Sri Lanka army aids child abductions: Rights group

New York, Jan 24: A breakaway group of fighters in Sri Lankahas abducted and forcibly recruited hundreds of child soldiers with thesupport of government security forces, US-based Human Rights Watch saidtoday.

While the Sri Lankan government and the Karuna group have deniedworking together, Human Rights Watch echoed UN concerns that theabductions would have needed cooperation.

The Karuna split from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelamseparatist rebel group in 2004. The Tigers have accused the Karuna ofattacking them with the help of the military.

A Human Rights Watch report -- ''Complicit in Crime: StateCollusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group'' --said at least 200 Tamil children were abducted during 2006 in theisland's east, where the Karuna is active.

Human Rights Watch said it suspected the actual number was up tothree times higher due to underreporting and that the Karuna alsoforcibly recruited hundreds of men aged 18-30.

The 100-page report said areas where the Karuna abductions tookplace were ''firmly under government control, with myriad military andpolice checkpoints and security force camps.'' ''No armed group couldengage in such large-scale abductions, and then hold and train theabductees for combat in established camps, without government knowledgeand at least tacit support,'' it said.

In a report published yesterday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonurged Sri Lanka to investigate allegations that government securityforces were aiding the Karuna's abduction or recruitment of childsoldiers.

The Sri Lankan government has denied any involvement. Human RightsWatch said the Karuna has also denied recruiting children and carryingout abductions.

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington was not immediately available for comment.

Sri Lanka has suffered more than two decades of ethnic conflictbetween the majority Sinhalese, who mostly follow Buddhism, and themainly Hindu minority Tamils.

A 2002 truce is in tatters and thousands of people were killedlast year. Analysts fear further escalation in a war that has killedmore than 67,000 people since 1983.

The Tamil Tigers have also been accused of recruiting childsoldiers. The group had vowed to release all underage fighters -- who,it argues, lie about their age to join the fight for an independentstate -- by January 2007.

The Human Rights Watch report urged the Karuna to stop allrecruitment of children and forced recruitment generally. It alsocalled on the Sri Lankan government to investigate the involvement ofits security forces.

Among the recommendations was a call for the government to findchildren recruited by the Karuna and return them to their families.

Reuters>