PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT

At a Headquarters press briefing this morning, the Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara A. Otunnu, called on the international community to address the growing needs of women and children affected by the Sri Lankan conflict by providing them with more humanitarian assistance.

Speaking after his mission to Sri Lanka from 3 to 9 May, Mr. Otunnu said urgent help was needed to address resettlement, educational and health needs of the affected population.

Mr. Otunnu said he was struck by the deep yearning among all Sri Lankan communities for a genuine and lasting peace in their country. Efforts were being made by the Government and the international community to meet the humanitarian needs of the affected populations, but much more needed to be done to address the critical needs of women and children affected by the conflict in that country.

He said the purpose of his visit was threefold: to carry the universal message of ensuring the protection, rights and welfare of children and women affected by conflicts worldwide; to bear witness to the plight of children and women affected by the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka; and to express the solidarity of the wider international community to the people affected by the conflict and let them know that the wider world was concerned about their fate.

The Special Representative said he was able to visit two of the major areas affected by the conflict in the country: Jaffna peninsula and the Vanni region. He was unable to visit the third affected area, the eastern province, because of time and logistical challenges. He said he had witnessed major trauma and distress among victims of the conflict.

Elaborating on the significance of his mission, Mr. Otunnu said he had received the full cooperation of both the Government of Sri Lanka and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was received at the highest levels by both parties and was able to use humanitarian diplomacy to facilitate the protection and ensure the welfare and rights of women and children within the theatre of conflict.

Mr. Otunnu said he had also been able to remove those obstacles which had made it impossible for humanitarian agencies based in the country to do their work more effectively. Most important of all was the fact that for the first time, both the Government and the LTTE leadership were able to make specific humanitarian commitment. That represented a significant development towards ensuring the protection, rights and welfare of women and children in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.

One of the issues he raised with both sides to the conflict, was the recruitment and participation of children in war, Mr. Otunnu said, The Government reiterated its ongoing policy not to recruit or deploy children below the age of 18 years. Prior to the visit, there were reports that the Government was on the verge of embarking on a major recruitment drive in schools. The Government publicly assured the Special Representative that no such plans were under way.

The LTTE leadership, which for a long time had been accused of using children in the war, said they would no longer use children below the age of 18 years in combat, Mr. Otunnu said. They promised that they would not recruit children below 17 years. They also agreed to the monitoring of those commitments.

During his visit, Mr. Otunnu said, he had also raised with both the Government and the LTTE leadership some concerns regarding the distribution of humanitarian supplies in the affected areas. There had been reports that the LTTE was helping itself to some of those supplies. The LTTE leadership said they would not interfere with the reception and distribution of the relief supplies destined for the affected populations. They had also agreed to a monitoring mechanism to be put in place for that purpose.

As for the Government, Mr. Otunnu said he had asked for a review of the list of items restricted from free distribution in conflict-affected areas for security and military reasons, with a view to adopting a more flexible approach. A review of the mechanism by which supplies reached the war-affected areas was also needed, to ensure a more expeditious process. The Government made a commitment to do something about those two issues.

The Special Representative said he also discussed the issue of the free movement of displaced population with both sides. The LTTE leadership made two commitments: that they would not interfere with the free movement of the affected population from zones now under their control to areas controlled by the Government; and that they would not interfere with the return of the Muslim population to their homes. There had been a massive displacement of the Muslim population because of previous hostilities, and many of them still feared returning to their homes, which were now controlled by the Government. For its part, the Government agreed to review existing procedures for the issuance of permits for the movement of civilian populations in the affected areas, to ensure a more expeditious implementation of those procedures, he said.

Mr. Otunnu said the fourth issue he had discussed during his visit was the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Sri Lanka had signed and ratified. The Government had now translated elements of that Convention into a national charter for children in Sri Lanka. The LTTE leadership had agreed to consider seriously making a public commitment to observe the principles and provisions of the Convention. In the meantime, they had expressed their readiness to receive more information and instructions on its principles and provisions.

The fifth matter raised with the LTTE leadership concerned the deliberate targeting of civilian populations and sites, the Special Representative said. In recent times, there had been horrendous incidents of civilian populations and sites being targeted, not just in zones of combat but elsewhere in the country. He had expressed concern about that and the LTTE leadership acknowledged it as an important and legitimate concern. They also promised to review their strategies and tactics.

