|
|
Aren`t children`s lives precious?
Saturday, 1 September 2007 - 8:21 AM SL Time
|
|
|
UNICEF is reported to have taken umbrage over the exposure by the government of the identities of some LTTE child combatants. It is doubtful whether the spin doctors of the government are au fait with the international standards as regards reporting on those unfortunate children. Or, they may have thrown caution to the winds in a bid to gain some mileage by exposing the LTTE`s cruelty to children in the on-going propaganda battle. The identification of child combatants is an offence which is perhaps second in severity only to their forcible conscription in that, once their identities are exposed, they have to live with the stigma attached to their past for the rest of their lives even after rehabilitation. They shouldn`t be made to suffer for no fault of theirs.
The law forbids the identification of an abused child or provision of any clue to his or her identity. The child combatants who are also victims of child abuse must be protected in a similar manner. The consternation of UNICEF over the government propagandists` faux pas is justifiable. The government should have known better!
Similarly, it behoves UNICEF to go the whole hog in liberating child soldiers without confining its campaign to statements expressing concern, reports and other gimmicks. We have enough and more NGOs to do that. They will churn out any number of reports replete with graphics on any subject under the sun if the right price is quoted.
First of all, UNICEF must ensure that the UN Security Council will adopt stern measures to remove the scourge of child abductions, based on its recommendations. Mere listing of perpetrators is the least effective way of delivering children from their clutches. What action has the UN taken against those organisations on its List of Shame for harming children? It has done precious little except firing paper missiles at the organisations concerned, that too half-heartedly. The UN even allows its functionaries in the very countries where those crimes are committed to hobnob with the sympathizers and propagandists of child abductors. What goes on in Colombo is a case in point. They are so influential that when an LTTE leader in the Eastern Province was killed sometime ago, they made the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan issue a condolence message making a mockery of the UN stand on child recruitment. Thus, the UN has been condemning and helping sanitise the LTTE simultaneously.
The UN named Karuna a few moons ago for recruiting children and has remained less vocal on the issue ever since as if it believed that two wrongs make a right. Anyone who harms children, be it Prabhakran or Karuna must be exposed and action taken against him.
UNICEF must go north in a bigger way. It is nothing but plain stupidity for it to seek the LTTE`s help any longer to secure the release of the children in its ranks. The UN mustn`t offer itself to be taken for a ride once again. It blundered very badly by establishing a number of transit homes in collaboration with the LTTE to rehabilitate child combatants. The scheme caved in a few weeks later as the LTTEreneged on its promise to release child soldiers. The need for UNICEF involvement in the North is felt more than ever, as the LTTE is stepping up child recruitment as cannon fodder.
There has been a call from certain quarters for setting up a UN monitoring mission in the conflict zone. But, why don`t they make a concerted effort to jolt the existing UN organs in the country into action without dissipating their energies on controversial projects that will be detrimental to Sri Lanka`s sovereignty?
Let pressure be brought to bear on UNICEF to carry out its duties and functions properly in all parts of the country.
The international community is pressuring the government to ensure the rule of law. There cannot be any argument about that. Disappearances, extra judicial killings, intimidations etc. must cease forthwith. By the same token, an early end must be put to the crimes against children as well. It is intriguing why the international community is fighting shy of championing the cause of children the way it should. Is it that the international do-gooders don`t care whether the rule of law is respected or not as regards children? They just looked the other way, it may be recalled, when two officers from the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) who were pursuing a foreign paedophile in the Northern Province were captured and held by the LTTE. After all, they were too timid to protest against the abduction and detention of two UN employees in the Wanni, weren`t they?
When 17 aid workers were massacred in the Eastern Province, the international community rightly campaigned for a probe and is keeping a vigilant eye on how it is being conducted.
If only it evinced the same interest in saving child soldiers!
|
|
|
Saint
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 5835
Member Profile
|
1 Sep 2007 01:27:27 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Interesting Theme!
Topic and the content have contradicting moments.
... The identification of child combatants is an offence which is perhaps second in severity only to their forcible conscription in that, once their identities are exposed, they have to live with the stigma attached to their past for the rest of their lives even after rehabilitation. They shouldn't be made to suffer for no fault of theirs.
