Sri Lanka - Alternative Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child 2017

This report was prepared in advance of the Committee on the Rights of the Child's 77th Pre-Session Working Group, where it will be examining Guatemala's implementation of its obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC).

Our core recommendations to Sri Lanka are:

• Ensure that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is provided with the necessary resources to carry out its responsibilities effectively, including the review of legislation and draft legislation, and effectively implement its recommendations;
• Immediately establish an effective justice mechanism to investigate abuses of international human rights and international humanitarian law by all sides of the conflict, including the recruitment and use of children, in line with the 2011 recommendation of the UN Secretary General to implement its “zero tolerance” position on child recruitment;
• Implement its pledge to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) without further delay;
• Ensure that any new counter-terrorism legislation introduced meets international standards, and in particular, that children who have been associated with armed forces or armed groups are not prosecuted or punished, or threatened with prosecution or punishment, solely for their membership of those forces or groups, and that children who are accused of crimes against international law after being unlawfully recruited by armed forces or armed groups are considered primarily as victims of violations of international law and not only as alleged perpetrators.