COLOMBO, Sri Lanka- In the midst of new fighting between the Sri Lankan government and rebel groups, the United Nations Security Council’s working group on children is meeting today to review the situation of children in the country.  United States based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the United Nations to sanction both the rebels and the government for using or condoning the use of child soldiers.

The HRW press release states that the rebel groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Karuna group (a faction that split from the LTTE in 2004), use child soldiers in blatant violation of international law.  According to the release, the Sri Lankan government should also be held responsible because it fails to investigate cases of child recruitment and abduction.  There are also allegations that the government’s security forces have assisted in child abductions.

In October 2007, the rebel groups signed an agreement to release all of their child soldiers by the end of 2007, however UNICEF reported that at least 196 children were working under the rebels as of the end of January 2008.

According to Jo Becker, child rights advocate at HRW, “the Security Council should punish [the rebels’] brazen violations with concrete action.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – UN: Sanction LTTE, Karuna Group for Child Soldiers – 21 February 2008

International Herald Tribune – Rights group lashes rebels, government over child soldiers as fighting rages in Sri Lanka – 21 February 2008