...
The law forbids the identification of an abused child or provision of any clue to his or her identity. The child combatants who are also victims of child abuse must be protected in a similar manner. The consternation of UNICEF over the government propagandists' faux pas is justifiable. The government should have known better!
Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is a legitimate state and it has the right and the freedom to decide what it should do with the underage/juvenile rebels.
GOSL didn't made them rebels but it has the duty-bound burden to rehabilitate these distressed souls.
As a fact, even in highly developed countries with prime civil liberties they don't have what it takes to control the 'personal information' from public when it matters most.
I think SO CALLED EXPERTS should know the origin of this crisis, ltte is the one, who came out with the news of this unfortunate incident and ltte is the abuser.
It is an utter pathetic thing to judge from the middle, let there be correct type of justice.
Edited By - Saint - 1 Sep 2007 02:46:59 GMT |
kiwikanga
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1964
Member Profile
|
1 Sep 2007 02:49:53 GMT Report for Abuse
|
| In Sri Lanka no ones life is precious. Human Life is one of the cheapest and least important things in Sri Lanka. |
elephanthouse
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 234
Member Profile
|
1 Sep 2007 10:08:52 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Saint
Good posting. You made the points which really matter most. |
nirupam
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2867
Member Profile
|
1 Sep 2007 12:09:58 GMT Report for Abuse
|
SLA and rearmed paramilitaries can abduct civilians and dispose them at will with total impunity.
SLA and Military intelligence can kill journalists or MPs and the suspects are ordered to be released by DIG.
The Govt close the supply route to an entire province to starve the population.
The SL AF can bomb the school girls
These are war crimes but these things have been going on for the last 19 months without any proper investigation.
Do these attrocities indicate 'lives precious' under MR presidentcy? |
Joseph
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 165
Member Profile
|
1 Sep 2007 16:31:06 GMT Report for Abuse
|
YES, it is absolutely pathetic that GOSL have been implicated in some human rights issues.
BUT WHAT RIGHT HAS LTTE SUPPORTERS TO HOOT ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES??????
What human rights have they given to their people !!
On 13/7/07-US congress report says
-Human rights violations of GOSL however is pale in comparison to the BARBARITY OF LTTE
Dear LTTE supporters-
-Do not comment on the spec in your oponents eye when you have a log in yours !!
Here is a reminder if you dare to 'forget'
What is this called ?
Is it Extreme selfishness or deceit or hypocrisy or hoodwinking or taking for a ride or fooling of tamils or all of them ?
-OL and AL students to have compulsory training to get killed !
-Children are abducted amid screaming of helpless parents
-Children are threatned to be shot from behind if they don't go forward in the battlefield
-100 children die in LTTE training camps every month.
-14 yr old Kid shot for not joining LTTE
-I went for tooth extraction when I was kidnapped
-Sister killed trying to prevent brothers being abducted
-Child soldier dies of claymore accident
-23 kids abducted in Batti on 28th March and parents chased away
-5368 kids recruited since CFA (UNICEF report)
-7000 tamil kids have already perished on the alter of self determination
-14000 kids injured, amputated or have become psychological wreaks
-University asked to shut
-Principals killed causing chaos in education
-Children 6 and above ordered to join civilian training
-GOSL soldiers guarding tamil students even during exams
-Parents not sending kids to school for fear of abduction
-Kids who refuse are hanged up side down and skin pierced with orange thorns
-Parents sending kids under for protection of HRC
-LTTE cadres wait till dark, force open and take kids away
-Villages attack LTTE cadres who returned the body of a child
-Canadian tamil appeals for kidnapped neice
Can you remember them saying the struggle is because tamil students were deprived of university places !!
Now not only denies the alphabet but also the right to live !
BUT
Prabakarans? kids are studying in UK universities
Tamilselvam?s kids studying in Norway
Nadesan?s kids are studying in UK
Balakumar?s kids are studying in UK
CAN ANY ONE BE MORE CRUEL THAN THIS ??????
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS LIBERATION ?????
Welcome to the freedom land where hell will have better freedom !!
|
|
Search All News and Discussions