Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tigers
2005 Archive

LTTE agenda is to destroy the Tamil community utterly -- University Teachers of Jaffna
Asian Tribune: 30 December, 2005
The LTTE's agenda is nothing short of destroying the Tamil community utterly. It has indeed been a Black Christmas," says the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR (J) ) in its least Bulletin, surveying the latest spate of violence in the north. UTHR (J) is an independent NGO presenting objective reports on both sides of the divide.

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The LTTE had planted the mine and left a child soldier to detonate it, a child for whom the serpentine reasoning of propagandists meant as little as the harm he did to the residents. The child who had not been seen by the residents before the day of the attack, or since, had been hanging about the place and walking on the road selling mangoes to the unsuspecting residents. LTTE propaganda later named yet another front organization, supposedly of the people, as being responsible for the attack. Commentators trying to sound knowledgeable have on occasion written of two spurious front organizations uniting! [Full Story]

Missing tsunami children still haunt parents
Gulf Times: 21 December, 2005
In the jungles of Sri Lanka’s rebel-controlled north, parents almost one year after the tsunami continue to scour Tamil Tiger training camps hoping to find their missing children.

In the tourist-oriented government-controlled south, parents have by and large accepted that their sons and daughters who vanished when the giant waves ravaged the tropical island are not coming back.

They will light lamps and pray for their souls on the anniversary of the devastation later this month.

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Some parents, she says, still believe their children are alive and are in rebel training camps. “Sometimes they see a child who looks like their own and this fuels their hopes,” Brune says. Immediately after the disaster, which left a million left homeless, human rights groups claimed the LTTE, which has a history of recruiting child soldiers, had picked up all the tsunami waifs. [Full Story]

The folly of Arumugan Thondaman’s alliance with LTTE, pointed out by Anandasangaree
Asian Tribune: 19 December, 2005
V.Anandasangaree, septuagenarian moderate Tamil Leader in an open letter to Arumugan Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress has patiently enumerated the dangers he and the estate workers in the upcountry might face in the future by aligning with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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In the open letter, Anandasangaree underlined Armugan Thondaman that every day someone is getting killed by the LTTE cadre. Men are killed in the presence of their wives. The father is killed when a child is being taken to school. The husband is killed while taking the wife to school. A Hindu priest was killed right opposite the Deity to whom he performed Pooja daily- disgustingly by two LTTE girls. A Police officer got killed after being asked to meet them without security and arms, by the LTTE. The blame was put on the innocent villagers described as a mob .Hundreds of such incidents had taken place.

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Children are recruited as child soldiers. Fortunately not children of leaders, but do you want children of poor workers to be recruited as child soldiers? [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Armed Forces Should Not Be Intimidated By LTTE Provocations While Maintaining Status Quo
Lanka Web: 16 December, 2005
When the Sri Lankan military says to the media that it is ready to meet the Tamil Tiger Terrorists and any terrorist challenge they have as part of their current agenda in the wake of the latest upsurge in violence that killed 31 people it has not minced its words and very correctly so despite many who might believe this to be war mongering!

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Although in the face of grave provocation as refered to, this could all change and the LTTE probably ending up paying a severe price for stupidity as well as unmitigated ignorance that they could ever overcome the powerful Sri Lankan Army in its current identity as the more powerful of the opposing factions which together with a few secret contingencies and entities in their favour could in all probabilities wipe out the remaining vestiges of a once persistent LTTE whose power now depends on innuendo, speculative self esteem of non existent insurgent capabilities and child soldiers to moot their confidences which aren't realistically enough to overcome the multi faceted Sri Lanken Armed Forces of today! [Full Story]

SLDF Calls on Donor Co-Chairs to Push for a Southern Consensus on a Permanent Political Solution and Reform of the Sri Lankan State
Lanka Web: 15 December, 2005
The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum (SLDF) is alarmed by the escalation of violence in the North and East, which threatens the possibility of reaching a negotiated political solution to the conflict. The LTTE has consistently violated the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and is responsible for human rights violations and attacks on democracy throughout the ceasefire.

In writing to the Sri Lanka Donor Co-Chairs on 15 September 2005, SLDF called on them to support a redesign of the peace process that would "address issues of continuity, inclusivity, democratisation, the protection of human rights, as well as the root causes of the conflict and its consequences." In their statement on 19 September 2005, the Co-Chairs called on the LTTE "to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change. An immediate end to political assassinations by the LTTE and an end to LTTE recruitment of child soldiers are two such steps."

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Throughout the nearly four year period of the ceasefire, while both sides have been held by the SLMM to have committed breaches of the CFA, over 90 percent of the violations and the most serious of these violations involving gross violations of human and democratic rights have been committed by the LTTE. These have included countless number of politically motivated killings and a continuing campaign of child conscription. [Full Story]

Preying Tigers eye aid
Theg Lobeand Mail: 12 December, 2005
Here on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, businesses were already suffering the devastation caused by last year's tsunamis. But in the past few weeks, they have discovered a new, more menacing sort of visitor. [Full Story]

LTTE drafting child soldiers
DNA World: 08 December, 2005
The Tamil Tigers are on a recruitment spree for child soldiers and are specially targetting tsunami relief camps, Sri Lankan army has claimed. The LTTE are on a recruitment drive, a senior army official said on conditions of anonymity, adding, “the victims of tsunami who are residing in refugee camps are easy target for the rebels, who kidnap the children and train them to pick up arms and fight for the cause of a separate Tamil land.”

But the number of child recruits has changed recently, according to the Army and NGOs working in the island nation.

“They (LTTE) might hunt for and kidnap youngsters from the refugee camps or elsewhere and make them join their army but eight out of ten children have been running away from the LTTE camps in the recent months,” the army official said. Sarvodaya, one of the island’s oldest NGOs working here for repatriation of victims of civil war, said the children are gradually distancing themselves from the rebels’ ideologies and guarding against becoming soft targets. [Full Story]

Time to Rebuild
Asian Tribune: 04 December, 2005
On the 26th of this month, Sri Lanka will be commemorating the first anniversary of the tsunami. One year after the killer wave devastated the shores of the country as well as the lives of hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants the progress of the relief and rehabilitation work is far from satisfactory. Many of the affected people faced the hard monsoon rains (and often the resultant floods) inadequately sheltered in their temporary abodes. The task of providing housing and basic infrastructure facilities such as safe drinking water, electricity and sanitation must be attended to without further delay. Much work needs to be done in this regard in all the affected areas in general and in the North and the East in particular.

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The issue of assisting the victims was always seen in the context of the ethnic problem and the war, the ceasefire and the peace process, Sri Lanka and Tiger Eelam. From the very beginning the LTTE wanted a monopoly over the supply of relief in the two provinces; it also wanted to take over the management of all the camps for the displaced in the entirety of the two provinces via the TRO. The government naturally disagreed. The search for any common ground became more difficult when it was revealed by reputed international organisations such as the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that the Tigers were trying to conscript the displaced children, especially those who were orphaned in the tragedy. [Full Story]

The Fate of the Tamil Nation
Asian Tribune: 01 December, 2005
For the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam this Heroes Day could have been different. Despite the Karuna Rebellion the last three and a half years have been good for the Tigers. They got a ceasefire agreement which for the first time put them on par with the legitimate government of Sri Lanka. The MoU officially accepted the existence of a separate LTTE controlled territory, thereby enabling the Tigers to build their own parallel state without interference.

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And then it changed – because Vellupillai Pirapaharan had to be Vellupillai Pirapaharan. With his persistent acts of child conscription and political assassinations he showed the real face of the Tiger to a world that wanted to see the LTTE in roseate hues He could have avoided the fall from grace easily, with the exercise of a little bit of caution and forbearance; he chose not to. A man of intelligence and experience he cannot plead ignorance. He would have known that the issue of child solders was a time bomb; he also would have known that it was unwise to target the internationally respected Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka when the ceasefire was still in operation. [Full Story]

Norwegian government hands millions to Tamil Tigers -- Ny Tid (New Times), Norwegian newspaper
Asian Tribune: 30 November, 2005
Quoting official sources from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Ny Tid (New Times) newspaper revealed yesterday (November 27, 2005) that the Norwegian government has handed 25 million kronors (Norwegian Currency) to the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group in Sri Lanka, during the last four years .This year the LTTE was given 7.5 million kronors but the Foreign Ministry could not give details of how the money has been used. A travel ban was imposed on Tamil Tigers recently by the EU after the assassination of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister.

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In other words, Norway will continue to give financial support to an organisation which has constantly used terror and political murders in its brutal war for Tamil self-rule. Only this year, the northern part of the country was shaken by several hundred of cases of children abducted and forced to become child- soldiers for Tamil Tigers. [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers raising funds in Toronto: community member
CBA: 30 November, 2005
Members of Toronto's large Tamil community say they're being hit up for money by door-to-door fundraisers for the Tamil Tigers.

Community members said they were told to make an immediate cash contribution of $2,500, and that those who didn't contribute would not be allowed to travel in Tamil-controlled parts of Sri Lanka when they returned for visits.

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At times, the Tigers have used suicide bombers and child soldiers. The group relies heavily on fundraising in Tamil communities outside the country.

It is estimated that one-third of the Tamil diaspora is in the Toronto area [Full Story]

President Rajapakse offers his hand of friendship to Prabhakaran and invites him to immediate talks
Asian Tribune: 29 November, 2005
Presenting a wide-ranging survey of Sri Lankan issues to the diplomatic community yesterday President Mahinda Rajapakse once again extended his hand of friendship to the LTTE.

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“I reaffirm my Government’s commitment to continue the ceasefire. I hope the LTTE will heed the call of the people in Sri Lanka and the international community, by fully complying with the cease fire, especially those provisions relating to observance of human rights, such as refraining from the recruitment of child soldiers, political killings, abductions, and other illegal activities. [Full Story]

Tigers set deadline for setting up separate state
The Hindu: November 27, 2005
Sri Lanka's top Tamil Tiger leader today issued an ultimatum to the new Sri Lankan Government to come up with a "reasonable" political settlement by December 31 or risk the rebels setting up a separate state.

LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, in his much-awaited annual policy statement said their patience was wearing thin and he was making a final appeal for a political settlement that would answer their call for a separate state for the island's minority Tamils.

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The President also insisted that he would review the Norwegian-brokered truce that is now in force between troops and the LTTE to make it more stringent and rule out rebel infringements such as abductions and the recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

LTTE chief warns of separate State
The Statesman: November 27, 2005
Sri Lanka’s top Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Pirabhakaran today issued an ultimatum to the new Sri Lankan Government to come up with a “reasonable” political settlement by 31 December or risk the rebels setting up a separate state.

Meanwhile, Tamil Tiger guerrillas armed with rocket launchers and submachine guns patrolled military positions in eastern Sri Lanka today, hours before their leader was expected to outline a harder stance against the government.

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Pirabhakaran’s statement comes two days after President Mr Rajapakse in his own policy address said that he refused to recognise the LTTE’s concept of a traditional homeland for the Tamils in the island’s north and east and ruled out a federal solution to share power with Tamils.

Although he said he was willing to re-start stalled peace negotiations to end the conflict that has claimed over 60,000 lives, Mr Rajapakse wanted to widen the list of negotiators to include other representatives of the minority community. The President also insisted that he would review the Norwegian-brokered truce to make it more stringent and rule out rebel infringements such as abductions and the recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Lanka seeks fresh truce with Tigers
Gulf News: November 26, 2005
Sri Lanka's new president demanded yesterday the launch of a fresh peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels in the ethnically troubled island and "transparent" monitoring of a Norwegian-brokered truce. President Mahinda Rajapakse, in his first policy statement to parliament following his election win last week, said he wanted to institute a new peace process that would not tolerate "terrorism" and recruitment of child soldiers.

The president said the peace process between the previous government and the Tamil Tigers did not make progress because other stakeholders were excluded.

"The current ceasefire agreement will be revised to ensure protection of human rights, prevent recruitment of children for war, safeguard national security, prevent terrorist acts ... and introduce an open transparent ceasefire monitoring mechanism," he told the 225-member assembly. Shortly after his policy statement, the national parliament voted to extend a state of emergency by one month, a move that gives sweeping powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka's new president unveils peace plan
Ireland OnLine: November 25, 2005
Sri Lanka’s newly elected president today said he would resume peace talks with Tamil rebels in an effort to end decades of ethnic conflict in the island nation.

“We will give high priority to introducing a new peace process that will ensure the country’s unity and national security is preserved,” President Mahinda Rajapakse told Parliament as he opened his first session as president.

“My government expresses its willingness to resume peace talks with the LTTE,” Rajapakse said, referring to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels, who have fought for nearly 20 years to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils.

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He also told Parliament he wants the cease-fire agreement to include clauses to prevent terrorist acts and the recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Battle for Sri Lanka
Time Asia: November 13, 2005
There are not many elections where candidates campaign behind razor wire, surrounded by 14 bodyguards and watched over by helicopter gunships. But then there are not many elections that could make the difference between war and peace. To press his case in this week's vote for Sri Lanka's presidency, opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has flown a plane of reporters north to an army base at Palaly, a peninsula of shrimp ponds and sandy jungle which is both a spiritual home to the island's Tamil minority and a key battleground for its Tamil guerrillas. While Wickremesinghe chats amiably to the soldiers, there is no question of him leaving the base and meeting Tamils. "I just don't think it's possible," he says, gesturing over a machine-gun nest at the no man's land of empty, bullet-riddled farmhouses that separates him from Jaffna, the nearby Tamil capital.

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It takes two tribes, of course, to go to war. Sri Lanka's future depends as much on the Tigers' reaction to the election as its result. On Nov. 27, ten days after the vote, Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran will emerge from his underground bunker in the rebel stronghold of Killinochchi in northern Sri Lanka to deliver his verdict in his annual policy speech for Tamils and Sinhalese. Prabhakaran is a self-styled demi-god known for his unpredictability, a fondness for child soldiers and—long before the world had heard of Osama bin Laden—constructing a cult of suicidal sacrifice around a squad of martyr-bombers known as the Black Tigers. [Full Story]

The Tiger Boycott: Reality or Myth?
Asian Tribune: November 13, 2005
Given the Tigers’ unblemished record of lies and deception I find it hard to comprehend why we still have this propensity to believe their given word. But somehow contrary to all available evidence most of us persist in thinking that the Tiger is a creature of its word; and that it does what it says and says what it does. So we seem to take the Tigers’ announcement of indifference towards the outcome of the presidential election as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – even though there are a number of reasons to believe that the Tigers’ professed indifference is anything but the truth.

