Child soldiers and human rights

Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has found fault with Human Rights Watch for it’s duplicitous conduct vis-a-vis the Government and the LTTE.

Speaking at the weekly security briefing the Minister referred to the army of child soldiers who were present at the funeral of Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi and asked if HRW was blind to this fact while it focused only on the death of the LTTE political Commissar.

The Minister also blamed the media for not highlighting this fact when the UN and European Union are expressing concern on the issue of child soldiers.

We trust that Louis Arbour and those of her ilk who went to town on alleged human rights violations by the Security Forces would take note of this most damning evidence of the recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE.

Why only point an accusing finger at the Government on the question of Human rights ? True, there will be those who will argue that a legitimate Government cannot be equated with a terrorist organisation and has to act within certain constraints and abide by the various international charters and conventions governing human rights.

It is very well known that many Human Rights groups sympathise with the LTTE. If not they will be out of business. Hence their partiality to the outfit while being quick to blame the government.

However they cannot pretend to be blind to the ground realities of a guerrilla war. The Minister’s lament is a familiar echo of similar sentiments expressed by all Government spokesmen during the three decades old conflict where the accusing finger was always directed at the Government with the LTTE atrocities ignored or downplayed by Human Rights groups.

The Government has always been on the firing line of these groups who have been working to set agendas. If they genuinely want to protect human rights they cannot be selective.

The LTTE had given a firm undertaking to UN Special Rapporteur Olara Otunu to stop recruiting child soldiers and during the peace talks undertook to rehabilitate the conscripts and return them to their parents.

The picture at Thamilselvan’s funeral with children in combat fatigues tells a different story. At least now will those who lecture the Government on human rights take stock of the situation and pay attention to the rampant infringement of human rights that is going on behind the Wanni curtain?

Doctorates galore

Our centre page article yesterday on the whole issue of awarding Doctorates in this country would certainly have raised more than a few eyebrows given the scandalous nature of the whole affair.

Doctorates in the past were hallowed endowments conferred upon the highest attainments on the academic scale. They were not to be trifled or handed out lightly. Only recognised academic institutions could confer such titles and there were no known instances where there was straying from this procedure.

Doctorates in the past were coveted titles earned through years of toil and sacrifice, dint and perseverance and the holders of these doctorates comprised the cream of the intelligentsia in the country. They commanded high regard and respect and usually were in great demand in the marriage market.

Doctorates in the past were conferred chiefly on academic attainments. Honourary doctorates were rare and usually awarded after lifetime achievements in specified fields such as literary, arts and allied disciplines.

There have been many offers to confer doctorates on politicians in the past and the only known politician who carried the prefix of Doctor was Ananda Tissa De Alwis. (Even though Ronnie De Mel too had a doctorate the media did not carry the prefix).

There was a however a reticence on the part of politicians of that era to the title. Two politicians that readily come to mind in this connection are Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Ranasinghe Premadasa. The latter refused the ‘doctor of letters’ title that was offered to him by a well known academic institution.

Doctorates today have become as frequent as JPships that have been conferred on all comers and have lost their value and regard. The Government should study the full implications of this indiscriminate awarding of doctorates by NGOs and other institutions with dubious credentials before the country becomes a laughing stock of the outside world.

A law should be introduced banning the awarding of doctorates over the counter so to speak. Persons or institutions engaged in the practice should be exposed and hounded out if not for anything than the injustice and humiliation inflicted on the genuine holders of the titles.

It is hoped that the given the antics of some politicians who had been conferred such doctorates, there will be no more takers for this once coveted title granted willy nilly by rouge institutions and other imposters.