'Unashamed' Sri Lanka military occupying schools in north

The United Nations that removed Sri Lanka from its 'List of Shame' on children in countries of armed conflict has reported on the island's military occupying fifteen schools in the Tamil dominated north of the country. The UN has named 52 parties on its annual ‘List of Shame’ of those who recruit and use children, kill and maim, commit sexual violence or attack schools and hospitals, including four new parties in Sudan, Yemen and Syria.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict released on the 12th of June, says that these schools are in Jaffna, Mulaithivu and Kilinochchi districts.

The UN findings are contrary to claims by the Sri Lanka state that militarisation of the north is being toned down.
It was only in May that Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe told the visiting Australian High Commissioner Robyn Mudie that the military was gradually reducing its presence in Jaffna.
 
Missing children
 
According to the UN report on children and armed conflict, less than one in 20 reported missing children have been reunited with their families.
 
Refering to UNICEF and government figures, the report says; "736 tracing applications had been registered concerning children, the majority of whom were recruited by LTTE. To date, 139 children have been matched and referred to the Unit for tracing and verification, of which 42 have been reunited with their family members."
 
Meanwhile, " 594 children aged between 12 and 18 years, including 364 boys and 230 girls, have completed the rehabilitation programme and have been reunited with their families," says the report.
 
These children have been associated with Tamil Tigers, Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) and Presidential co ordinator Iniya Bharathi.
 
The TMVP was formed by Deputy Rehabilitation Minister Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan, widely known as Karuna and presently led by Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan known as Pillayan.
 
However, the UN secretary general appointed panel of experts on Sri Lanka concluded its findings in April 2011 saying that 594 children registered by UNICEF by September 2011 and housed with adults were later moved to seperate child rehabilitation centres. "However, many of these were in the south of Sri Lanka, which made family visits difficult," The UN panel led by Marzuki Darusman added. The UN report on children and armed conflict a year on does not make clear whether these children are the same who 'have been reunited with their families'.

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