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The LTTE’s agnosticism is a smokescreen to hide their true objectives. Whatever they may say the Tigers need a friendly government in Colombo, need it badly and need it soon. Such a government can get the world to treat the Tigers more benignly, child soldiers and all; it can also help the Tigers to beat the Karuna challenge and take back the East. One needs to be extremely stupid not to realise that Ranil Wickremesinghe is far more likely to help the Tigers to achieve both aims than would Mahinda Rajapakse (who will help the Tigers unconsciously and indirectly with his insistence on the unitary state and his complete inability to understand Tamil aspirations). And one thing the LTTE is not is stupid. [Full Story]

Committee against Torture begins review of report of Sri Lanka
Relief Web: November 10, 2005
The Committee against Torture this morning began its consideration of the second periodic report of Sri Lanka on the efforts of that country to give effect to the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

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Despite significant steps that had been taken by the Government for the promotion and protection of human rights, extra-judicial killings and impunity for murder in areas under the control of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) remained a major challenge. It was a matter of concern that the majority of the violations of the Ceasefire Agreement fell under the category of human rights violations by the LTTE, in particular the odious practice of continued recruitment of under-age children as combatants. [Full Story]

LTTE continuing recruitment of children - Lanka's envoy to UN
Daily News: November 02, 2005
The effect of armed conflict on the girl-child has been a grave concern in Sri Lanka for sometime and the recruitment of children including girls to the ranks of an armed group in the conflict in Sri Lanka is a continuing worry for our people, Permanent Representative to the UN Prasad Kariyawasam told the Security Council open debate on "Women and Peace and Security" in New York.

"The armed group, LTTE, in gross violation of its commitments, continues such recruitment. This affects women who are the primary care givers in most families. Children, in particular, girls, being affected by armed conflict cannot and should not be allowed to continue by the civilised world and imposition of targeted actions against the perpetrators of such crimes is a paramount necessity," Kariyawasam said. [Full Story]

Ambassador Goonatillake blasts Norway’s attempt to hastily push LTTE agenda at cease-fire talks
Asian Tribune: November 08, 2005
In a candid presentation to a Washington-based think-tank, Ambassador Bernard A.B. Goonatillake has identified (1) the limitations in the ceasefire agreement itself, (2) the shifting of goal posts by the LTTE,(3) limitations in monitoring the breaches of the ceasefire and (4) the policy of appeasement adopted by sections of the international community, as four factors that brought the Sri Lanka peace process to a dead end.

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To this day, the LTTE continues with child abductions, ignoring the agreement reached with the UNICEF, thereby earning the ire of the UN Security Council. They abduct civilians for ransom and assassinate political opponents and civilians in utter disregard of the prevailing ceasefire. Consequently, by 30 September 2005, the LTTE had amassed 3186 ceasefire violations, whereas the violations on the part of the armed forces were a mere 144 for the same period. The most high profile of these violations, no doubt, has been the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar on August 12, 2005. [Full Story]

UNP ELECTION CAMPAIGN FEARS THAT IT MIGHT NOT RECEIVE ALL THE TAMIL VOTES PROMISED BY THE LTTE FOR WICKREMESINGHE
Lanka Web: November 08, 2005
Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election campaign fears that the ongoing clash between Wanni and Karuna factions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would not enable the Wanni faction to deliver the desired amount of Tamil votes from Tamil areas for the victory of the United National Front leader at the forthcoming Presidential elections.

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He said the reason why Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to condemn the assassinations of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and the two Jaffna principals who refused to let the terrorist outfit recruit child soldiers, by the LTTE was due to this secret agreement. [Full Story]

Tamil Catholic Bishops on an anti-Rajapakse campaign
Asian Tribune: November 07, 2005
Tamil Bishops of Sri Lanka appear to have launched subtle and indirect campaign in support of Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP’s Presidential candidate at the forthcoming Sri Lankan Presidential Election. Bishop of Mannar Rt Rev Rayappu Joseph has told BBC’s Sinhala Service that he and fellow Tamil Bishops of Jaffna and Batticaloa have written to voters requesting them to cast their votes at the presidential election.

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It may be recalled that the Tamil Bishops, in particular Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph, were very supportive of the LTTE and refuse to condemn LTTE’s excesses. In the past they have quickly issued statements condemning Sri Lankan military excesses but have not once condemned the LTTE for its child soldiers or for their innumerable killings of Tamils in violation of the ceasefire accord. [Full Story]

Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Sri Lanka: No travel for child soldier recruiters
Relief Web: October 07, 2005
Human Rights Watch laid the groundwork for the European Union's recent decision to impose a travel ban on the leaders of a Sri Lankan rebel group responsible for the widespread recruitment of children into its army. Our November 2004 report documented the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers)'s escalating abduction and recruitment of children in the north and east of Sri Lanka, despite a ceasefire agreement with the government since 2002.

We successfully pressed the United Nations Security Council to publicly speak out against child recruitment and to urge countries to adopt sanctions against those responsible. In response to continuing child recruitment and political killings, the European Union has said it will refuse to admit LTTE delegations into any of its member states. Human Rights Watch is also calling for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the recent spate of political violence and murders in Sri Lanka, including the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August. [Full Story]

The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum (SLDF)
SLDF Calls for the Protection of Child Rights and Educational Freedom
Lanka Web: November 05, 2005
The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum (SLDF) strongly condemns the recent killings of two college principals in Jaffna, Mr. Nadarajah Sivakadatcham of Kopay Christian College, and Mr. Kanakapathy Rajadurai of Jaffna Central College on October 11th and 12th, respectively. The targeting of two leading educational figures in Jaffna has further entrenched the culture of silence and fear among the people of the North and East. Not only does such violence stifle the independence of educational institutions, it also severely undermines the rights of children to education. Attempts to control and exploit educational institutions thus have enduring social implications and greatly restrict the possibilities for successive generations of children to create a vibrant civil society.

The two recent killings should be seen as part of a long history of targeting outspoken educational figures in the North and East that began with the assassination of St. John’s College Principal Charles Anandarajah in 1985 and Jaffna University Lecturer Rajani Thiranagama, who was killed by the LTTE in 1989 for her human rights work with the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna). The principals recently killed were themselves leading public figures in Jaffna. Mr. Sivakadatcham was a vocal promoter of Tamil nationalism, while Mr. Rajadurai was a fierce defender of educational freedom and critic of child conscription. It is widely believed that the LTTE carried out the assassination of Mr. Rajadurai. There are strong allegations that Mr. Sivakadatcham was assassinated with the connivance of Sri Lankan security forces. If that is true, it sets a dangerous precedent in the North where targeting of civilians by armed actors opposed to the LTTE could lead to a situation similar to the East.

From the very outset of the conflict, children in the North and East were denied access to education. The destruction of educational infrastructure, the repeated displacements of children and teachers, and conflict-induced trauma prevented children from pursuing their education. Moreover, in the mid-1980s, the LTTE and the India-backed Tamil National Army institutionalised the forced recruitment of children for warfare. Tamil militant groups openly recruited at schools, and children were forcibly taught nationalist history, glorifying armed violence and militarism. Schools were often closed down not only for the war, but also because of child recruitment and the enforced participation of children in public protests. [Full Story]

UNP AND LTTE WORRIED THAT THEY CANNOT STUFF BALLOT BOXES BECAUSE OF KARUNA IN THE EAST
Lanka Web: October 30, 2005
United National Front sources said that they are highly worried that Velupillai Prabhakaran would not be able to deliver the necessary number of votes from the Eastern Province for the victory of Ranil Wickremesinghe at the forthcoming Presidential elections due to the opposition from Karuna.

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JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe in a exclusive interview with this correspondent said that it was the reason why Ranil Wickremesinghe refused to condemn the LTTE for the assassinations of Former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and the two principals of Jaffna schools who refused to let LTTE recruit child soldiers . Somawansa also said due to the same reason Ranil also refused to praise the European Union for its ban of the terrorist outfit. [Full Story]

JVP LEADER SOMAWANSA ALLEGES RANIL HAS ENTERED INTO ANOTHER SECRET PACT WITH PRABHAKARAN TO OBTAIN VOTES
Lanka Web: October 25, 2005
In an exclusive interview with this correspondent at the JVP headquarters at Nugegoda the party leader pointed out that the failures of Ranil Wickremesinghe to condemn the assassinations of former foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and the two Jaffna principals of leading schools in Jaffna who refused to let the LTTE recruit child soldiers from their schools as terrorist acts of the LTTE were caused by the pact and explained his strong desire to protect it.

He said the promises made by the LTTE to obtain votes of the Tamil people of the North and East by hook or by crook have also prevented Mr. Wickremesinghe to join the rest of the world in praising the decision of the European Union to ban the LTTE across Europe. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan rebels demand lifting of EU travel ban on Tigers
Daily Times: October 23, 2005
Supporters at a rally held in eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday urged the European Union to be ‘realistic’ and lift a travel ban clamped on Tamil Tiger rebels, a pro-rebel web site reported.

The EU announced earlier this month that representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will be refused entry into member states until the bloc considers whether to add the guerrillas to its list of terrorist organisations.

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Tamil rebels have been accused of killing scores of political opponents - including Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August - and recruiting child soldiers despite a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002. The rebels deny killing Kadirgamar on Aug 12 and claim that the EU has sided with the government. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka rebel supporters demand lifting of EU travel ban onTamil Tigers
India Daily: October 22, 2005
Supporters at a rally held in eastern Sri Lanka Saturday urged the European Union to be "realistic" and lift a travel ban clamped on Tamil Tiger rebels, a pro-rebel Web site reported.

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Tamil rebels have been accused of killing scores of political opponents _ including Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August _ and recruiting child soldiers despite a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire signed in 2002. The rebels deny killing Kadirgamar on Aug.12 and claim that the EU has sided with the government. [Full Story]

EU urged not to allow LTTE rally
Gulf News: October 22, 2005
TAMIL United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V Anandasangaree has appealed to the European Union (EU) not to permit LTTE front organisations to hold a protest rally on October 24, in Brussels, against the travel ban imposed on its members.

I appeal to the international community to go all out to prevent such a rally being held in Brussels which is in fact to demand from the EU the right for the LTTE to kill those who do not agree with them and to recruit children as child soldiers, Anandasangaree wrote in his letter to EU ambassadors.

He wrote: "The LTTE that is holding Sri Lanka to ransom is now trying to extend its terror and intimidation to the EU countries and very soon to the entire world. In response to the call of the LTTE, a number of people are preparing to participate in the proposed rally from Europe, UK and Scandinavian countries. Most of the participants are either citizens or permanent residents of the countries where they reside and are enjoying all benefits including the education of their children." [Full Story]

"Liberate the Tamils from the L.T.T.E," - Sangaree appeals to EU leaders
Asian Tribune: October 21, 2005
In an impassion plea to the leaders of the European Union, V. Anandasangaree, Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front has requested them to save the Tamils from the control of the Fascist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

While lambasting the LTTE for all the killings, TULF leader has categorically told the EU leaders "The modern democracies can't be polluted by fascist elements," he also pointed out, "the only option the E.U. has, is to proscribe the L.T.T.E. in the EU."

He appealed to the EU leaders, "This is the most opportune time for the International Community to liberate the Tamils from the L.T.T.E."

Recently, Ananandasangaree wrote letters to all the heads of the diplomatic mission of the EU countries in Colombo, bringing to their notice that LTTE is remote-controlling from Vanni for a protest march on 24 October in Brussels against the EU countries and its leaders for imposing travel ban on 26 September against them.

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Most of the ‘would be participants’ are either citizens or permanent residents of the countries where they reside and are enjoying all benefits including the education of their children. Most of them have sponsored and got down their parents and close relatives too. These are the people who finance the LTTE for all their activities including the training of children for war,” Sanagaree’s letter described. [Full Story]

LTTE has committed grave violations against children - Lankan envoy to UN
Daily News: October 19, 2005
Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, told the UN on Monday that the LTTE has committed "four grave violations" against the children:

(i) attacks against schools and civilian centres;

(ii) abduction of children;

(iii) denial of humanitarian access for children; and

(iv) use of children in armed conflict. [Full Story]

Ambassador Kariyawasam lambastes LTTE war crimes against children and denies a legal status to the LTTE
Asian Tribune: October 18, 2005
Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, told the UN that the LTTE has committed "four grave violations" against the children: (i) attacks against schools and civilian centres; (ii) abduction of children; (iii) denial of humanitarian access for children; and (iv) use of children in armed conflict.

Branding them as "war crimes" he said that it is "necessary to keep a sustained focus on all these inter-connected, continuing grave violations against children with a view to preventing their recurrence."

Ambassador Kariyawasam also commended the ground work of Ms. Karin Sham Poo, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and Under-Secretary-General in defining the status of rebel groups engaged in dialogues with governments. Quoting her new clarification on engaging in dialogues with rebel groups (example: LTTE) Ambassador Kariyawasam rejected the LTTE claim for legitimacy simply because the Government engages in a dialogue with them to put an end to LTTE's war crimes. In her report Ms. Poo stated: "It is critical to engage in a protection dialogue with all parties, whether Government or insurgencies, whose actions have significant impact on children, without any implications as to their political or legal status. Therefore, the engagement of dialogue with an insurgent group does not confer legitimacy or a particular legal status on that group. The only purpose for such dialogue is to ensure protection for and access to vulnerable children. [Full Story]

UN action called to halt violations of children's rights by LTTE
Colombo Page: October 17, 2005
Full document in pdf format. [Full Story]

Australia must take strong action against LTTE - Sri Lanka High Commissioner
Asian Tribune: October 12, 2005
Sri Lanka High Commissioner in Australia has urged the Government of Australia to take appropriate actions against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for all their illegal activities and the false propaganda campaign undertaken by them on the Australian soil.

K. Balapatabendi, High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia has pointed out "The LTTE uses the Australian soil to propagate their separatist agenda and fund raising activities, although the LTTE is a banned organization in Australia."

Recently, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner wrote a letter to Alexander Downer, Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs briefing him of the European Union declaration on Sri Lanka on 26th September 2005, pronouncing specific measures designed to deter violence, terrorism and other illegal or unacceptable activities including funding and propaganda of the LTTE.

...
In conclusion, K. Balapatabendi brought to the notice of the Australian Foreign Minister that the EU has expressed its serious concerns on the continuing practice of recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE.

"This organization deplorably continues to recruit children for their armed forces despite repeated requests by the UN and UNESCO." [Full Story]

Sri Lanka urges Australia to take action against LTTE in Australian soil
Colombo Page: October 12, 2005
The Sri Lankan government urged the Australian government to take action against LTTE’s illegal activities in Australia.

Sri Lanka High Commissioner in Australia K. Balapatabendi said, "The LTTE uses the Australian soil to propagate their separatist agenda and fund raising activities, although the LTTE is a banned organization in Australia."

In a letter to Alexander Downer, Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Balapatabendi said that the EU Declaration is most opportune and significant in that it has been made at a time that Sri Lanka is endeavoring to seek a negotiated settlement with the LTTE.

"Most importantly, the EU member states will not receive any delegation from the LTTE in their countries until further notice. This restriction will be in force with immediate effect, he stated.

"While we commend the action taken by Australia to ban the LTTE, we firmly believe that the Australian authorities will take similar action to curb their illegal activities and propaganda on Australian soil," the High Commissioner said.

It finally stated, "This organization deplorably continues to recruit children for their armed forces despite repeated requests by the UN and UNESCO. This abhorrent practice has been repeatedly condemned by the international community. Government of Sri Lanka is thank ful to all the Missions accredited to EU and other relevant countries and organizations for their effective representations enabling this outcome." [Full Story]

Abducted children seek escape from LTTE
Asia News Network: October 12, 2005
Nearly 200 children from the up country plantation sector have been abducted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and are undergoing firearms training at the group’ s baby brigade training camp in Kilinochchi, northeast of Sri Lanka.

Most of them have got fed up with the treatment they received at the hands of the hardcore seniors and are awaiting an opportunity to escape. This was revealed by a 9-year-old escapee.

