The pledges given by the LTTE to international diplomats such as Olaru Otunu, special representative of Secretary General of the UN, Koffi Annan, as well as organisations such as UNICEF that this practice of using children for war and why they are being blatantly flouted is evident in the very steps recommended by Aiyissi to halt this abominable practice.

His first recommendation is to ostracise ‘rogue fighters and pariah stake-holders’. A ‘rogue fighter’ or ‘pariah stake holder’, he defines as anyone who victimises children in violation of internationally acceptable norms. Where this country is concerned, there is no need to identify those who fit Aiyissi’s description. He says: ‘Such culprits must be ostracised from peace negotiations as well as well as post-conflict power sharing!

Prime Minister and other peace-makers of the Sri Lanka government as well as those diplomats based in Colombo who speak so eloquently about protection of human rights, art thou listening? Far from ostracising these ‘rogue fighters and pariah stake-holders’ the peace-makers are embracing them and negotiating with them! The poor kids are being taken by the tractor-load — as a New York Times journalist reported recently — from their homes to the training centres of the baby brigades while western diplomats and Sri Lanka government representatives are having ‘warm and cordial’ discussions with representatives of these horrendous monsters. Little wonder an estimated 10,000 children were been taken away within the year that the dawn of peace was being witnessed in Sri Lanka.

The writer says: ‘Such culprits (rogue fighters and pariah stake-holders) must be ostracised from peace negotiations such as post- conflict power sharing. Indeed a fundamental frustration in post -war situations is to see former users of child combatants sharing power in governments of national reconciliation and parading as ministers or even as heads of state, while the children they transformed into human rags are abandoned, hopeless and helpless in moral and material history.’ The writer is talking of post-conflict situations, but we in Sri Lanka are ahead of the times. This hob-nobbing between child abductors, diplomats of western powers and our own politicians goes on while the abduction process is in full flow!

The second proposed step is : Promote punitive justice and individual responsibility.

He points out that earlier international law was applied only to armed conflicts between states and had no formal bearing on non- international armed conflicts. This meant that insurgent groups and individuals could not be directly held responsible for crimes committed during hostilities. This is no longer the case. The evolution of international law has made punishment of non-state actors possible such as for the abusing the rights of a child. He points out that ‘conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities’ is a war crime.

He also suggests to make crimes against children non-prescriptible — effect of the lapse of time having no bearing on the crimes committed. He also calls for harmonisation of national legislation and the responsibility of all states to bring an end to impunity and their obligation to prosecute those responsible for grave breaches of the law.

While the second and third recommendations deal with post-conflict action against those who have committed crimes against children, what is absolutely important to us right now is to ostracise rogue fighters and pariah stake-holders instead of attempting to sanitise them from the crimes committed and that are continuing to be committed and give them international recognition.

Quite apart from international law, have these doughty defenders of human rights, particularly representatives of foreign nations who place protection of human rights foremost in their foreign policy agenda, given a thought to the fate of these innocents who are brainwashed and are converted into inhuman fighting robots as well as the anguish of their parents? No doubt we will be told that their conspiratorial silence is in the greater cause of peace, but it is indeed poor consolation to these little victims in chains who will be transformed into bloodthirsty killers and to their families.

As pointed out by former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar on this page, the terrorists are being treated with kid gloves in the fear that they may walk away from the negotiations. But as he points out, the government has many strong cards in their hands and certainly the western nations are not that impotent not to read the riot act to the terrorists.

Diplomat Anatole Ayissi has given sound advice to all those who shed tears and crocodile tears on children who are being abducted to be made inhuman robots. It has been reported that the UNICEF and the LTTE are to hold talks for an action plan for children affected by the war in the North and East, including children involved in child labour, civilian or military. This is once again an attempt to whitewash and dilute the horrendous crime of child abduction for war with the age-old practice of using child domestics — a regrettable feature in Sri Lankan life, but far removed from abduction of kids for war. How many years have the UNICEF been operating in the North and East while these baby brigades were being built up? And did they make any move until the whole issue blew up when former Foreign Minster Lakshman Kadirgamar took it to the UN forum?