UN envoy: Child recruitment continues in Sri Lanka
(December 14, 2009) Sri Lankan children continue to be recruited for combat despite
the end of the country's civil war seven months ago, according to a United Nations
official. Patrick Cammaert - a Dutch general who formerly headed the eastern division
of the U.N.'s Congo peacekeeping forces - told reporters on Friday he had received
reports of “isolated cases” of child recruitment in eastern Ampara district. “It
is unclear at the moment exactly who is doing this. It is in the hands of the police
who are investigating these cases and will take action,” Cammaert said. The government
defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May after a decades-old civil war that killed an
estimated 80,000-100,000 people. The Tigers used thousands of children in their fight
for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils. In 2006 the U.N. Children's
Fund said it recorded 6,000 cases of child recruitment. Since the defeat of the rebels,
hundreds have been lodged in government rehabilitation camps. Cammaert said the children
should be returned to their families as soon as possible. Cammaert said hundreds of
children are still missing and separated from their families, and he urged the government
allow the U.N., Red Cross and aid groups access to displacement camps.