Sri Lankan children and the conflict, November 16, 2006

Over the years, the LTTE's recruitment of child soldiers has consistently criticised. This week, the Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict provoked sharp reactions by accusing the Sri Lankan government of allowing Karuna's group to recruit children by abducting them.

UN adviser finds Sri Lanka’s children ‘at risk from all sides’ in the bloody conflict, UN News Centre, November 14, 2006.

Also reported as:
B. Muralidhar Reddy, Colombo aiding Karuna: U.N., The Hindu, November 14, 2006.

Sri Lankan reactions, within and outside Sri Lanka:

• UN Advisor's Conclusions About Government Involvement In Child Recruits, Ludicrous! LankaWeb, November 13, 2006.
• Govt. to order high level probe regarding UN allegation of child recruit says Defence spokesman, November 14, 2006.
• UN Rock repeats Tiger accusations - Karuna Group, Asian Tribune, November 16, 2006.
• Sonali Samarasinghe, Is MR crying crocodile tears for Lanka's children? - Allan Rock's Sri Lanka, TamilCanadian.com (Courtesy: Morning Leader),November 15, 2006.
• Walter Jayawardhana, Sri Lanka’s leading author Gunadasa Amarasekera says United Nation’s Alan Rock lied against Sri Lanka about child soldiers, Asian Tribune, November 16, 2006.

And this:

Military: Tamil rebels using civilians as human shields; soldier, civilians killed, International Herald Tribune, November 15, 2006.

Outside Sri Lanka:

B. Muralidhar Reddy, In Sri Lanka, children at risk, The Hindu, November 16, 2006.

***

And here is why Sri Lanka's conflict is not just Sri Lanka's problem, and why conflicts are about more than differences of perspective and the use of violence. This article is a description of the displacement caused by the escalating hostilities in Sri Lanka.

Daniel Pepper, India's beaches are bellwether of Sri Lanka's war, Christian Science Monitor, November 16, 2006.

This partly accounts for the growing feeling on both sides of the Palk Straits that India needs to take an active interest in the peace process.