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| Wednesday, 30 June 2004 |
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HRW slams LTTE child recruitment The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are waging a campaign in eastern Sri Lanka to abduct former child soldiers for their forces, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday. Over the last three weeks, the armed group has intensified efforts to re-recruit child combatants released by Karuna, HRW said in its latest report. "The Tigers are stealing children from their homes to put them on the firing line," said Tej Thapa, South Asia researcher for HRW. "Despite all their promises, they are demonstrating absolute disregard for the most vulnerable part of the population it claims to represent." According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and local human rights groups, the LTTE is forcibly abducting children from their homes and threatening parents who dare resist or complain about the abductions. The armed group is believed to be focusing on abducting small groups of children rather than large groups, so as to slowly rebuild its forces without attracting too much attention. Its members have been going to villages in the Batticaloa district, banging on doors, threatening parents with dire consequences in the event of non-compliance, and abducting eight or nine children from each village, HRW adds. Typically these children are transported on motorised rickshaws to the nearby lagoon. To evade army checkpoints, they are sent on boats to the Tigers' Vakarai camp. Local sources have heard the Tamil Tigers threaten to immediately kill parents who complain or try to get information about their abducted children. Another method of forced recruitment is through personalised letters to the parents, ordering them to attend meetings where they are addressed by one of the LTTE area leaders in Batticaloa, HRW added. For example, at a meeting on June 21 and 22, an LTTE area leader called Yatharthan told attending parents that they had to turn their children over to the armed group in Thihiliwatai on June 24. According to eyewitness accounts, Yatharthan said children 16 years or older must return to armed service. He reportedly scoffed at the mention of UNICEF protection. Although some parents have organised themselves to resist the LTTE pressure, there is considerable fear of reprisal in small communities with little or no government presence. The LTTE tactics have terrified parents, children and human rights workers, who have no recourse to real protection. The LTTE has had a history of forcibly recruiting children and placing them on the front lines during combat operations. In February 2003, the LTTE pledged to cease all child recruitment, and to investigate and punish commanders found responsible for child recruitment; this pledge was reiterated in April 2004. "The Tigers are blatantly violating their obligations under international law and ignoring the efforts of UNICEF to protect these children," Thapa said. "Children are being used to fill the ranks of the Tigers, while their parents face harsh retribution if they try to prevent it." The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children in armed conflict, prohibits the direct use of any child under the age of 18 in armed conflict and prohibits all use of children under 18 by non-state armed groups. Sri Lanka is a party to the protocol, which came into force in February 2002. HRW has called on international agencies present in eastern Sri Lanka to increase their monitoring presence in the field in areas where these abductions and intimidations are taking place. Such monitoring is particularly needed in the interior villages and areas under LTTE control, where reports of forced recruitment are much higher than in government-controlled areas. The Government should declare an amnesty for all child soldiers who have returned home to ensure that they can seek help from state protection agencies, HRW said. Of particular concern, are those combatants who were children when recruited, but who are now over 18 years. This group, highly trained and therefore highly valued by the LTTE, falls beyond the protection mandate of UNICEF. An amnesty would enable this vulnerable population to seek Government protection and move freely in the country, away from areas of LTTE control. An amnesty should be accompanied by an immediate issuance of National Identity Cards to all returned former combatants, HRW said. LTTE intelligence officers have threatened village Government functionaries against issuing identity cards to "deserters" released by Karuna. Undocumented former soldiers face daunting challenges in protection and reintegration. |
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