Dinesh Kumar, who fled the LTTE camp and surrendered to the Vavuniya army said he had been abducted by the LTTE from the Poonagala Plantation in Bandarawela District. He said he came from a very poor family and he was handed over to a children’s home in Vavuniya by his grandmother as she could not feed him.

He said he had been abducted by two LTTE cadres who came to the children’s home and was taken to a ‘baby brigade’ camp of the LTTE at Kilinochchi.

"I had to get up before dawn. They put me on various drills and exercises. I and nearly 200 other children were also given arms training but we were all disgusted with the LTTE cadres who forced us to do all the training exercises which we didn’t want to do.

"I escaped from the camp when the cadres, who were guarding it were distracted and found my way to the main road through a wooded area. I put my hand up to a passing lorry. The driver stopped and when I requested him to take me to the Omanthai Army Check point, the driver obliged. That was how I was able to escape and surrender to the Army. I do not want to go back to the LTTE camp as they are very cruel".

The Army handed over the child to the Vavuniya police who got a court order and the child was handed over to the UNICEF. [Full Story]

Recruitment of child combatants remains a threat in Sri Lanka Refugees International
Asian Tribune: October 12, 2005
Refugees International, a New York based human rights organization and its main concern is to end human displacement alleged that in recent months recruitment of children by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has increased.

Refugees International further pointed out that in the eastern coastal district of Batticaloa, which was hard hit by tsunami is an area of political tension and LTTE child recruitment remains constant.

Refugees International has urged the Tamil rebel outfit, the LTTE to respect their international commitments and cease their recruitment of child soldiers.

Also the Human rights group has recommended that donors address the imbalance in international assistance to the north and east of the country compared to the south, and increase investment in long-term development programs in conflict-affected regions. [Full Story]

Sri Lankans’ bid for election seen as two-horse race
The Finantial Express: October 10, 2005
Thirteen men registered Friday to run for Sri Lanka's presidency, but the election is seen as a race between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and his predecessor that is too close to call.

...
AP from Kilinochchi adds: A Norwegian diplomat asked Tamil Tiger rebels to halt political assassinations and child conscription as continued violence threatened to derail Sri Lanka 's fragile ceasefire, officials said.

Hans Brattskar, Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka, met the Tamil Tigers' political head, SP Thamilselvan, Thursday at the northern rebel-held capital of Kilinochchi.

"I urged Thamilselvan to do what he can to make certain that the political killings are stopped, child conscription stopped," Brattskar told reporters after the meeting. [Full Story]

The United Nations, Child Soldiers and the LTTE
SPUR: October 08, 2005
The LTTE is one of the listed Terrorist Outfits (TO) in the UN. It was somewhere in 1998 the UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Olara Otunu was sent to Sri Lanka to investigate into the LTTE's child recruitment as soldiers. His report to the UN exposed the LTTE's recruitment of children for the Eelam war and warned the LTTE to stop this inhuman act. Little Mr. Otunu know that if the LTTE stops the recruitment of children as soldiers, there will be no fodder to face the opponents cannons. As usual, the LTTE hierarchy disclaimed these allegations by UNICEF authorities and despite the UN's warning, they carried on regardless in recruiting child soldiers at a rate. It is estimated that in the 1990's 40-60 % of LTTE soldiers killed in battle were children under the age of eighteen.

Then again, in February 2005, UN Security Council (UNSC) discussed and proposed a resolution based on a report submitted by Mr Otunu to deal with the TOs, including the LTTE, who violate all forms of human rights and recruit children as soldiers. Discussions were aimed at imposing travel restrictions on members of the TOs in the world, imposing severe penalties on governments and terrorist groups recruiting child soldiers and abusing children in war zones. Ironically, whilst EU was hailing these measures as a right step towards combating global terrorism, at the same time a few powerful EU countries have been extending invitations to some members of the LTTE terrorist outfit and gave them a hearing with VIP treatment. The very countries that hailed the proposed measures were violating them. It is heartening to see the UN Secretary General Koffi Annan making a tough statement and finally calling for (Calling whom? Western countries?) curbs on overseas travel by the LTTE. He has also urged stiff penalties against the ‘Tigers’ charging them with keeping child soldiers and abducting children on the way to schools or during festivals, beating families and teachers who resist seizure of children as the BBC reported. Mr Annan urged sanctions against Tamil Tigers and 40 other groups accused of using children in war. [Full Story]

EU to send observers to monitor LTTE activities
Colombo Page: October 08, 2005
The European Union, which imposed a travel ban to LTTE members in EU countries will send a designated number of international organizations to observe the activities of Wanni Tigers in the future to consider outlawing LTTE in EU countries.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The International Federation Terre des Hommes, International Save the Children Organization, Jesuit Refugees Service and United Nations Quaker Office in Geneva will be assigned for this purpose.

Informed sources said that the international observers will mainly focus on the child conscription and the political killings. [Full Story]

Norway asks Lanka’s Tamil rebels to stop killings and child conscription
Khaleej Times: October 07, 2005
Sri Lanka - A Norwegian diplomat asked Tamil Tiger rebels to halt political assassinations and child conscription as continued violence threatened to derail Sri Lanka’s fragile cease-fire, officials said.

Hans Brattskar, Norway’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, met the Tamil Tigers’ political head, S.P. Thamilselvan, on Thursday at the northern rebel-held capital of Kilinochchi.

I urged Mr. Thamilselvan to do what he can to make certain that the political killings are stopped, child conscription stopped, Brattskar told reporters after the meeting.

Brattskar said he asked that the Tamil Tigers demonstrate not only in words but also in deeds its commitment to both the cease-fire agreement and the peace process. [Full Story]

Recruitment of child combatants remains a threat
Relief Web: October 06, 2005
As political problems persist in Sri Lanka, recruitment of child combatants by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is rising. In the wake of the tsunami in Sri Lanka , there was a brief interlude of harmony as Sinhalese and Tamils worked together to rescue survivors of the tsunami and rebuild damaged coastal areas. Fears that the LTTE might capitalize on the tragedy by forcibly recruiting orphans of the tsunami did not come to pass and while recruitment of child combatants did not end, it remained low. In recent months, however, recruitment has increased, and children and adolescents remain vulnerable to forced conscription.

The eastern coastal district of Batticaloa, which was hard hit by the tsunami, is an area of political tension and LTTE child recruitment remains a constant threat. The figures of UNICEF, which monitors the child recruitment situation nationally, show that recruitment in July was at the highest level since before the tsunami, with 135 under-age combatants known to have been recruited. A local agency staff member told RI, "Recruiting is going on in the tsunami shelters in the un-cleared [LTTE-controlled] areas. At temple festivals, we see the LTTE openly trying to recruit children. They tell them to 'Come and see a video program' and sometimes they forcibly abduct them." International humanitarian agencies have been able to provide a measure of protection for children by increasing their presence in areas where recruitment is rife, such as temple festivals. [Full Story]

Halt child recruitment, LTTE told
Thu Hindu: October 05, 2005
The London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has called upon the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to "halt all recruitment" of those under 18 and "demobilise all children" in its ranks through a "transparent and independently verifiable" process.

Welcoming the recent European Union decision that LTTE delegations would not be received by member-states, the Coalition said the LTTE's denials "are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training."

Such recruitment "has increased since June 2005 and is ongoing," said Casey Kelso, Coalition's international director. The call is against the backdrop of a reported increase in child recruitment in July after a post-tsunami lull.

According to figures with the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), child recruitment constitutes the single largest number of violations of the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). [Full Story]

LTTE continues ‘child soldiers recruitment’
Lanka Academic: October 05, 2005
LTTE is continuing the conscription of children and other acts of terrorism, says Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V Anandasangaree.

Referring to the statement purported to have been made by UNP deputy secretary Tissa Attanayake to a Tamil newspaper concerning the European Union's (EU's) ban on LTTE movements in their countries, Anandasangaree said there is no evidence to prove that the LTTE was giving up political killings and others forms of violence.

In this context, the UNP was acting in an opportunistic manner with the election in mind, he said. "The UNP attitude towards the LTTE is opportunistic and misleading." [Full Story]

'Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers,' welcomes EU travel ban imposed on the LTTE
Asian Tribune: October 04, 2005
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers welcomes the recent European Union (EU) agreement that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegations will no longer be received in EU member states. It calls on the LTTE to halt all recruitment of under-18s and to demobilize all children in its ranks.

The EU decision was made in the wake of EU condemnation of the killing of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, along with many other killings in recent weeks.

The EU statement emphasizes its concern at the continuing recruitment and retention of children by the LTTE, a practice it describes as abhorrent .

LTTE political head S.P. Tamilselvan reiterated the organization’s position that it does not recruit under-18s, following the EU statement.

LTTE denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training. Child recruitment has increased since June 2005 and is ongoing said Casey Kelso, the Coalition’s international director.

Many organizations, including UNICEF, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and others, have documented both forced and voluntary recruitment of children for military purposes in 2005. [Full Story]

Dateline Colombo: CWC to support Wickremesinghe
The Peninsula: October 03, 2005
The Ceylon Workers Congress, Sri Lanka’s largest plantation sector trade union and political party, is to support United National Party candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe at the November 17 presidential poll, The Sunday Times reported.

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Tough law against child soldiers
Tough punishment is to be imposed on those engaged in or recruiting a child forcibly or compulsorily for use in armed conflicts, according to new legislation to be presented in the Sri Lankan parliament this week. The legislation is aimed at curbing the use of children by Tamil rebels. The Sunday Times said several amendments to both the Criminal Procedure Code and the Penal Code were being introduced in a bid to crack down on crimes against children and keep up with the international conventions that deal with such offences. A child has been listed as a person under 18 years. Punishment for the recruitment of children for armed conflict will carry a term of imprisonment of up to 30 years and a fine. According to amendments to the Penal Code, offences related to adoption are being broadened to include the obtaining of consent, written or oral, of a pregnant woman, for money or any other consideration, for the adoption of the unborn child or to recruit a woman or a couple to bear children for the same purpose. [Full Story]

London-based right group calls upon the Tigers to end child recruitment
Colombo Page: October 05, 2005
The London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has called upon the LTTE to immediately stop recruiting underage children to the organization despite the continuing condemnations by UNICEF and other human right groups. While welcoming the EU decision that LTTE delegations would not be received by member-states, the group said “LTTE’s denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training.” [Full Story]

Tiger travel ban welcomed
BBC: October 03, 2005
A London-based lobby group has welcomed the travel ban imposed upon Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers by the European Union.

Welcoming the ban, The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers has urged the LTTE to halt all recruitment of under-18s and demobilize all children in its ranks.

Continuous recruitment
Casey Kelso, the Coalition’s internationals director has said that LTTE’s continuous promises not to recruit children are ‘belied’ by evidence.

He said: "LTTE denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training."

The coalition says many organizations, including UNICEF and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), have documented both forced and voluntary recruitment of children for military purposes in 2005.

"A lull in recruitment following the December 2004 tsunami was noted by the Coalition as an encouraging development. This trend reversed as detailed information on numerous cases of recruitment during temple festivals was received by the Coalition in June. UNICEF reported a sharp increase in the numbers of children recruited in July." [Full Story]

Impeach Velupillai Prabhakaran
Lanka Truth: October 03, 2005
Action has been taken to indict Velupillai Prabhakaran before the International Court of Justice. An international appeal has been made by Sri Lankan Armed Forces Relief Foundation (SLAFRF) based in the USA. It has cited crimes committed by Velupillai Prabhakaran’s LTTE under three categories of
(1) war crimes,
(2) crimes against humanity
and
(3) violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Sri Lankan Armed Forces Relief Foundation (SLAFRF)- a non-governmental organization based in USA - has launched an international appeal to log a formal complaint in the International ourt of Justice (ICJ) citing LTTE's (1) war crimes 2) crimes against humanity and (3) its violations of the Ceasefire = ASWSASQ Agreement of 2002.

SLAFRF has appealed for interested parties to provide documentary evidence to be presented to the ICJ. This move is to end the culture of impunity under which the LTTE has
(a) Committed mass murders (example: 600 policemen who surrendered on the word given by Anton Balasingham),
(b) Abducted Tamil children despite agreement with the UN to stop this war crime,
(c) Incarcerated Tamil dissidents in dark underground cells without access to lawyers or relatives,
(d) Executed Tamil dissidents in the most cruel manner, some of whom were thrown to crococdiles for refusing to toe the LTTE dictates,
(e) Tortured Tamil political prisoners (example: scraping the wounded backs of Tamil political prisoners with dry coconut husks)
(f) Targeted Tamil rivals in the democratic stream (example: Lakshman Kadirgamar, the internationally respected Foreign Minister)
(g) Threatened and executed journalists who write against LTTE violation of human rights (example: Seliah Nagaraja, the Asian Tribune correspondent in Australia and Dr. Noel Nadesan, the editor of the Tamil Community paper in Australia)
(h) Ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Sinhalese in areas controlled by the LTTE,
(i) committed the mass murders of the Muslims at prayer in the Kathankuddi mosque in the eastern province
(j) Bombed indiscriminately civilian targets (examples: the Central Bank and the train at Mt. Lavinia packed with city workers returning home in the evening)
(k) Violated the Ceasefire Agreement of Oslo (97%)
(l) Abducted and killed Security Forces engaged in peace time activities of implementing the Ceasefire Agreement
(m) Tortured and executed Security Forces taken prisoners, violating the basic rules of war as laid down in the Geneva Convention and
(n) Recruited, trained and psyched suicide bombers which is now categorized as a war crime and
(o) perpetrated other violations of numerous human rights of the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese non-combatant civilians. [Full Story]

EU travel ban will change LTTE's tough stance, says Sri Lanka govt
Colombo Page: September 30, 2005
Cabinet spokesperson Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva says the European Union's travel ban on the LTTE will influence LTTE leaders to resume the stalled peace talks with the Sri Lankan government.

...
He said the EU’s action would also change the LTTE’s toughest stances on various issues including recruitment of child soldiers, resumption of the peace process, violation of the ceasefire agreement and assassination of political opponents. [Full Story]

Europe thinks the LTTE has gone too far
New Kerala: September 29, 2005
After hosting Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas for over two decades, Europe has finally decided to show its displeasure with the world's most lethal insurgent group over its adamant refusal to give up violence. But Norway will not join the European Union (EU) decision not to receive any more LTTE delegation, but only because it is the mediator in Sri Lanka's peace process.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is predictably angry over the EU move, which came barely a week after the co-chairs to the Sri Lanka peace process (Japan, Norway, EU and the US) called on the Tigers to take "immediate steps" to end political assassinations and recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

EU bars visits by Tamil Tigers
The Navhind Times: September 28, 2005
The European Union (EU) today said it is actively considering formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation as it imposed travel restrictions on the Tamil Tigers to visit its member states.

The EU is actively considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. In the meantime, the EU has agreed that with immediate effect, delegations from the LTTE will no longer be received in any of the EU member states until further notice, an EU statement released by the British High Commission said.

...
Expressing its serious concern at the continuous recruitment and retention of child soldiers by the LTTE, the EU said that there can be no excuse whatsoever for this abhorrent practice to continue. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels deny they are terrorists following EU rebuff
The China Post: September 27, 2005
A representative of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Tuesday defended the organization against charges of terrorism, a day after the European Union said the group was no longer welcome in Europe's capitals.

