SRI LANKA: Action Alert

July 18, 2003
 

Survivors' Rights International (SRI) is gravely concerned about the halting of the peace process in Sri Lanka. The rebels suspended talks in April saying that plans for an interim administration were insubstantial. The negotiations have also been affected by a number of killings of rival Tamil politicians and intelligence operatives, blamed on the Tamil Tigers.

The peace process, between the rebel group, the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Sinhalese government promised to end the nineteen year old civil war that till to date has killed about 64,000 people, displaced one million and held back the island's growth and economic development (See SRI's Sri Lanka: Post-conflict Alert). The crisis was initiated when the Tamil Tiger rebels suspended participation in peace talks with the Sri Lankan Government after six rounds of negotiations since agreeing to a ceasefire in February 2002. The peace talks had set out to:

• consolidate the February 2002 ceasefire;
  
• set up provisional administrative arrangements; and
  
• discuss a final political settlement between the Tamil Tigers and the Sinhalese government.
  

The latest round of talks, brokered once more by Norway, held promise till it collapsed after the sixth round. The Tigers had dropped their demand for a separate state and agreed to settle for regional autonomy. The talks had also initiated serious discussions on more detailed security and development issues in the conflict areas and had set up committees to examine rehabilitation needs in war-hit areas, military de-escalation, political questions central to the 19-year civil war. During the third round of talks both sides agreed to share power within a federal system in which the Tamils would have autonomy in the north and east of the country. Progress was also made on the issue of the rehabilitation of child soldiers and the implementation of reconstruction projects.

Disagreements between the two parties began with the issue of the right of return of refugees, which according to the LTTE is a humanitarian issue requiring immediate attention, but which the Sinhalese army considers a security concern. Another snag in the talks was the issue of disarmament of the rebels — a move the Tigers have declared as being non-negotiable. Throughout the talks, the Tigers also expressed dissatisfaction with what they alleged was systematic marginalization of their role in the post-conflict period by the government. SRI is concerned that although there is no immediate threat of war, a halt of peace talks creates a volatile situation in an island torn by years of conflict. It also compromises the possibility of addressing the gross human rights violations that continue to be committed by parties to the conflict.

Facts:

• Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for the past nineteen years;
  
• Until a ceasefire first declared in December 2001, the rebel guerrilla group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), formed in 1976, has been fighting against the Sinhalese government since 1983 for an independent state for the Tamils in the northern and eastern regions of the island;
  
• The LTTE has employed terror tactics, including suicide bombings, and was listed as a terror organization in 2001 by the United Kingdom;
  
• More than 64,000 people have been killed and more than one million displaced persons over the 18 years of fighting;
  
• Several hundred thousand Tamils have fled the island: approximately 66,000 are housed in 133 refugee camps in south India, another 40,000 in camps outside of India and over 200,000 Tamils have sought refuge in the West (www.cia.gov);
  
• Allegations of child recruitment have dogged the Tamil Tiger rebels for years. (Child soldiers as young as nine and 12 years of age, both boys and girls, have been reported fighting for the LTTE for over a decade. In many cases, these children have been forcibly abducted from their parents.) In 2002 alone, international ceasefire monitors stated they had confirmed more than 300 cases of child recruitment;
  
• Sexual violence against women has been perpetrated by the state, including rape;
  
• "Disappearance" of numerous citizens has been perpetrated by government forces in response to LTTE aggression;
  
• Both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government forces are responsible for grave human rights violations;
  
• Some estimates suggest that the government has spent up to 5% of gross domestic product on defence in recent years;
  
• Sri Lanka's once successful tourist industry has also been badly hit by the violence.
  

The Grave Record of Human Rights Abuses:

Child Recruitment and Deployment
There is substantial evidence of the use of children as soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) throughout the Sri Lankan civil war, the youngest reported age being nine. The LTTE reportedly only began to recruit large numbers of women and children to its ranks after it declared war against the 100,000-strong Indian Peace Keeping Force in October 1987. UNICEF estimates that the age of children recruited currently is mostly between 14 and 17. The LTTE claims it restricts its use of children under the age of 18 to training and support functions and does not recruit children under 17.

An assessment of LTTE fighters killed in combat revealed that 40 percent of its fighting force is under 18 years of age. Another study done by a Sinhala researcher, Dushy Ranatunge, indicated that at least 60 percent of the dead LTTE fighters are under 18 and, of these, most are girls and boys aged 10 to 16. A group of LTTE child soldiers who surrendered in October 1998 claimed that 75 percent of LTTE fighters are children. Young Tamil girls, often orphans, have been systematically recruited by the LTTE since the mid-1980s. The LTTE has claimed that this is its way of "assisting women's liberation and counteracting the oppressive traditionalism of the present system." The Sri Lankan military believes that half of the LTTE troops are women called 'Birds of Freedom' by their fellow fighters. Like boys, they receive training and are told stories of glory from Hindu epics about women who battled enemies of the Tamil people. Government sources have claimed women are deliberately chosen as suicide bombers because they may not undergo the strict body searches that men receive at checkpoints. In December 2000, the bodies of 14 girl soldiers were recovered by troops following a confrontation with the LTTE in Jaffna.

Sri Lanka has been suffering under these inhuman conditions for nearly two decades. With such a longstanding history of brutal fighting, grave human rights abuses, and disregard for the rule of law, the road to peace and human rights protections may well be tumultuous. The international community and the leaders of Sri Lanka need to be vigilant in working through contentious issues throughout the peace process and urge that parties to the conflict engage in negotiations to ensure that the ceasefire holds.

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