Military victory is empty if it does not lead to equality! Respect for others; respect for oneself; responsibility for our actions & national dignity!

Child soldiers - The Government's response
Ruwantissa Abeyratne

In a recent issue of The Economist - one of the world's most reputed and respected journals, focussed on child soldiers in one of its articles, and quoted James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF in Sri Lanka saying that the Sri Lankan Government is making a genuine attempt to help child soldiers learn how to be civilians. The same article estimated that, from 2003 to the end of 2008, more than 6,000 instances of child recruitment by the LTTE had occurred in the North and East.

Wikipedia records that, according to UNICEF figures, since signing of the ceasefire agreement in 2001, the LTTE had abducted 5,666 children upto July 2006. However, the organization speculated that only about a third of such cases are reported to them. It is also, reported that the forces nicknamed one unit 'the Baby Battalion', due to the number of children in it.


A child soldier looking ahead. Defence.lk

Heartening gesture
The Economist also commends the work being carried out under the auspices of the Government at the Protection and Rehabilitation Centre in Ambepussa which provides children and adults with vocational training and education, along with the opportunity to participate in cultural and sports events.

It is indeed heartening and encouraging to both Sri Lankans and others to witness that the Government, under the guidance of the President, has alighted a platform of reconciliation and humanity with regard to those who had been misled and were incapable of forming their own opinions of good and bad.

A child under 15 years is universally recognized as having the right to decide not to participate in active military combat. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989, in Article 38 provides that State parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.

However, the Convention allows children who are over the age of 15 but remain under the age of 18 to take part in combat as soldiers, provided they do so voluntarily.

Taking measures
Furthermore, the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (which came into force in 2002) , which is an adjunct to the main Convention provides that its State Parties "shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons below the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities and that they are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces". The Optional Protocol further obligates states to "take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption of legal measures to prohibit and criminalize such practices.

Universal standard
As at December 31, 2008, 193 countries had ratified The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is pretty much the entire world, setting a universal and incontrovertible standard on the reprehensibility of recruitment of child soldiers. Therefore, by taking them into the fold of the Government, Sri Lanka as a nation has shown a committed conviction to help those mistreated by others.

This measure demonstrates forgiveness and understanding. Forgiveness is giving up one's right to hurt another, for hurting the former.

It is impossible to live on this chequered planet without getting hurt, offended, misunderstood, lied to, and rejected. Learning how to respond properly is one of the basics of civilized life. Forgiveness is often followed by self- reconstruction and these concepts are complementary and can never be mutually exclusive. The forgiven has to make sure the process of hurting will not recur, by reconstructing himself.

Generations to come will analyze the way in which we handled wars and made peace. That will be our legacy. It is natural to feel overwhelmed in a time of crisis. When that crisis passes, however, we must share our stories and experiences, and build relationships.

No differences
These are the legacies of the present that would remain with our children in the future. We should not be over shadowed by our forefathers but rather be strengthened by their values. President Rajapaksa, addressing the Parliament on May 19, 2009 said, "This is our country. This is our Motherland. We should live in this country as children of one mother. No differences of race, caste and religion should prevail here".

It must be recognized that in as much as there would be no peace, if normality in daily human intercourse were not restored, it is incontrovertible that there will be no lasting peace if the attendant hatred that goes into human conflict is not eradicated and obviated.

It is important to remember that the spontaneity brought to in the powerful feelings expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations was a direct result of the collective suffering of people through hatred among mankind. Therefore, any measures taken by a government towards achieving peace and obviating hatred among its peoples would be destitute of effect if it merely caters to the cessation of war.

Surely, there is more to it than that, such as educating our children on the viciousness of hatred and the need to recognize respect. Respect for others; respect for oneself; responsibility for our actions and national dignity. This is what all of us must stand for.

There is also no room for doubt that this is a turning point in the history of Sri Lanka, not only in terms of reconstruction but also in terms of reconciliation and forgiveness.

No room for revenge
There is no room for revenge, as both the Government and the entire nation have has demonstrated after the military victory over the LTTE. Francis Bacon once said: "revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.

For as the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office". Bacon also said that, which is past is gone, and irrevocable and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come.

We must also confront ourselves in our diversity and suspend our disbelief in others.

We could stand proud as a nation if we continue to show that an indomitable spirit and courage of a military victory is hollow and empty if it does not lead to equality.

In this context, how we treat our children is the most paramount reflection of our humanity. Our politics will have to show the best traditions of our forefathers and ensure that all our children share common hopes and common dreams. It is not their ultimate goal that would matter but how they got there. As Voltaire said: "It is not the destination but the journey that matters".

This philosophy is amply seen in the words of President Rajapaksa in his Mahinda Chintana, "I will respect all ethnic and religious identities, refrain from using force against anyone and build a new society that protects individuals and social freedoms."

It is what we do that matters now.

dailynews.lk