In a statement released by the British government on Monday, the EU said the rebels "will no longer be received in any of the EU member states until further notice" as the body considers whether to add the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to its list of terrorist organizations. Britain currently holds the rotating presidency of the 25-nation union. The EU statement said the Tigers' "continuing use of violence and terrorism" threatened the country's fragile peace process. [Full Story]

SHED THE FEAR PSYCHOSIS AND DEFEAT THE TERRORIST COLLABORATORS
Lanka Web: September 23, 2005
Various forces with vested interest have fully pitched themselves to achieve their sinister objectives from the forthcoming presidential election. This is an election that would be entirely different from the elections held hitherto in this country, as it is going to be the most decisive election that would determine the nature of the country’s very existence in the future after cherishing a glorious history for more than two thousand years.

...
What Sri Lanka needs is a President who could fearlessly expose the atrocities being committed against the innocent population in the North and East by the terrorist outfit, who could muster international support to liberate them from the shackles of tiger oppression, who could fearlessly fight against conscription of child soldiers, who could prevent extortion, who could demand our neighbours, the western nations and the so-called international organizations to prevent fund raising by terrorist front organizations and disarm/disband the terrorist military wings. [Full Story]

An open letter by a Sri Lankan to Ms. Virginia Judge, New South Wales MP
Asian Tribune: September 22, 2005
The search for the location of Tamil Eelam , a country referred by Ms.Virginia Judge, a Member of New South Wales Parliament has just drawn blank and one irate Sri Lanka n has written an open letter to the MP, as to where she managed to locate such a country about which she had recently announced in the floor of the New South Wales Parliament, when she made a personal statement about her visit to that country.

Virginia Judge MP for Strathfield while making a statement in the New South Wales Parliament on 15 September, at 5.08 p.m. under the caption, Sri Lanka is in crisis said "I experienced first-hand a concerted campaign to prevent me from traveling to Tamil Eelam."

...
It is correct that the international community must take action - which action is to isolate and force terrorists such as the LTTE to give up terrorism, not support it as you have in your statement. Even today the news reports contain news of the LTTE murdering policemen, abducting children and committing other acts of violence. Most of this violence today is directed at the Tamil people in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

When you visited their "courts" otherwise called "kangaroo courts" did you have the foresight to ask on what "law" these courts operated?

Had you taken the trouble to read even one report by the Tamil human rights group based in Jaffna (the Tamil populated part of Sri Lanka) you would have realized that there is no rule of law in the areas controlled by the LTTE, travel is restricted by the LTTE, rights are denied by the LTTE, child conscription is by the LTTE. [Full Story]

Western patience with LTTE wearing thin
New Kerala: September 22, 2005
The co-chairs to the Sri Lanka peace process may have a grudge against both Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but it is clear they are slowly but surely getting tired of the Tamil Tigers' murderous run.

...
And in the very next paragraph, the statement said: "The co-chairs call on the LTTE to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change. An immediate end to political assassinations by the LTTE and an end to LTTE recruitment of child soldiers are two such steps." [Full Story]

LTTE killings draw flak
Deccan Herald: September 21, 2005
Key donor nations on Tuesday warned that the Sri Lankan peace effort was facing its most serious challenge.

They also slammed the LTTE for carrying out political killings and asked all parties to exercise restraint during the presidential campaign.

The United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway, co-chairs of the international group backing Sri Lanka’s peace bid, said the situation following the August 12 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar [Full Story]

Trincomalee parents demand authority to save their children from the LTTE
Colombo Page: September 21, 2005
A group of affected parents in the Trincomalee district have requested the Human Rights Commission in Trincomalee to take immediate steps to prevent their children from falling prey to the Tigers.

Parents of students who organized themselves into a Parents-Students Committee accused the LTTE of disrupting children’s education and brainwashing them to resort to violence.

A letter, with copies to the Deputy Inspector General of Police in the eastern region, the Senior Superintendent of Police in Trincomalee, UNICEF-Trincomalee, the Commander of the 22nd Division, SLMM, and the Eastern Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, stated that parents and school principals in the area have been miserably silenced by the Tigers’ guns and other terror tactics. [Full Story]

Donors call for federal solution
LTTE told to immediately end killings and child recruitment
Daily Mirror: September 21, 2005
The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference yesterday called on the LTTE to take immediate public steps to demonstrate its commitment to the peace process and its willingness to change while urging that both parties to work out a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka.

After a meeting in New York, the Co-Chairs the United States, the European Union, Norway and Japan also told the LTTE to immediately end political assassinations and recruitment of child soldiers.

The Co-Chairs in a statement reiterated their unequivocal condemnation of the killing of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, describing it as an unconscionable act of terrorism that casts profound doubt on the commitment of those responsible to a peaceful and political resolution of the conflict. [Full Story]

Donor Co-Chairs urge LTTE to stop killings, recruiting children
New Kerala: September 20, 2005
The Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka's donor countries, which met in New York yesterday to discuss the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka in the wake of the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, have urged the LTTE to put an immediate stop to political killings and recruitment of children to its ranks.

The four-member Co-Chairs, comprising of the US, the EU, Norway and Japan, have simultaneously urged the Lankan government to disarm and pull back the paramilitaries out of the restive North-East region.

''The Co-Chairs call on the LTTE to take immediate public steps to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and their willingness to change. An immediate end to political assassinations by the LTTE and an end to LTTE recruitment of child soldiers are two such steps,'' a statement released by the Norway and US embassies here said today. [Full Story]

CBK discusses LTTE child conscription with UNICEF
The Island: September 20, 2005
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, during her visit to the UN, had met Executive Director UNICEF, Ms.Ann Veneman and discussed the continued conscription of children by the LTTE in the North and East and the gross violations of the CFA. "In this context they discussed the continued reports of the LTTE’s conscription of children in the North and East of Sri Lanka and the need to draw awareness of these gross violations of the CFA to the International Community. In June this year Ms.Venemen took up this issue with the LTTE during the post-tsunami visit to Sri Lanka. During the meeting Ms.Veneman said she appreciated the work done by the government of Sri Lanka regarding the Child Protection Authority’s work and congratulated the President on her approach of viewing the three scourges of the world, poverty, disease and terrorism, , a release from the President’s Media Unit yesterday (19) said. [Full Story]

President, UNICEF chief share concerns about children in conflict
Daily News: September 20, 2005
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga met UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman soon after her address to the 60th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday. Veneman congratulated President Kumaratunga on her address and said she shared her views and her concern for children, a release from the Presidential Media Unit said. [Full Story]

UNICEF and Sri Lanka President condemned LTTE for recruitment of under aged children
Asian Tribune: September 20, 2005
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kamaratunga and Ann Veneman showed great concern over the child recruitment by the Sri Lanka Tamil rebel outfit- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and condemned the same. Recruitment of child soldiers is considered a gross violation of ceasefire agreement by the Tamil Tigers.

The Executive Director of UNICEF Ms Ann Veneman met with Sri Lanka President Kumaratunga at UN after her address in the UN General Assembly and said she shared her views and her concern for children.

They discussed their shared commitment to uplift the welfare of children the world over. Ms Veneman said she could not agree more with President Kumaratunga about the three scourges that afflict the world, namely poverty, disease and terrorism.

In this context they discussed the continued reports of the LTTE's conscription of children in the North and East of Sri Lanka and the need to draw the awareness of these gross violations of the CFA to the international community. In June this year Ms. Veneman took up this issue with the LTTE during a post-tsunami visit to Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka on overseas public diplomacy rampage: Kumaratunga appeals to international community at UN
Asian Tribune: September 16, 2005
Sending her top advisor and head of the Peace Secretariat Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala on a week-long public diplomacy campaign in America’s capital, Washington, whose finger prints are often seen in many developments and trends worldwide, on a new crusade against Sri Lanka’s Tamil rebel outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a major speech at the United Nations on Thursday, September 15 wanted the World Body and the international community to take meaningful and effective action against Tamil Tiger activities overseas.

...
As part of the peace process, successive Governments have given the LTTE all facilities as a party to negotiations, including access to foreign entities and Governments, at times using the good offices of the facilitators the Norwegian Government, who have made considerable efforts to move the process forward under difficult circumstances. However, this process of engagement and accommodation does not seem to have persuaded this Group to move away from terrorism, as is evidenced by their recent killing of my Foreign Minister, their continued recruitment of child soldiers and their killings of political rivals. [Full Story]

LTTE not moving away from terrorism
Sunday Observer: September 18, 2005
The process of engagement and accommodation afforded to the LTTE as part of the peace process does not seem to have presuaded them to move away from terrorism as is evidenced by their recent killing of the Foreign Minister, their continued recruitment of child soldiers and their killings of political rivals, said President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga addressing the High-Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. [Full Story]

Chandrika calls for UN support to stave off LTTE's threats
Asian Tribune: September 19, 2005
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga appealed to the World Community to exert pressure on the LTTE to respect democratic norms and also she leveled harsh criticism against the Tamil Tigers on the first day of the 60th Session U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting on Saturday 17th September.

...
Chandrika Kumaratunga added: These include the conscription of children as soldiers, callously disregarding promises given to many, including the UN Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, and the assassination of democratic opponents, as part of their policy of eliminating Tamil political leaders and Human Rights activists with disdain for all international law and practice, despite sustained efforts by my Government and the Norwegian facilitators. [Full Story]

Tigers asked not to promote child abuse
The Island: September 15, 2005
The Norwegian-led truce monitoring mission has called on the LTTE to allow police to conduct an investigation in the LTTE-controlled area.

This follows a Sri Lanka Police Inspectors' Association request to the Monitoring Mission to secure the release of three policemen seized by LTTE cadres while they were tracking down a foreign paedophile at Murunkan on September 9. [Full Story]

Lankan conflict exposing children to warfare
Dawn: September 15, 2005
The ground is parched. The sun is hot. It is around 2.00 in the afternoon. In a playground adjoining an orphanage run by the LTTE in its de facto state of north eastern Killinochchi , nearly 50 children, mostly girls, are ‘exercising’. They move their limbs as though in rote but there is no room for lethargy. There is a young woman, one of the matrons of the orphanage, wielding an ominous looking twig, who keeps a brisk momentum. The youngest seems to be little more than a toddler and tumbles to the ground several times. Several of the older ones too tumble and has the twig slashed against them. The exercises go on. This is a recollection of a recent visit, about six months back to the LTTE-controlled region (where journalists are not welcome species). Children in the LTTE-controlled districts have little time to play. Or study. Instead they line up for what is euphemistically called ‘exercises’ and are watched by hawk eyed ‘supervisors’.

Plagued by poverty the best that most children in the area, who are either war orphans or living malnourished, lived with below the poverty line parents, could hope for is to end up with three square meals a day. And the only way to get this sufficiently in an area where work opportunity seems nil is to join the LTTE. And most do this from the very childhood.

The LTTE, notorious for its use of children in combat, stands accused of continuing to recruit minors for military training despite the past three and a half years of the ceasefire, according to latest reports from the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA).

A report launched recently by the NCPA state that 5,081 children (2,975 boys and 2106 girls) had been recruited by the Tamil Tigers for military training from the date of the truce, Feb 22 up to the end of July 2005. Although the report says that the LTTE had returned 1,480 children back to their parents, NCPA sources say the menace of children being recruited as child soldiers continues unabated. Society regards perpetrators of child rights violations such as sexual abuse and child labour without any mercy or sympathy. However, in the case of child recruitment, the tolerance level seems to be much high, mainly because of fear of the Tigers, a senior NCPA official said. [Full Story]

Child soldier issue may yet snare Tigers
Cyber Dyaryo: September 14, 2005
While the international community has given the benefit of the doubt to Tamil separatist rebels for the assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, last month, it may not be as forgiving on the issue of continued recruitment of child soldiers.

I most certainly would think that the child soldier issue will have an impact on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s pursuit of international legitimacy, Paikiasothy Saravanmuttu, director of the respected, Colombo-based think-tank, Center for Policy Alternatives, said in an IPS interview.

Such is the gravity of the issue that Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission has decided to lobby the foreign ministry for a formal United Nations assessment of the state of forcible recruitment of child soldiers by the Tigers.

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Child soldiers a key issue vs. Tigers

According to Saravanamuttu, the recruitment of child soldiers would remain a key allegation against the Tigers. I think the UN is holding on for a year on the resolution on child recruitment, and during that year they are kind of serving notice, and we will see some sort of action once it is ratified.

The LTTE, which has been waging a separatist war over the last two decades against Colombo , is accused of recruiting underage children into its military ranks in the north and the east of the country.

The bulk of the complaints are from the east where the Tigers have faced a serious threat to their power following the defection of the former eastern military wing commander Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, alias Karuna, in April 2004.

More than 100 cases of underage recruitment were reported from the north and east by UNICEF in July. Of that, 64 were from the main eastern city of Batticaloa, where cadres loyal to Karuna have been waging an internecine war against the Tigers, since the defection.

Dramatic increase in child recruitment

Recent reports from the east show a dramatic increase in child recruitment, particularly during the temple festivals, officials of the Commission said.

UNICEF officials in Colombo said they were concerned about the rise in recruitments and have urged both government and the Tigers to address the issue. The government and the LTTE have to sit at the peace table soon and begin discussions before it is too late, UNICEF spokesman Jeffery Keele told IPS.

Colombo and the Tigers signed a truce agreement in February 2002 with Norwegian facilitation. Peace negotiations have, however, been stalled since April 2003 with the relationship sorely strained since the Karuna defection to the government side.

When Kadirgamar was assassinated in Colombo on Aug. 12, it added to tensions and the government blamed the Tigers who promptly denied involvement. With international urging, the two sides agreed to hold high-level talks for the first time since 2003.

Ironically, until the recent allegations, the Tigers had received commendations for a drop in child recruitment. Soon after the Dec. 26 tsunami, which affected Tamil-held areas the worst, recruitment levels had dropped to their lowest since monitoring commenced three years ago, Keele said. [Full Story]

Why does Canada allow LTTE to operate broadcasting centres and raise funds in Canada?
- Anandasangaree
Asian Tribune: September 12, 2005
In a surprise move at a multi-faith meeting held in Toronto, Canada to commemorate the life of late Lakshman Kadirgamar, the leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), V. Anandasangaree turned to John McKay, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and asked bluntly as to why Canada allows terrorist organizations such as the LTTE to operate broadcasting centres for propaganda and fundraising.

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He said that the Ceasefire and Peace Process was meaningless when the LTTE resorts to eliminate political opponents through violent means, and continue to recruit child soldiers, and unleash suicide bombers against Minister Devananda and sharp shooters to take out Kadirgamar. He said that he knows it is very difficult to have peace talks whilst the killings continue. Rae too is Oxford educated and been at the same Balliol College, and he was able to freely communicate with the late leader. In fact, on a recent visit to Colombo, when he visited Kadirgamar on a particularly hot day, Lakshman had excused himself for not sitting out in the garden where it was much cooler, as he was being targeted and risked being killed by such exposure. He had also added that he feared that he might be shot at while he was in his swimming pool, and his end came in a somewhat similar situation. Bob Rare considered Lakshman Kadirgamar a lion, and his sudden death a great loss to all the people of Sri Lanka and the whole world. [Full Story]

SPUR Condemns the European Union’s Duplicity and its Reluctance to Ban the LTTE
SPUR: September 10, 2005
The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) is extremely disappointed with the statement made by the EU commissioner for external affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Instead of banning the LTTE terrorists in European countries, Waldner has succumbed to Norway’s treachery, deciding to humour the bloodthirsty tiger by tickling its underbelly with a feather.

