, the credible evidence sought from the UN Special Envoy, Allan Rock has yet to be received. In order to pursue these matters to a satisfactory end, it is necessary that the evidence will stand up in a Court of Law, and that the complainants would cooperate with the authorities in convicting the wrongdoers.

Even granting that the evidence collected by HRW is accurate and not planted by the ruthless Tamil Tiger Terrorists to use innocent Tamil civilians to frame or blame other groups and the government,, we find that HRW has failed to make a distinction between the government adopting an official policy in condoning Karuna's actions if any, and the possible actions or inactions of a few individual security forces personnel in the lower rungs of the organization.

Whilst we have pointed out certain shortcomings in the report based on a four week survey which generated a 100 page report containing evidence from one side of the issue, i.e. the families that have been victimized for whom we too have the greatest sympathy, we still hold the Human Rights Watch organization in the highest regard, as we feel that the HRW is one of the few organizations truly committed to safeguarding the human rights of all people without any bias or other limitation.

Yours very truly,

Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President