Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said in a press release that she is worried about children who are internally displaced persons (IDPs) and child combatants used by the LTTE.The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 230,000 people have been displaced due to intensified fighting in northern Sri Lanka during the second half of 2008.
Ms. Coomaraswamy urged the rebel group to allow children and their families to move away from conflict areas, and called on the Government to provide assistance in a way that respects their fundamental rights.
“Any camp set up for IDPs has to meet international standards,” she said. “The Government of Sri Lanka should work with international and local humanitarian actors to ensure their safety and security.”
Additionally, the Special Representative appealed to the LTTE to immediately release its child fighters.
She voiced hope that the Government will take part in talks on how to spare their lives, stressing that both authorities and humanitarian partners should prepare to separate these children and reintegrate them back into their families.
Last week, the UN humanitarian chief said he is increasingly concerned for the well-being of of thousands of civilians caught up in the conflict.
“As fighting surrounds the areas towards which families have been displaced, and with few choices about where to move, they are increasingly susceptible to harm due to the fighting,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said in a statement.
“While they have had access to basic food, in large part due to the Government and the UN assistance transported through the lines of fighting,” he said, “they have few, if any, reserves and the conditions of their basic shelter, water and sanitation are increasingly inadequate as many have been displaced multiple times over the last months, weeks and days.”
PROTESTS OVER LTTE REFUSAL OF SAFE PASSAGE
COLOMBO (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday Tamil Tiger rebels had violated international law for refusing to allow local staff and their families to leave Sri Lanka's war zone.
The LTTE are now cornered in less than 400 sq km in the north along with what aid agencies say are around 230,000 people trapped between the separatist rebels and a massive Sri Lankan military onslaught.
"The United Nations in Sri Lanka has issued its strongest possible protest to the LTTE for their refusal to allow U.N. national staff and dependents to return from the Vanni with the present U.N. convoy," a U.N. statement said.
"The LTTE's denial of safe passage is a clear abrogation of their obligations under international humanitarian law," the U.N. office in Sri Lanka said.
The LTTE could not be reached for comment.
Rights groups said the Tigers have forced civilians to stay in the war zone to provide a human shield, and is making some fight or work to build defences. The rebels have denied that.