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Whist Ms Waldner mollycoddles the tiger, the LTTE continues to:

(1) Murder and summarily execute innocent Tamil and Sinhala civilians. Mr Sundaralingam from Kinniya was executed for refusing to heed extorsion demands on 6 September 2005.

(2) Attack Sri Lanka military patrols without provocation. There were two STF soldiers killed and 16 others injured in a grenade attack on Thursday 8 September 2005.

(3) Abduct children to be used and abused as child soldiers. One of these children took refuge with the army on 6 September 2005 in the Batticoloa area.

(4) Deal with narcotics as evidenced by a recent customs seizure at the Moombai airport in India.

(5) Indulge in human smuggling evidenced by the exposure of the operations to smuggle Mexicans into Canada [Full Story]

Sri Lanka Peace Process:
Role of the International Community Congressional Briefin
Colombo Page: September 09, 2005
By Jayantha Dhanapala

Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) and Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka

8th September 2005

Thank you for the privilege of addressing this Congressional gathering.

It is a pleasure to be back in Washington, DC a city I first visited as an 18 year old and where later I served six and a half years as a professional diplomat including a term as Ambassador of Sri Lanka.

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(c) Child Combatants
A majority of CFA violations (54%) relate to child recruitment, in blatant disregard of the undertaking the LTTE has given to the United Nations in 1998 and the UNICEF Action Program of mid 2003.

On the question of child recruitment, the Sri Lankan government welcomes the UN Security Council Resolution 1612(2005), which establishes a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the use of child soldiers, and will work closely with UNICEF to give effect to this resolution. [Full Story]

HRC seeks nod for visit
Lanka Academic: September 05, 2005
THE Human Rights Commission (HRC) has sought a visit to Sri Lanka by the new special representative of the UN Secretary-General for children and armed conflict, following an alarming increase in child recruitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Chairperson Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy has requested foreign secretary H M G S Palihakkara to invite Karin Sham Poo at the earliest possible date. I made the request to the foreign ministry one week ago, Coomaraswamy said. UN Secretary General Kofi Anan has chosen Ms Cham Poo - a Norwegian - as interim special representative for children and armed conflict. [Full Story]

Norway’s diplomatic role on behalf of terrorists
Asian Tribune: September 02, 2005
Sri Lanka’s call to the world community to chastise the Tamil Tigers for a new wave of terrorism is being thwarted by peace mediator Norway, well informed sources told Asian Tribune.Colombo launched this diplomatic initiative this month immediately after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. The LTTE is considered to be responsible for the killing.

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The sources said that Norway had lobbied several members of the UN Security Council to tone down the resolution following the report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging the world body to take firm action against the LTTE and some 20 other groups for abducting and recruiting child soldiers.

Kofi Annan had urged the Security Council earlier this year to impose travel bans, arms embargoes and financial restrictions on organisations such as the LTTE for using child soldiers, now declared a war crime. [Full Story]

October polls in Lanka
Khaleej Times: August 29, 2005
AS SRI Lanka edges closer to the next presidential election, it is clear that President Kumaratunga will be facing a tough fight from her popular adversary, the former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe. At stake is the issue of peace for Sri Lanka and how it can be achieved

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The fact is also that, after the assassination of foreign minister, Sri Lanka is under a state of emergency. It means people's freedom remains curtailed until normality returns. The demand for lifting of the emergency, made by the Tigers, cannot be met under the circumstances. If they have a cause, they must also learn to press ahead through constitutional means. No country can tolerate the kind of violence that the LTTE is indulging in-killing in the process no less than 60,000 people and fielding even child soldiers to promote their cause. [Full Story]

Sampanthan manufactures excuses for the killing of Kadirgamar
Asian Tribune: August 28, 2005
Amidst allegations of the LTTE killing the Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan told the Asian Tribune: Kadirgamar could have been less of an impediment in the peace effort. Reflecting the LTTE antagonism to Kadirgamar he added: He seemed to be a man in the Sinhala nationalist line like the JVP.

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Question: Do you think Minister Kadirgamar’s insistence on giving up weapons and protesting against child soldiers by the LTTE were wrong approaches to peace?
R. Sampanthan: There is no question about the fact that Kadirgamar killing was sad and unacceptable. It is nothing but fair to reveal who the killers are. Violence or for that matter political killings no matter who is doing it, is wrong. But sadly, Kadirgamar did not see the whole picture. Tamil struggle did not relate to the LTTE. It started some 50 years ago. They had their share of grievances which successive governments in the country failed to address and that was the reason why the LTTE had to take up weapons. There is a long history we need to look at when addressing the problem. Kadirgamar lacked in evenhandedness. He could have been more objective and could have been less of an impediment to the peace process. But this is by no means a justification of his killing. We as a party disapprove it. [Full Story]

Tiger’s Volte Face?
Asian Tribune: August 21, 2005
Last Friday the LTTE assassinated Lakshman Kadiragamar; a week later it has declared its willingness to re-commence peace talks and maybe even to review the MoU. Perhaps the national and international reaction to the wanton murder of Mr. Kadiragamar was a bit stronger than was anticipated by the Tigers. Perhaps this is what the Tigers intended to do all along; hit hard causing maximum damage and then offer to talk so that their crime is forgiven if not forgotten.

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For the Tigers, there will be other advantages perhaps a breather on the issue of child soldiers being the most important. The decision by the UK’s Charity Commission to ban the TRO would have come as a shock to the LTTE; perhaps it knows that other prohibitions would follow. But if the peace talks are recommenced, internationally too appeasement will be reborn. [Full Story]

AT BIRTH I WAS GIVEN A LABEL- KADIR’S GREAT LESSON IN HUMANITY
Lanka Web: August 2005
How many of you noticed the following that transpired at a recent BBC Hard Talk interview with the late Foreign Minister, Kadirgamar? By your own admission, asked the interviewer, you are at the top of the Tamil Tigers hit list. How do you feel as an ethnic Tamil yourself to be reviled by the group?. Kadir replied: At birth I was given a label, the LTTE wants me to accept and approve everything that they do, the suicide bombers, the child soldiers, the political assassinations, the extortion of ordinary people. If being opposed to all that makes me a traitor which is what they call sometimes. I am absolutely delighted to accept that appellations. I do it with pleasure. [Full Story]

Child Soldiers III: Baby Brigades of the LTTE
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies: August 21, 2005
The LTTE has a long record of recruiting children for combat. Irrespective of gender, children as young as nine years are conscripted mostly by coercion; the average child recruitment age stands at 14 to 17 years. Though the exact number of child soldiers with the LTTE is not available, there are nearly 700 complaints pending with the UNICEF on forced recruitment. The actual figure, however, could be 10 times higher, given the fact that majority of the people do not complain. In the year 2002 alone nearly 300 children were roped in by the Tigers to augment its strength. ?

Known as Sirasu Puli (Leopard Brigade), baby brigades of the LTTE are composed entirely of children; it is one of the LTTE's most fierce fighting forces. The child recruitment system of the Tigers is sophisticated, using prominent places of congregation?schools, health campaigns, immunization sites, festivals or religious or social gatherings?for propaganda or enticement. ?Cult of martyrdom? is emphasized among the children in general and each family is encouraged to contribute one child. Attention is drawn prominently to verses from the ancient Tamil literary collection, Puranaanooru (400 poems of war and wisdom) that romanticises mothers pride in anointing their sons and sending them to win glory or honourable death in war. Abduction is resorted to if the families fail to contribute their quota. To save their children many families flee safer places far away under the control of the government. For the orphaned, displaced and poor, joining the rebel ranks is an attractive option in which financial packages are offered to both the enrollers and their family members. However, the Tigers sophistically deny forceful recruitment of children. But, at the same time, it does not deny the presence of children in its fighting forces claiming that ?they are volunteers who came forward to serve.? They argue that ?a conscripted soldier will not be a fighting person and the victories that the LTTE has established show that we have committed soldiers.? It is also claimed that ?Children are coming to us because of the atrocities by the ?Sinhala army.? We are not recruiting them.? [Full Story]

SPUR Condemns LTTE’s Attempts to Whitewash the Assassination of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister
Lanka Web: August 19, 2005
The Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), a 11-year-old Melbourne based organisation working tirelessly to protect democracy and bring peace to Sri Lanka, believe that the most honourable and effective way to respect the late Foreign Minister is for the Government of Sri Lanka to arrange for:

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Our Reasoning
Hon Lakshman Kadiragamar, one of the most loved and respected leaders not only in Sri Lanka, but the whole of Asia is no more. The LTTE terrorists, lead by the despot Prabakaran and advised by London based terrorist Balasingham, decided to terminate the life of this patriotic, compassionate and freethinking leader because he was classified as a Tamil traitor. When an interviewer for the BBC’s Hardtalk program asked Hon Kadiragamar by your own admission, you are at the top of the Tamil Tigers hit list. How do you feel as an ethnic Tamil yourself to be reviled by this terrorist group, Mr. Kadirgamar said At birth I was given a label, the LTTE wants me to accept and approve everything that they do, the suicide bombers, the child soldiers, the political assassinations the extortion of ordinary people. If being opposed to LTTE’s dastardly acts makes me a traitor, which is what they call me sometimes, I am absolutely delighted to accept that appellations. I do it with pleasure.

The LTTE is the master of denial. They denied that they blew up Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated President Premadasa, killed Neelan Thiruchekvan, blinded President Kumaranatunga and now, they deny having anything to do with Hon Kadiragamar’s death. Another blatant LTTE strategy is to put up smoke screens when the external environment, including the international community turns decisively against terror or refocuses on terrorism. Some examples of this include:
Agreeing to talk peace and subsequently signing a biased Ceasefire Agreement after 11 September 2001;
Releasing a token number of child soldiers (whilst aggressively recruiting elsewhere) when the United Nations and UNICEF condemned LTTE’s crimes against humanity; especially recruitment of child soldiers; [Full Story]

Sri Lankan HRC worries about LTTE child soldiers
Relief Web: August 17, 2005
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) has expressed alarm at the increase in child recruitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east, the Daily News newspaper reported Wednesday.

It says that despite the decline in numbers of underage recruits post tsunami, recent reports indicate that the LTTE was again recruiting sufficient numbers of children.

Chairman of the HRC Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement that in 2005 the HRC has received 141 reports of child recruitment at its Regional Offices in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Kalmunai.

There were at least 125 children aged 15 and under (the youngest reported to be 11 years), He said.

Coomaraswamy, however, said it is not possible to know the full extent of the problem of underage recruitment since not all parents are aware of existing reporting mechanisms and that in some known cases the parents have not officially reported to the HRC due to fear of reprisals. [Full Story]

A Pro-LTTE charity banned in UK
Colombo Page: August 17, 2005
The United Kingdom Charity Commission has removed a pro-LTTE NGO, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) from its registered charity list. TRO has been removed since Aug 10th from the Register of Charities.

Sources in the High Commission of Britain said that after comprehensive investigation that Home office found clear link between the LTTE and TRO.

We have found that some of TRO’s money is used for giving training for child combatants, a source added.

TRO is the front organization actively involved with development works in North and East after signing of the ceasefire agreement. Accordingly more powers vested to TRO in proposed controversial post-Tsunami Rehabilitation structure. However, the LTTE is shocked after Britain decided to de-list TRO. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan HRC worries about LTTE child soldiers
People's Daily Online: August 17, 2005
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) has expressed alarm at the increase in child recruitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north and east, the Daily News newspaper reported Wednesday.

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Chairman of the HRC Radhika Coomaraswamy said in a statement that in 2005 the HRC has received 141 reports of child recruitment at its Regional Offices in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Kalmunai.

There were at least 125 children aged 15 and under (the youngest reported to be 11 years), He said.

Coomaraswamy, however, said it is not possible to know the full extent of the problem of underage recruitment since not all parents are aware of existing reporting mechanisms and that in some known cases the parents have not officially reported to the HRC due to fear of reprisals. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Assassinated
The Epoch Times: August 16, 2005
The assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar on Friday August 11 has raised fears that the civil war between the rebel Tamil Tigers and the Government could restart after three and a half years of ceasefire.

After finishing a swim in a pool, Kadirgamar was shot four times by snipers.

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He was an Oxford-trained lawyer and was known for his strong opposition to the Tamil Tigers’s use of violence, in particular their use of child soldiers. He had criticised the Norwegian-led peace process fearing the deal would give too much away to the separatists and had successfully campaigned to have the Tigers labelled as terrorists by Britain and the USA. [Full Story]

Commonwealth head condemns assassination
Asian Tribune: August 16, 2005
The head of the 54-member Commonwealth joined world leaders in condemning the assassination of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar last Friday.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon today described the killing as an act of terrorism as the former foreign minister was cremated at a state funeral in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

The foreign minister was gunned down by sniper fire at his private residence in a fashionable area of Colombo, the capital.

Although no direct evidence has linked the killing with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), President Chandrika Kumaratunga pointed the finger at the group that Kadirgamar lobbied against it in world capitals because he believed it was a terrorist organisation and was responsible for recruiting child soldiers and denied other Tamils a voice. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Truce to hold but trust vital: No return to conflict - SLMM Chief
Relief Web: August 15, 2005
The longest truce with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will hold despite a rash of killings the military and the Tigers blame on each other, but they must rebuild trust to avoid escalation, the chief ceasefire monitor says.

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Haukland is convinced neither the Government nor the LTTE want to resume the conflict. But the Government wants the ceasefire tightened up with measures to prevent hundreds of violations by the Tigers that the monitors have identified, from the recruitment of child soldiers to abductions. The LTTE refuses to talk to the Government or the Security Forces, demanding instead that the State protect their political cadres from attack by paramilitaries. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Use of children in war totally unacceptable
Relief Web: August 15, 2005
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar campaigned relentlessly against the LTTE's conscription of children. Here is an address he delivered to the International Conference on War-Affected Children, Winnipeg, Canada on September 17, 2000.

The cause that brings us to Winnipeg is just and noble. We are here today to move urgently from words to deeds. We are not here to rationalise, excuse or mitigate conduct which is criminal and unforgivable.

It is an accepted principle of international law that criminal acts intended to provoke a state of terror are under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature. Likewise, the use of children in war is utterly and totally unacceptable. It cannot be justified under any circumstances whatsoever. There is ample international legislative authority available. What is required now is the political will and commitment to act.

In the United Nations Millennium Declaration the General Assembly resolved, among other matters, "to encourage the ratification and full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts..." A few days ago Sri Lanka, a State party in full compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified the Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. This Protocol notes the inclusion in the Statute of the International Criminal Court of conscripting, enlisting or using children in combat as a war crime in both international and non-international armed conflicts. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka Calls for International Measures Against Tamil Tigers After Foreign Minister's Assassination
Radio Singapore International: August 15, 2005
The Sri Lankan government has asked the international community to take anti-terrorism measures against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

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BJ: What do you think the international community can do at this stage? PS: "Before this assassination, there was the UN Security Council resolution with regard to the recruitment of child soldiers, etc. Part of the sanctions that were talked about were travel bans. So it may be something along those lines." [Full Story]

Tigers kill democracy in Batticaloa
Blatant, relentless child recruitment
THe Island: 14 August, 2006
Under the shade of a leafy tree, four alert young men are keeping watch – LTTE cadres, by their clothing. A sharp knife glints in the hand of one man. Another holds a heavy pole. Two motorbikes stand ready.

