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| Tuesday, 13 January 2004 |
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UNICEF to secure release of abducted children by Ranga Jayasuriya The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) investigating the abduction of two children in Trincomalee allegedly by the Tigers said yesterday that they will meet the local LTTE hierarchy today to secure the release of the children. "We have been informed that they (children) are with the LTTE," a UNICEF spokeswoman told the Daily News. "Our local officials are meeting the LTTE on Tuesday to demand the release of the children". She said the UNICEF has met the parents of the two children, who accused the Tigers of the abductions. SLMM spokeswoman Agnes Bragadottir said the Scandinavian truce monitors have refereed the case to the UNICEF, after the parents lodged a complaint at the local SLMM office. "We have information that the children have been moved to Thampoor (in the LTTE held area)", Bragadottir said. The latest abduction came at a time when a joint action plan by the UNICEF and the LTTE to reintegrate child combatants are in progress. The UNICEF spokeswoman said, the latest abductions amounted to a "breach of trust" on the part of the LTTE, which had vowed not to recruit underage cadres into their ranks. In March last year, when LTTE political chief S.P. Thamilselvam met UNICEF Sri Lankan representative Ted Chaiban to discuss an action plan to reintegrate child combatants in early March last year, Thamilselvam assured the UNICEF chief that the Tigers will not recruit children age under 18. However, the LTTE's sincerity has been marred by routine reports of child abductions. The UNICEF took over the responsibility of reintegrating child combatants on a joint request made by the Government and the LTTE at the fifth round of peace talks in Berlin. The UNICEF and the LTTE co-manage a transit centre for child combatants in Kilinochchi and the first intake of the child soldiers have been handed over to their parents a few months ago. |
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