Return to War - Human Rights Watch

child soldiers by the LTTE and Karuna group. The statement on the Karuna group said
the working group “[s]trongly condemns the recent recruitment and use of child
soldiers and all other violations and abuses committed against children by the
Karuna faction.” 222 The statement called on the group to end the abduction, use, and
recruitment of children and to engage with UNICEF to release all children among their
ranks.
Human Rights Watch and others, notably UNICEF and Allan Rock, a United Nations
advisor on children and armed conflict, have frequently condemned the Karuna
group’s use of child soldiers, and the Sri Lankan government for tolerating such
abuse. 223 They have all called on the government to take action.
President Rajapaksa and other Sri Lankan officials have repeatedly said the
government would investigate the allegations of state complicity in Karuna
abductions and hold accountable any member of the security forces found to have
violated the law. In a letter to Human Rights Watch sent on May 8, 2007, Sri Lankan
ambassador to the United States Bernard Goonetilleke reiterated the point. He said
the government “unreservedly condemns such abductions, recruitment and use of
children by the Karuna Group and will investigate the allegations made against
individual members of the armed forces and take appropriate action following
investigation.” 224
On June 18, 2007, Human Rights Watch asked the Sri Lankan government to explain
the status of the government’s investigation into state complicity in abductions by
the Karuna group. The government provided no information on the investigation,
222 Statement by the Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, April 11, 2007,
http://www.franceonu.org/article.php3?id_article=1460 (accessed May 12, 2007).
223 See Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka – Complicit in Crime: State Collusion in Abductions and Forced Recruitment by the
Karuna Group, vol. 19, no. 1(c), January 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2007/srilanka0107/; “UNICEF Condemns Abduction and
Recruitment of Sri Lankan Children by the Karuna Group,” UNICEF news note, June 22, 2006,
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_34677.html (accessed May 13, 2007); and Statement from the Special Advisor
on Children and Armed Conflict, http://www.un.org/children/conflict/pr/2006-11-13statementfromthe127.html (accessed May
13, 2007).
224 Letter from Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States Bernard Goonetilleke to Human Rights Watch, May 8, 2007.
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Human Rights Watch August 2007