The dry, dusty ground is blistering hot. Glaring sunshine blinds the eye. A morose breeze occasionally disturbs the sullen atmosphere but Vakarai gets little respite.

An old, sarong-clad man on a rickety bicycle slowly pedals towards the four men. He must bypass them to access the main road. One of them casts a menacing remark at him. Incensed, the man shouts: "You’re here to take our children. Go on, take them. Why harass me?"

A cadre darts forward and tries to wrench the bicycle from the sun-burnt villager. He resists. The man holding the pole strikes him hard – and repeatedly – on the legs. The villager struggles onto his bicycle and pedals a short distance, before toppling off. He limps towards a hut, dragging the bicycle alongside.

Two of his assailants leap onto a motorbike, stop near the hovel and follow him inside. Two others join them, swinging more heavy poles. They exit a little later, laughing and bragging that they had "hammered the old man good". [Full Story]

LTTE preparing citizens’ brigades in villages to recruit children
Asian Tribune: August 11, 2005
Tamil Tigers are at the crossroads politically and militarily. Nearly three years after the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement, their army has gathered considerable rust despite attempts to oil and grease. Though they are loaded with modern sophisticated weapons smuggled into the country thanks to the 168 ordinance factories in Norway and the arrangement to re-export them from seaports in Czech they are hampered by the lack of dynamic leadership in the battlefield.

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Three years of inactivity too has blunted the fighting spirit of the LTTE cadres. They have been hanging around in bases without any engagement, getting more used to easy life than a battle-hardened will to wage another war. The LTTE is now saddled with an ageing leadership and inexperienced young cadres dragged out of their homes. Despite indoctrination whether they can match up to the earlier fighting capacity of the LTTE is yet to be tested. It is estimated that the cadres with a readiness to engage in another war has dwindled to around 6,000. Desertions, pressure to release the young cadres and the resistance within the Tamil community to let their children join the LTTE ranks are some of the main reasons for the weaknesses of the LTTE military capacity. [Full Story]

EXCLUSIVE-S.Lanka will not hunt down renegade rebels
Reuters: August 09, 2005
A feud between Sri Lanka's mainstream Tamil Tigers and a breakaway faction that threatens to rupture a 3-1/2-year truce is an internal rebel problem, and the government will not hunt down and disarm the renegades, a top official said on Tuesday.

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Dhanapala wants the international community to pile pressure on the Tigers to resume peace negotiations with the government. He says the United Nations should impose sanctions on them if they continue to recruit child soldiers as UNICEF has reported.

"It is precisely when the LTTE is faced with sanctions internationally that it will be constrained to move a little more speedily into being a democratic political organisation," he said.

"If child recruitment continues, there has to be sanctions at the end of it," he added. "You cannot pussyfoot around the subject." [Full Story]

S.Lanka truce to hold but trust vital - monitor
Reuters: August 07, 2005
Sri Lanka's longest truce with the Tamil Tigers will hold despite a rash of killings the military and the rebels each blame on the other, but they must rebuild trust to avoid escalation, the chief ceasefire monitor warned.

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But the government wants the ceasefire tightened up with measures to prevent hundreds of violations by the Tigers that the monitors have identified, from the recruitment of child soldiers to abductions. [Full Story]

The Way of the Tiger
Asian Tribune: August 07, 2005
The ongoing events in Jaffna demonstrate how close we are to the abyss, how easily things can spin out of control. Any incident, be it an accident or a deliberate act, can and will be used by the Tigers to create mayhem as a prelude to a generalised outbreak of violence.

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If Mr. Pirapaharan sincerely cared about the fate and the future of the Tamil nation he would not have engaged in child conscription. With this monstrous practice he is depriving the future of the Tamil nation of their future. But then the only future Mr. Pirapaharan would permit the Tamil nation to have is a Tiger future. He will go to war, irrespective of the cost to the Tamil people, when he feels that war can further his interests best. [Full Story]

Vidar Helgesen ditches President’s moves to review Ceasefire Agreement with LTTE
Asian Tribune: August 06, 2005
On Thursday President Chandrika Kumaratunga discussed with the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen on ways and mean of reviewing not changing the flawed Ceasefire Agreement which is running into serious difficulties. On Friday Helgesen comes out of a meeting with S. Paramu Tamilselvan and told the media that the CFA should not be touched.

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Both parties discussed the recent Security Council Resolution on Use of Child Soldiers and its implication for Sri Lanka. At the request of the Norwegians the President also agreed to meet Ian Martin, Advisor on Human Rights. [Full Story]

President expresses Sri Lanka govt's readiness to review CFA
Colombo Page: August 05, 2005
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has expressed the Sri Lankan government's readiness to 'review' the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) as proposed by the SLMM and as opposed to a 'renegotiation' of the CFA.

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The recent United Nations Security Council Resolution on Use of Child Soldiers and its implications for Sri Lanka were also discussed. The President responded positively to a request from the facilitator for a visit by Mr. Ian Martin, Advisor on Human Rights. [Full Story]

UN will go to sleep on LTTE child soldiers -- SPUR
Asian Tribune: August 04, 2005
Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights (Sri Lanka)(SPUR) -- an Australian-based NGO -- has expressed doubts as to whether UN will take action after the latest resolution passed on child soldiers.

SPUR has appealed to Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on .... to implement the decisions of the UN resolutions on this critical issue. Citing welcome press release OSRSG/PR08/05 of 31 July and Security Council Press release SC/8319 of 23 July 2005 SPUR has urged Otunnu to seek compliance from the LTTE on forcibly recruiting child soldiers.

Ranjith Soysa, spokesperson for SPUR, said that going on past experience the Tamil parents and the Tamil children of Sri Lanka cannot hope to get some meaningful action from the UN. We can expect the UN to go to sleep on this issue, he said.

Otunnu visited Sri Lanka in 1998 and had a special agreement with the LTTE. Despite promises made by the LTTE abduction of Tamil children goes on unabated. [Full Story]

Tigers still preying on children
The Island: August 03, 2005

Despite the repeated warnings from the UN and the international community, the abduction of children, in the North and East, by the LTTE has escalated during the past few days.

In the most recent case, three teenage girls were abducted at Erakkandy, Kuchchaveli when they were on their way to a church on Monday (1). The parish priest of the church was forced to look on helplessly while the three girls were being abducted.

The LTTE had also abducted and held 7 Muslims from Mutur, Tricomalee and demanded 10,000 rupees for their release. The seven men were released after the 'ransom' money was paid.

The three teenage girls were identified as M.Renu Fareena (17), Valeuttu Erakkandy and P.Nilani (17). All three lived in the area. They were abducted by two LTTE cadres but the priest could not do anything but look on helplessly, Military Spokesman Brigadier R.M.D.Ratnayake said.

Reports from the north said, in the third week of July, the LTTE had abducted three teenage boys. Two of the boys were aged 13 and the other 15. They were identified as T.Madan and T.Judan of Market Road and M.Baskaran (15) from the Andankulam area of Chenkalady. All three children were attending school and the parents and next kin of these students had been threatened by the LTTE not to report the abductions, the spokesman said.

But the parents of the abducted girls had complained to the Kuchchaveli police about an hour after the abductions.

In another case, the LTTE aducted Felix M. Christian (15) a school boy of Murunkan, Christopher Vanaraj (14) of Kaluwankerni, Eravur who were both living in a refugee camp after the tsunami disaster. The two boys had gone out of the camp on Monday and were not seen after that. The residents believe they were abducted by the LTTE.

The spokesman said all these abductions have been reported to the SLMM. [Full Story]

Abductions increased in the East by Tigers
Lanka Truth: August 03, 2005
Wanni Tigers have abducted nearly 12 eastern persons during the last week. Among the victims there are 4 young children 3 from Chenkalady and one from Kaluwankerni. Even the security forces were informed no action taken so far.

Another source revealed 7 Muslims were abducted by the Wanni Tigers. To release each person a ransom of Rs 10000 was demanded. [Full Story]

LTTE abducts two teenage girls heading to church
Sri Lanka military accuses LTTE of intensifying child recruitment
Colombo Page: August 03, 2005
The Sri Lankan military yesterday accused the LTTE of intensifying underage recruitment to their fighting force.

Army Headquarters said the LTTE’s unabated and intensified spree of child conscription, abductions, extortions, attempted abductions and harassment has dramatically risen in the past 48 hours with fourteen such cases being reported to the security forces or police, mostly by victims’ next of kin.

A parish priest, who witnessed two LTTE men abducting two teenage girls heading to church for some religious work, alerted their parents. The abduction occurred close to the church in the general area of Erakkandy, Kuchchiveli, on Monday.

The military said there has been a large number of child abduction cases and all those abductions and harassment acts have been reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for action and necessary rulings. [Full Story]

Child recruitment drive must stop- Olara Otunu
Lanka Truth: August 03, 2005
Olara Otunu of the United Nations Organisation says that the Tigers’ Organisation has launched a recruitment drive to recruit one child each from a family. He also says that action must be taken to stop child recruitment by the Tigers.

Sources from the North and East meanwhile say that 14 abductions of children have been reported during the past 48 hours. Most of them were school goers. A priest of a Kovil in Chenkaladi has complained to the security forces that two teenage girls who had attended a Pooja at the Kovil were abducted by the Wanni Tigers’ Organisation. [Full Story]

Threat to Tamil security increasing: Norway should be held responsible for Tamil deaths
Asian Tribune: August 02, 2005
Political circles have expressed grave concerns about the unending killings of the Tamils by the LTTE despite the call to end killings by the four Co-chairs, led by Norway.

...
Political commentators surveying the current spate of killings now blame Norway, the Co-chairs and SLMM for pussyfooting around the violations of the Ceasefire and the P-TOMS agreements guaranteed by them as viable sources of peace. Since the internationally guaranteed agreements have failed, political commentators argue that Norway and the Co-Chairs must accept responsibility for
(1) the 3000-odd violations of the Ceasefire Agreement by the LTTE,
(2) for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the LTTE with the knowledge of Norway and SLMM
(3) build up of the military capacity of the LTTE with the knowledge and assistance of Norway and
(4) abduction of child soldiers with impunity. [Full Story]

PARISH PRIEST WITNESSES LTTE ABDUCTION OF TEENAGE GIRLS AS THE LTTE INTENSIFIES ITS ABDUCTIONS
Sri Lanka Army: August 02, 2005
LTTE's unabated and intensified spree of child conscription, abductions, extortions, attempted abductions and harassment in the past 48 hours has dramatically risen with fourteen cases of such atrocities being reported to the Security Forces or the Police, mostly by next of kin of the victims.

Troops on duty at CHENKALADY were informed on Monday (01) that two thirteen year old boys and one fifteen-year old boy from CHENKALADY centre area and ANDANKULAM have been abducted by LTTE men for conscription against the will of their parents.

Those three teenagers, T. MADAN (13) of Market road, CHENKALADY, T. JUDAN (13) of Market road, CHENKALADY and M. BASKARAN (15) ANDANKULAM, CHENKALADY continue to attend schools at the time they were abducted in the third week of July, this year. Next of kin and parents had also been threatened by those abductors not to keep the Security Forces and the Police informed of the abductions.

A parish priest, who witnessed two LTTE men abducting two teenage girls making for the church for some religious work, has alerted their parents of the abduction that occurred at a very close location to the church in the general area of ERAKKANDY, KUCHCHIVELI on Monday (01 August) around 8.30 a. m. The victimized teenage girls, M. RENU FAREENA (17) of VALEUTTU, ERAKKANDY and P. NILANI (17) of VALEUTTU, ERAKKANDY were on their way to the church when they were abducted by two LTTE cadres while the parish priest of the KUCHCHVELI church desperately looked on. Next of kin and parents, MUTTU RAMASWAMY and P. A. ARUL KUMAR of VALEUTTU, ERAKKANDY after abduction of those teenage girls was confirmed later on at about 1.45 p. m. approached KUCHCHIVELI Police for formal complaint.

The matter has also been brought to the notice of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) a couple of hours after the incident.

Meanwhile, five armed LTTE cadres abducted and detained seven Muslim civilians from the general area of MUTTUR, TRINCOMALEE on Monday (01 August 2005) around 1.15 p.m. before they were released against ransom after extorting a sum of Rs 10,000/= (US $ 100).

Those LTTE men with four automatic weapons stormed the group of Muslims, engaged in playing cards and threatened them with death unless they pay ransom to them.

When those Muslim civilians refused ransom to LTTE, they were taken away by force and detained insisting that a ransom should be paid to the LTTE if they expected to get the release from LTTE detention.

However, those victims in fear of LTTE reprisals collected a sum of Rs 10,000/= among themselves and received release from LTTE gunmen.

Subsequently, the incident was reported to troops at MUTTUR Central College by the victims who were instructed to make a formal complaint to the MUTTUR Police.

In another incident, two motorbike-riding LTTE cadres have abducted one more fifteen year old boy from the general area of MURUNKAN on 31 July 2005 around 6.30 p.m. after the boy stepped out of his house for some work.

The victim, FELIX MARIS CHRISTIAN (15) of MURUNKAN, MANNAR was a school- goer at the time he was abducted by those LTTE men.

In the meantime, reports from KALUWANKERNI, ERAVUR in BATTICALOA confirmed that another fourteen-year old schoolboy has gone missing from his home since Monday (01) evening around 7.00 p.m.

The missing child, CHRISTOPER VANARAJ (14) sheltered in the KALUWANKERNI Refugee camp in the general area of ERAVUR, has disappeared from the location after he went out of the camp for some reason.

Preliminary reports pointed to the fact that the teenager would have been either abducted or lured into an LTTE trap while the minor was outside or inside the camp.

In another incident, an unidentified group of persons, believed to be from LTTE, have abducted and assaulted a young man in the general area of MONARATENNA, WELIKANDA on Monday (01) around 10.00 a.m. while he was fishing south of GALMADU-BATTICALOA with another Tamil friend. Those abductors have reportedly made inquiries from the victim, P.H.SUMITH (23) of No 67, MONARATHENNA, WELIKANDA regarding the presence of Security Forces and Police checkpoints in the area after assaults and harassment.

However, his abductors for reasons best known only to them have finally released him, the same day around 6.00 p.m., troops at MONARATENNA were told. He was also directed to the Police for formal complaint.

All those abductions and harassment acts have been reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for action and necessary rulings. [Full Story]

Tigers’ claims on child soldiers rejected by UN
Gulf Times: August 01, 2005
Dismissing LTTE claims that most children who join their forces are volunteers, the United Nation’s special representative for children and armed conflict asserted last week that he continues to receive reports of coercion and recruitment through force.

Olara Otunnu said there were indications that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was one again demanding one child per family for their army.

There are many motivating factors for children to join groups like the LTTE, and this includes volunteering, Otunnu had told journalists in New York.

