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Colombo, 22 January 2004
A call for more commitment to make lasting
improvements in the lives of Sri Lanka's most vulnerable children has been
made in a report that details progress by partners to the Action Plan for
Children Affected by War.
It gives an overview on the situation of children affected by war, and
details what was done in 2003 to help address urgent needs. The report
follows the Oslo, Berlin and Hakone peace talks where the parties asked
UNICEF to develop an Action Plan for Children Affected by War to monitor,
report on and address child rights violations in the North East. Partners
implementing the Action Plan include the Ministry of Social Welfare, Tamils
Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), ILO, Save the Children in Sri Lanka,
UNDP, UNHCR, and UNICEF.
Despite the two year old cease-fire there are still many children suffering
the effects of twenty years of conflict. The Action Plan is a combined
agency effort that links Government, LTTE, donors, Non Governmental
Organisations and UN agencies in a united approach to address the health,
education, and protection needs of children affected by war. It is estimated
that 50,000 children in the affected region are out of school, around
140,000 have been displaced from their homes while landmines have killed 20
and maimed 17 children in 2003 alone. In the North East there is a serious
deficit of education and health staff. More than 5,800 additional Tamil
medium and 200 Sinhala medium teachers are needed.
Of particular concern is the use of children as soldiers. New UNICEF figures
in the report state that during 2003, 709 children were recruited by the
LTTE. In the same period, a total of 202 children were released, either to
the recently established transit centre at Kilinochchi or directly back to
their families. From reports submitted by families, UNICEF knows of at least
1,301 children still in the LTTE.
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