Some Facts to Consider

4,475,000 Children in Sri Lanka

·         Washington, D.C. 12 March (Asiantribune.com): In its 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released here Tuesday March 11 in the State Department, graced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the United States in its report on Sri Lanka totally condemned, criticized and, in fact, impeached its human rights record and the style of governance highlighting that “the overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils”.

·         About 30,000 Sri Lankan children, 80% of whom are boys, are sexually exploited in tourist centres. (CATW, "Child Sex Tourism is Flourishing in Sri Lanka", Coalition Report, 1997)

·         Initiation of girls into prostitution is done under the guise of religion. 'Devadasis, Jjogins and Venkat Sanis' are young girls dedicated to goddesses and forced into prostitution for life under a priest or landlord. (CATW Fact Book, citing Sarvodaya Movement Sri Lanka, Wijaya Kannangara, "Paper on Cultural Violation)

·         10,000 to 12,000 children from rural areas are trafficked and prostituted to paedophiles by organised crime groups. (CATW Fact Book, citing Julian West, "Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet", London Telegraph, 26 October 1997)

·         Children from the streets, villages or refugee camps are sold for employment especially in child prostitution. (ILO-IPEC, Country Paper: Sri Lanka, September 1999)

·         Sri Lanka is a principal source of child pornography for the United States and Europe. ("Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet", London Telegraph, 26 October 1997)

·         The Sri Lankan military believes that half of the LTTE troops are women, called 'Birds of Freedom' by their fellow rebels. Many of them were recruited as children and chosen from ages as young as 10 to become suicide bombers. (CSUCS, Asia Report, July 2000)

·         Hundreds of children were believed to have been recruited from around the Batticaloa area in an aggressive drive in October 1998, where they demanded that each family should provide one male to the LTTE. (CSUCS, Asia Report, July 2000, citing Human Rights Watch, January 1999)

Statistics from: http://www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/srilanka.html