However, I receive reports which indicate that recruitment through force and coercion is predominant.

For example, orphans from the recent tsunami were seen being recruited from temporary shelters and camps, he noted.

Also, there are indications that the LTTE is once again demanding that one child per family be given, especially during the recent spate of recruitment in the East.

The conflict in Sri Lanka cannot be finally resolved until the LTTE becomeS a fully civilian organisation with no army, navy and air capability, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said on Friday. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka rebel returns child soldiers to parents
Peoples Daily Online: August 01, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have returned five underaged soldiers to their parents and 15 others to an education center in the past week, local website Lankapage said Monday.

The Tigers said on their website that all the children joined them voluntarily in Batticaloa , a town 230 km east of the capital Colombo.

It said five children were returned to their parents and another 15, who refused to go home, were sent to a Tiger-run skills development center.

Human rights groups have accused the Tigers of using about 4, 000 child soldiers.

The rebels began fighting the government in 1983 to create a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.

The Tigers claim they have returned 1,445 children to their parents. [Full Story]

United Nations says LTTE continues to recruit children
Colombo Page: August 01, 2005
The United Nations says that Sri Lanka's LTTE continues to recruit children to its fighting force.

United Nations special representative for children and armed conflict Olara Otunnu told media in New York that there are indications that the LTTE is one again demanding one child per family for their Army.

Agency reports quoting Otunnu said, There are many motivating factors for children to join groups like the LTTE, and this includes volunteering. However, I receive reports which indicate that recruitment through force and coercion is predominant.

For example, orphans from the recent tsunami were seen being recruited from temporary shelters and camps, he said.

Also, there are indications that the LTTE is once again demanding that one child per family be given, especially during the recent spate of recruitment in the East, he added. [Full Story]

UN dismisses LTTE claims on child soldiers
The Island: July 31, 2005
Dismissing LTTE claims that most children who join their fighting force are volunteers, the UN’s special representative for children and armed conflict asserted last week that he continues to receive reports of coercion and recruitment through force.

Olara Otunnu also said there were indications that the LTTE was once again demanding one child per family for their army.

"There are many motivating factors for children to join groups like the LTTE, and this includes volunteering," said Otunnu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in an exclusive e-mail interview with the Sunday Island. "However, I receive reports which indicate that recruitment through force and coercion is predominant."

"For example, orphans from the recent tsunami were seen being recruited from temporary shelters and camps," he noted. "Also, there are indications that the LTTE is once again demanding that one child per family be given, especially during the recent spate of recruitment in the East."

"Regardless of the motivation of children to join an armed group or military force, it is that group’s responsibility to respect international legal principles and ensure that no children under the 18 years are among their ranks."

Otunnu made these comments just days after the UN Security Council took the unprecedented step of adopting concrete measures to protect children in armed conflict. The resolution passed unanimously on Monday and the first of its kind within the UN establishes procedures to report on the killing, maiming, rape and sexual abuse of children in conflicts; the recruiting and use of child soldiers; the abduction of children; and attacks on schools and hospitals. Offending parties had to come up with precise action plans, with time frames for ending violations; agree to release children within their ranks; allow access to camps; and allow for monitoring with time-bound benchmarks.

The Security Council also endorsed the idea of publicly identifying and naming offending parties which continued to commit grave violations against children. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s latest report in February listed 54 parties drawn from eleven conflicts situations in Sri Lanka, Colombia, Sudan, Nepal, Uganda, Myanmar, Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Somalia and the Philippines. The LTTE has been on the list at least twice in a row.

Otunnu confirmed that, when the UN released its ‘list of shame’ for grave violations against children, the LTTE was the first group to contact him with a request for dialogue. "The listing of the LTTE as an offending party on the Secretary-General’s report to the Security Council has had an impact," he stressed. "In fact, the LTTE was the first party to send a letter to my office acknowledging their inclusion on their Secretary-General’s report and list to the Security Council, and expressed their readiness to enter into dialogue. This is a mark of how seriously they take being listed."

Asked whether he had met the Tigers, Otunnu said he had awaited the outcome of the Security Council deliberations and their instructions with regard to children and armed conflict. He also indicated that he will not budge on the issue of child solders. now plan to advocate for a thorough implementation of this (Security Council resolution) and its call for immediate action plans by the LTTE to end all grave violations." [Full Story]

Report: Sri Lankan rebels return five child soldiers to parents
Lanka Academic / Associated Press: July 31, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have returned five underaged soldiers to their parents and 15 others to an education center in the past week, a rebel Web site said Sunday.

The Tigers said on their Web site that all the children joined them voluntarily in Batticaloa, a town 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of the capital, Colombo.

It said five children were returned to their parents and another 15, who refused to go home, were sent to a Tiger-run skills development center.

United Nations Children's Fund officials, who monitor the problem of children joining the Tigers, were not immediately available to comment on the rebel claim.

Human rights groups have accused the Tigers of using about 4,000 child soldiers. The rebels began fighting the government in 1983 to create a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. [Full Story]

UN to monitor LTTE child recruitment
Asian Tribune: July 30, 2005
At a press briefing in Colombo on Friday, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de silva, who is also the Government spokesman said that the UN has approved a resolution to monitor and report the recruitment of child soldiers in Sri Lanka.

He welcomed this move stating that the Sri Lankan government had voiced its concerns many times with regard to this and the adoption of the resolution is a significant step.

A UN report published this year named those who recruited children for fighting which included the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

DATELINE SRI LANKA
LTTE faces sanctions over child soldiers
Gulf Times: July 30, 2005
LAST Tuesday’s (26) UN Security Council resolution which approved a package of far reaching measures aimed at halting the use of child soldiers and exploitation of youngsters in the war zones, has named 54 offending parties including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE stands to lose its right to take part in the tsunami aid sharing mechanism (called P-TOMS) or any other governance structure, if it continues to bolster its strength by conscripting children, diplomatic sources have pointed out.

The UN Security Council measures include restriction on the flow of financial resources and ban on overseas travel.

This is a victory for legality. We will have to abide by the resolution, an authoritative government official said yesterday.

The military says that effective monitoring on the ground could prevent the LTTE from strengthening its fighting formations. The LTTE is believed to have stepped up recruitment since the March 2003 break-up in the organisation.

A considerable number of its cadres, once under renegade commander Karuna’s leadership, are believed to have abandoned the group.

US probe into Tiger drug link
United States federal agents have started an investigation into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) over a drug link after they detected a tunnel between the US and Canada used for large-scale drug smuggling. [Full Story]

Three-way struggle in Sri Lanka
Asia Times: July 29, 2005
As a triangular struggle for control of the island country's restive east worsens among the Tamil Tigers, a renegade faction led by the so-called Colonel Karuna and the Sri Lankan army, observers fear the fragile truce brokered by Norway in February 2002 is about to come unstuck.

...
Rathnayake maintained that the Tigers were preparing for hostilities and last week the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that for the first time since the tsunami late last year, recruitment of children by the Tigers had increased. Tamilselvan reportedly said this month that war is inevitable.

UNICEF spokesman Jeffery Keele said in July that 28 cases of child recruitment were reported, compared to 18 in June, with most of the recruitments taking place in the East. The Tigers said the children volunteered to join their ranks due to the prevalent situation. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka Government welcomes UN Security Council Resolution on child protection
Asian Tribune: July 28, 2005
Sri Lanka Government welcomes the UN Security Council’s unanimous adoption of a Resolution on child protection, which gives effect to a series of measures including the establishment of a comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism for the protection of children exposed to armed conflict.

The Government statement emphasized that Sri Lanka has always been in the forefront of advocating the rights of children exposed to armed conflict and has spoken in the UN Security Council debate supporting the UN Secretary General’s action to monitor and protect these rights.

It further added, Sri Lanka believes therefore that the adoption of this Resolution on 26th July, was a significant step to herald a new era of application which seeks to fulfill a long felt need. [Full Story]

Posters in Jaffna want children saved from LTTE
Sri Lanka Army: July 28, 2005
A poster campaign to resist LTTE's continuing child abduction and conscription attempts in Jaffna peninsula is now in display, most apparently organized by a section of affected parents in the peninsula.

Those posters, urging Security Forces to protect their children from LTTE abductions and prevent them from LTTE forcible recruitment, were seen at Sanganai, Pandacharippu and Chullipuram areas in Walikamam west, Jaffna. [Full Story]

Triangular Struggle Threatens Truce with Tigers
IPS News: July 27, 2005
As a triangular struggle for control of the island country’s restive East, among the Tamil Tigers, a renegade faction led by 'Col. Karuna' and the Sri Lankan army worsens, observers fear that the fragile truce brokered by Norway in February 2000 is about to come unstuck.

''It is impossible to talk to the government, when it is waging a shadow war (by supporting the renegade faction),'' S P Tamilselvan, who heads the political wing of the Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said after emerging from a meeting with truce monitors and officials of the Norwegian mission in Colombo last week.

...
Rathnayake maintained that the Tigers were preparing for hostilities and last week the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that for the first time since the tsunami, recruitment of children by the Tigers had increased.

UNICEF spokesperson Jeffery Keele told IPS that in July, 28 cases of child recruitment were reported, compared to 18 in June, with most of the recruitments taking place in the East. The Tigers said the children volunteered to join their ranks due to the prevalent situation. [Full Story]

UN plans to halt child recruitments by Tamil rebels, Maoists and others
Asian Tribune: July 27, 2005
The United Nations special representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunu’s relentless efforts to get the world body involved in halting recruitment of child soldiers by rebel groups have succeeded when the U.N. Security Council approved a package of measures aimed at halting the use of child soldiers and exploitation of children.

The resolution, which was passed unanimously, reaffirms the intention of the Security Council to consider imposing targeted sanctions such as arms embargoes, travel bans and financial restrictions against parties that continue violating international law relating to the rights and protection of children in armed conflict.

The U.N. special representative’s report listed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri lanka and the Maoist Communist Party in Nepal among the rebel groups that continuously defy the UN calls and recruit child soldiers. After the resolution was passed, the jubilant Otunu described the measure as a truly historic development that will streamline global efforts to prevent the victimization of young people in war zones. [Full Story]

Tamil Parents Protest Against LTTE Child Abductions
Lanka Acedemic: July 27, 2005
Tamil parents from Valachchenai gathered this morning at the Sandiveli Government School to protest against the LTTE child abductions.

Over 50 parents joined the protest agitation for three hours prompting the school authorities to close down the school in fear of LTTE reprisals.

The LTTE must stop abducting our children. When the ceasefire was signed, we expected LTTE to stop child abductions said a mother who was on the forefront of the protest.

When inquired of LTTE reprisals against the protest, a father told lankamuslims.com that he would prefer to die than his child dying in LTTE ranks.

We don’t want our children to die and suffer. he added. [Full Story]

Abductions continue in B’caloa
The Island: July 27, 2005
The military yesterday said that the LTTE had abducted at least 11 children in Eravur and Chenkalady areas in the Batticaloa district over the past few weeks. [Full Story]

Tigers abducted 4700 children - UNICEF
Lanka Truth: July 27, 2005
According to the statistics they had received the Wanni Tiger organization has recruited 4700 children for combat training during the past few years says UNICEF.

However, this number could be more and on pressure applied on the tiger organization by UNICEF about 3000 children have been released.

Tiger organization has not abandoned recruiting child soldiers and in the previous week alone they had abducted 38 children from Batticaloa for armed training says UNICEF. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka welcomes UN resolution on child protection
Angola Press: July 27, 2005
Sri Lankan government welcomes the UN Security Council`s unanimous adoption on July 26 of a resolution regarding the protection of children exposed to armed conflict, Sri Lanka foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Sri Lankan government welcomes the resolution which will give effect to a series of measures including the establishment of a comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism for the protection of children exposed to armed conflict, a statement from the ministry said.

Sri Lanka has always been in the forefront of advocating the rights of children living in that circumstance and believed the adoption is a significant step to herald a "new era of application " which seeks to fulfill a long felt need, said the statement. [Full Story]

Tigers intensifying child recruitment - UNICEF
The Island: July 26, 2005
The LTTE has intensified child recruitment during the month of July this year according to UNICEF, the BBC reported on Sunday.

The UNICEF office in Colombo said that the LTTE had recruited 28 children during July despite repeated pledges to stop child recruitment, the BBC report said adding that according to the UNICEF, there had only been 18 cases in June.

The report added: "The agency says every time they raise the issue, the Tigers promise to "look into" the matter, but kept recruiting under-age cadres.

"Not every one is forcefully recruited. Some do join the LTTE voluntarily," Jeffrey Key, communications officer for UNICEF told BBC.

"But the child recruitment needs to stop." [Full Story]

Security Council establishes first comprehensive monitoring, reporting system to protect children affected by armed conflict
Offenders Ordered to Prepare Time-Bound Plans for Ending of Violations
Relef Web: July 26, 2005
NEW YORK, 26 July (Office of the Special Representative) -- In a major and groundbreaking development, the UN Security Council today voted unanimously for a series of measures, including the establishment of a comprehensive monitoring and reporting mechanism, to ensure the protection of children exposed to armed conflict.

The mechanism will monitor grave violations by all parties, both governments and insurgents, focusing particularly on: killing or maiming of children; recruiting or using child soldiers; attacks against schools or hospitals; rape or other sexual violence against children; abduction of children; and denial of humanitarian access for children.

...
The Security Council has directed United Nations peacekeeping missions and United Nations country teams to enter into immediate dialogue with offending parties listed in the Secretary-General’s latest report, in order to prepare and implement, concrete time-bound action plans for ending the violations for which they have been cited. The latest report lists 54 offending parties, governments, as well as insurgents, drawn from 11 situations of conflict. These included: the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) from Sri Lanka; Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) from Colombia; Janjaweed from the Sudan; the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) from Nepal; Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from Uganda; Karen National Liberation Army from Myanmar; and government forces from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar and Uganda. (See the Secretary-General’s report.)
[Full Story]

Political Killings and Rituals of Unreality
Press Esc: July 26, 2005
Months before violence in eastern Sri Lanka grew so acute that even the most optimistic reading pointed to the possibility of war; assassination of the LTTE’s perceived opponents was already a daily affair. Now the killing of armed and unarmed rivals in the Tamil community has been joined by targeted attacks on security forces personnel. At the same time state agencies seem to be trying to counter the targeting of intelligence operatives with reprisal killings of their own. Whatever the new level of threat, the LTTE leadership must be feeling very vulnerable. And as always when cornered, it lashes out.

...
The logic of appeasement is now in its final throes. While the Government was utterly cynical about Tamil democracy, Tamil lives and Tamil dissent, it at least tried to keep up appearances to the donor community. The LTTE long ago stopped even keeping up appearances, but others pretended not to notice. Today child conscription has reached its crudest extremes in full view.

On 12th July, a youth was bound and blasted with a grenade in Chenkalady after public alarm forced the LTTE to release several children it had abducted (see Appendix). Tsunami refugees in the East are being arm twisted to part with their children by threats to withhold relief. While threatening to start war claiming that is what the people want from the LTTE, the hapless people who desperately do not want war are being dragooned into a border force’. [Full Story]

Tamil rebels 'recruit children'
BBC: July 25, 2005
The UN's child agency, Unicef, has accused Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels of stepping up child recruitment in the island's volatile east. Unicef officials in the capital, Colombo, say there has been a marked increase in enlisting child soldiers in the last two months.