Mr. Otunnu said he had also addressed the use of landmines with both the Government and the LTTE leadership. However, it was not possible to obtain a commitment by either side to refrain from their use. Given the international concern about the use of those weapons and their impact on children and on the land in Sri Lanka, the Special Representative would continue pursuing that issue with both the Government and the LTTE leadership.

Asked how stress manifested itself among children in the Sri Lankan conflict, Mr. Otunnu said it was not too difficult to see it in the schools, displaced persons camps and resettled villages. The problem could not be tackled overnight, but efforts were being made by both the local people and the various humanitarian agencies to address it. It was a healing process and it would take time. Beyond that, there were major examples of material deprivation in the context of resettlement schemes and the provision of educational facilities and medical needs for the affected population.

Asked if he planned to set up a mechanism in Colombo to monitor the commitments made during his visit, Mr. Otunnu said the LTTE had committed itself to the principle of monitoring, but that he was not in a position to say who would do the monitoring or its precise mechanism. That would be worked out in subsequent discussions. The most important thing was that they had accepted that a monitoring arrangement would be put in place.

How many children were affected by the Sri Lankan conflict? a correspondent asked. Mr. Otunnu said it was difficult to estimate that with any precision; but enough children were affected by war, enough areas were touched by the war, and the impact of the war was being felt throughout the country, including areas were there was no combat. People were suffering as a result of the conflict and it must end.

Was there a new peace initiative to end the Sri Lankan conflict? the correspondent asked. Mr. Otunnu said that question was beyond his mandate, which was primarily humanitarian. He had sought clear-cut humanitarian commitments during his visit.

Asked how the Government and the LTTE had justified their refusal to make a commitment on landmines, Mr. Otunnu said both sides told him it was not possible to make a commitment for the time being. It was the beginning of a process. The Special Representative would continue to press the issue with both sides. How prevalent were landmines in Sri Lanka? a correspondent asked. Mr. Otunnu said it was difficult for him to say with precision, but United Nations landmines experts had given the impression that Sri Lanka was not among the most mined nations in the world. However, that would not diminish his concern; it would be considered a serious problem even if a few people were killed by landmines or a fraction of the fertile land of Sri Lanka was mined. Asked if the LTTE would like the United Nations to mediate in the conflict, Mr. Otunnu said a number of people had raised the issue of United Nations assistance to resolve the conflict. To achieve peace in any place, the people of that country had the primary responsibility for making it happen. The impetus for peace must emerge from among those engaged in the conflict -- the Government and the LTTE leadership. Asked if the LTTE leadership had ever requested United Nations mediation, he said they had not. Was the issue of child soldiers a modern phenomenon? a correspondent asked. Why was it suddenly a concern now? Mr. Otunnu said it was not new, but it had become widespread and greater. There were 30 major ongoing conflicts in the world today within national boundaries. In every single one of them, the world was witnessing abominable treatment of women and children. They were being killed, displaced, recruited and made to participate in conflicts. Although there had always been civilian casualties in wars, the world was witnessing for the first time the systematic targeting of civilian populations. They were no longer incidental victims, no longer being victimized by wayward and undisciplined soldiers. At the end of the bloody, land-fought First World War, more than 5 per cent of the casualties were civilians, Mr. Otunnu said. That figure had shot up to 48 per cent in the Second World War and was more than 90 per cent in the 30 wars being fought today. International humanitarian and human rights standards were being routinely ignored in theatres of conflicts today. In every society imploding with internal strife today, there existed, to some extent, a local value system which corresponded in large measure with the essence of those international conventions and declarations, Mr. Otunnu went on to say. Those local measures provided standards on when the use of violence was permitted and when to afford special protection to women, children and the elderly, even in the time of wars. Today, those local standards had either been shattered as a result of prolonged conflict or had completely collapsed, Mr. Ottunnu said. There was an ethical vacuum in which the universally developed international norms had not taken hold, while those which held people together locally had been radically undermined or had collapsed. In today's ruthless struggles for power, children, women and the elderly had become fair game. The world must mobilize to reverse that trend.

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