They have urged the Tamil Tigers to release all the children under their custody without delay.

The Tamil Tigers have vehemently denied recruiting children in the past.

"In June this year, there were 18 cases of child recruitment reported from the eastern Batticaloa region and in July so far we have received complaints of 28 cases in the same area, " Jeffrey Keele, Unicef spokesperson, told the BBC.

Unicef bases its data on complaints from parents and reports from community leaders and teachers who have worked closely with missing children.

The UN agency has often accused the rebels of recruiting child soldiers over the last 10 years. In February the Tigers said there was no truth in a Unicef report that they recruited 4,700 child soldiers since 2001.

While Unicef officials say that child recruitment has continued throughout the year, the sudden increase is causing concern. However, they admit that not all children are forcibly recruited and that some join the rebel movement voluntarily.

Rebel denial

Tamil Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the latest accusations but have strongly denied recruiting children in the past.

The rebels talk of a policy of not recruiting children and had promised to return volunteers to their parents if they were found to be underage.

The issue of child recruitment has been a major point of difference between Unicef and the Tamil Tigers since a February 2002 ceasefire agreement between the rebels and the government.

But Unicef officials point out that their engagement with the Tamil Tigers has yielded positive results and more than 1,200 child soldiers have been formally released by the rebels in the last three years.

A few weeks ago Tamil rebels reportedly released nine children from their custody. [Full Story]

LTTE recruits 28 children this month
Colombo Page: July 25, 2005
Despite repeated appeals to stop underage requirement, UNICEF said that during this month alone, the LTTE has recruited 28 children into their force as child soldiers. Unicef also said the LTTE intensified child recruitment in July, as last month they recruited “only” 18 children. A spokesperson for the agency said that when their officials inquired about each case, the Tigers promised that they would look into the matter. [Full Story]

LTTE fire towards craft carrying two surrendered LTTE teenagers
Sri Lanka Army: July 25, 2005
A LTTE small arms fire, directed from un-cleared areas in SAMPOOR on Sunday (24) around 9.20 a.m. while naval troops were taking those two surrendees to be handed over to TRINCOMALEE Harbor Police from MUTTUR Jetty. Those LTTE men from their hideouts in SAMPOOR have fired at least 30-40 rounds of gunfire towards the sailing craft but caused no damage or any injury. Those two teenagers of thirteen years of age have been reportedly abducted by LTTE about two months back and given weapon training in an LTTE camp in SAMPOOR. However, those two teenagers escaped LTTE detention and sought protection from naval troops earlier on Sunday at about 7.00 a.m. after they reached the naval detachment (Security point) at the old jetty NEIDANAGAR. Despite heavy LTTE firing, naval troops restrained from retaliating since another passenger ferry was approaching the pier at that point of time. This deliberate LTTE act, aimed at provoking troops was intimated to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The Harbor Police at TRINCOMALEE are conducting investigations. Names and particulars of the surrendees are withheld for obvious security reasons and questions of human rights. [Full Story]

Tigers ‘intensifying child recruitment’
BBC: July 24, 2005
The United Nations say Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers are intensifying child recruitment. The UNICEF office in Colombo said that the LTTE has recruited 28 children during July despite repeated pledges to stop child recruitment.

According to the UNICEF, there have only been 18 cases in June.

The agency says every time they raise the issue, the Tigers promise to ‘look into’ the matter, but kept recruiting under-age cadres.

Not every one is forcefully recruited. Some do join the LTTE voluntarily, Jeffrey Key, communications officer for UNICEF told BBC’s Ethirajan Anbarasan.

But the child recruitment needs to stop.

The spokesman said the current no-war, no-peace situation in Sri Lanka make it difficult to find a permanent solution to the problem.

It is going to be very difficult to see child recruitment ends once and for all without an active peace process going on. [Full Story]

The World, the Tigers and Us
Asian Tribune: July 24, 2005
The recent statement by the Tokyo co-chairs can and must be faulted for placing a misplaced even-handedness above truth and objectivity. Still it cannot be gainsaid that this statement is far more critical of the Tigers than either the President, the government of Sri Lanka or the UNF has been for quite some time. And therein lays the crux of the matter that though the world is not critical of the LTTE as it should be given the nature and extent of Tiger depredations (from suicide bombing to child soldiers) the world is far more critical of the LTTE than our President, our Prime Minister and our Leader of the Opposition are. And the thought cannot but occur that if we are to take a hard-line vis-à-vis the LTTE while offering a generous devolution package to the Tamil people, we would not find the world at all ill disposed.

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The Tigers are continuing to conscript children, including tsunami victims. That is a moral and civilisational crime. When is the last time the government or the opposition faulted the Tigers on this all important matter? The Tigers are continuing to terrorise and kill political opponents and members of the armed forces and police. There is a deafening silence in Colombo. The P-TOMS that has the blessing of both the President and the Leader of the Opposition violates the Terrorist Finances Bill which was passed by the parliament recently. That is how consistent we are in our dealing with the Tigers. So why blame the world?

One of the issues that deserve far more attention than it has received so far is that of child conscription and child soldiers. The Tigers are continuing to recruit children including tsunami victims. Given their severe personnel problem they probably have very little choice. This is an issue that has to be fore grounded for both moral and political reasons. The moral reasons are obvious and do not need to be repeated. There is something cannibalistic in an organisation which forcibly recruits the young of the nation it is supposed to liberate. The political reasons for prioritising this issue are no less compelling.

Child conscription is an issue that can be used against the Tigers with devastating effect and it can be done best by the anti-Tiger Tamils. It is to the eternal shame of all of us Sinhala and Tamil, government and non-government that there has been no seminars, workshops, exhibitions and other events to highlight this issue and to bring it to the notice of the world. Had it not been for the pioneering work done by entities such as the UTHR and the Human Rights Watch and individuals such as Joe Becker this all important issue would not have received even the limited attention it has nationally and especially internationally. [Full Story]

LTTE blames Sri Lankan government, war, media and tsunami for their child soldiers
Asian Tribune: July 23, 2005
LTTE has put out a statement in its latest attempt to justify the abduction and forcible recruitment of Tamil children to fill its depleted cadres. Titled Child Soldiers A distortion of ground reality to vilify the Tamil liberation struggle, the LTTE has blamed the Sri Lankan government, the media, the war and the tsunami for the children seeking refuge in the LTTE.

This statement issued on July 22, 2005 states that the children who have lost their parents in carpet bombing and shelling, children who have lost their parents in the tidal wave disaster continue to seek refuge with LTTE, for that is the only place that provides them security from hunger, want and anti social elements that tend to abuse these children.

It adds: Working with UNICEF, the LTTE ascertains the background and provide to these children a safer environment.

The LTTE lists discrimination and other indignities perpetrated on their brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers, as factors that motivated those children to join the freedom struggle. [Full Story]

Tigers launch campaign against child marriages
Gulf News: July 22, 2005
Tamil guerrillas have launched a fresh campaign in the north and eastern provinces against increasing child marriages, a move which has deprived them of conscripting children to the military wing.

The campaign has been launched from the north eastern port city of Trincomalee by the guerrilla area leader, but is due to be spread out to other areas in the north and eastern parts.

"Child marriage is still common in some areas. We are taking action to stop this social ill. It is the duty of every responsible citizen to eradicate this menace," the head of the political wing of the Trincomalee district S. Elilian was quoted as saying. Elilian said child marriage has been a major problem and that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had taken steps to educate the villagers on the issue.

Addressing more than 1,000 women, most of them mothers, he appealed to extend their co-operation to the authorities to stop child marriages.

But, non-governmental organisations working in the area said that most of the child marriages were taking place as the families wanted to prevent their children being conscripted by the Tamil guerrillas.

They said despite assurances given to the Unicef by the LTTE, they continue its conscription in the northern Wanni region, in Trincomalee and in the eastern Batticaloa districts.

"Girls at the age of 13-14 are being given in marriage by the family members to prevent them being conscripted to the LTTE," a social worker in the Batticaloa town said.

He said that more than poverty affecting these families it was the fear of the families that they would lose their children to the LTTE which has led to the increase of child marriages. [Full Story]

University Teachers for Human Rights - Information Bulletin No. 38
Political Killings and Rituals of Unreality
University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) Sri Lanka: July 21, 2005
Months before violence in eastern Sri Lanka grew so acute that even the most optimistic reading pointed to the possibility of war; assassination of the LTTE’s perceived opponents was already a daily affair. Now the killing of armed and unarmed rivals in the Tamil community has been joined by targeted attacks on security forces personnel. At the same time state agencies seem to be trying to counter the targeting of intelligence operatives with reprisal killings of their own. Whatever the new level of threat, the LTTE leadership must be feeling very vulnerable. And as always when cornered, it lashes out.

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The logic of appeasement is now in its final throes. While the Government was utterly cynical about Tamil democracy, Tamil lives and Tamil dissent, it at least tried to keep up appearances to the donor community. The LTTE long ago stopped even keeping up appearances, but others pretended not to notice. Today child conscription has reached its crudest extremes in full view.

On 12th July, a youth was bound and blasted with a grenade in Chenkalady after public alarm forced the LTTE to release several children it had abducted (see Appendix). Tsunami refugees in the East are being arm twisted to part with their children by threats to withhold relief. While threatening to start war claiming that is what the people want from the LTTE, the hapless people who desperately do not want war are being dragooned into a border force’. [Full Story]

LTTE child abductions continue
The Academic: July 21, 2005
Two more school boys of age fourteen and sixteen became the latest victims of LTTE child abduction yesterday.

N.Yuddan and P. Ajanthan from Unnarkula Road, Chenkalady were kidnapped by alleged LTTE members at their paddy field , according to the complain made by the affected family.

Meanwhile, a nineteen-year old youth escaped LTTE and surrendered to the army forces at Vavunanthivu exit point in Batticaloa yesterday evening.

The victim claimed that two LTTE cadres abducted him while he was proceeding for his job at Aithyamalai.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was kept informed by the police. [Full Story]

Tigers release child soldiers
News 24: July 18, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday said they released nine child soldiers to their parents amid mounting international criticism for recruiting underage combatants.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the nine children had joined the guerrillas' ranks after giving "false information" about their age. They were later identified during screening.

The nine children were handed over to their families on Sunday in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, they said in a statement posted on their website. No further details of the recruits were given.

Child rights activists have said the Tigers recruited fewer child soldiers this year after coming in for criticism from international rights groups. [Full Story]

Tigers intensify abducting children
Lanka Truth: July 20, 2005
Security sections have received information that about 60 children who had taken part in religious ceremonies in Hindu temples in Batticaloa District have been abducted by wanni tiger organization during the last four days.

A senior security officer in Batticaloa said whole families attend religious ceremonies that are being held in temples these days and tigers burst in to the temples and drag the children away.

About 40 children from Kovils in Panichchankerni and Arkachthivu and about 20 children in Shithimale, Karadiyanaru and Kaludhavali have been abducted this way say security sections.

Tigers break in gangs and drag away the children amidst protest from their parents. As children are being abducted while attending religious ceremonies, many families have stopped visiting temples with their children say these sources.

Some parents complain to the police about abduction of their children while many don't due to fear of the tigers. [Full Story]

LTTE child abductions continue
Lanka Academic: July 20, 2005
Two more school boys of age fourteen and sixteen became the latest victims of LTTE child abduction yesterday.

N.Yuddan and P. Ajanthan from Unnarkula Road, Chenkalady were kidnapped by alleged LTTE members at their paddy field , according to the complain made by the affected family.

Meanwhile, a nineteen-year old youth escaped LTTE and surrendered to the army forces at Vavunanthivu exit point in Batticaloa yesterday evening.

The victim claimed that two LTTE cadres abducted him while he was proceeding for his job at Aithyamalai.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was kept informed by the police. [Full Story]

UK and Western countries provide bases for terrorists to attack Sri Lanka and other poor nations
Asian Tribune : July 17, 2005
The World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) and Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights (SPUR), an Australian-based NGO, have urged the British Government and the British people to remember the poor civilians who continue to be killed by the LTTE -- a terrorist group who are given protection in London and operates from UK.

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When there is overwhelming evidence to show that democratic leaders, politicians and the institutions of state are constantly being attacked by the armed LTTE, forcibly recruit child soldiers and proudly exhibit their suicide bomber squads, the UK and the leaders of the Western democracies have turned a Nelsonian eye for a poor developing nations like Sri Lanka battling terrorism for the last 25 years. [Full Story]

Terrorist attack in London and crimes against the humanity
WAPS: World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka: July 15, 2005
We are shocked by the brutal attack carried out by the terrorists in London killing and injuring many civilians who never suspected that they will be used as a target to achieve the objectives of faceless enemies of humanity. These evil forces do not have to bother who should be killed or where their killing machine has to be directed as long as they are successful in mowing down the maximum number of human beings. As many have commented, this is an attack on all who believe in human co-existence and uphold humane methods in resolving socio-economic issues. We extend our deepest condolences to the people in the U.K and salute you in your resolve to stand up to the challenge posed by international terrorism.

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When there is overwhelming evidence to show that democratic leaders, politicians and the institutions of state are constantly being attacked by the armed LTTE, and they challenge the legal protectors of the human rights through their kangaroo courts, forcibly recruit child soldiers and proudly exhibit their suicide bomber squads, the UK and the leaders of the Western democracies have but a Nelsonian eye for a poor developing nations like Sri Lanka battling terrorism for the last 25 years. Their unarmed civilians are slaughtered, political leaders gunned down, city centres bombed and the civilian life disrupted, yet, the UK and the West have no tears to shed, as these lives are discounted and treated as expendable as they are not the 'chosen people'. [Full Story]

Tigers blame Sri Lanka army but commit 95 percent of ceasefire breaches
Press Esc: July 02, 2005
Tamil Tiger rebels committed 95 percent of the ceasefire violations while issuing an ultimatum to the Sri Lankan government reaffirm its commitment to the ceasefire, according to figures released by the international monitors.

The Scandinavian-staffed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) found the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) guilty of a staggering 2,903 breaches of the ceasefire agreement (CFA) while the figure for the Sri Lanka government is only 130. The Tiger charge sheet includes 1,601 cases of forcible child recruitment, 446 cases of abduction of adults and 221 cases of harassment.

The main charges against the government forces include 10 harassment, 10 "other measures to restore normalcy" and 10 hostile acts against the civilian population. [Full Story]

Australia welcomes P-TOMS
Siber News: July 01, 2005
AUSTRALIAN Minster of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer, MP in a press release states: "I welcome the signing of an agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to establish a Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS).

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"Australia is concerned at persistent violence in Sri Lanka, including ongoing assassinations. I urge all parties to take necessary steps to enforce the provisions of the ceasefire agreement. I call on the LTTE to stop the recruitment of child soldiers and release all child soldiers in its ranks. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Child recruiting Tamil rebels happy to see new UNICEF chief
Press Esc: June 26, 2005
The new UNICEF chief received a warm welcome from the Tamil Tigers last week, unlike her predecessor who was banned from parts of Sri Lanka controlled by the rebel group for accusing them of continued child conscription.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, who declared the former UN Children's Fund director Carol Bellamy a 'persona non grata', after she accused the rebel group of abducting children and training them as soldiers even after the ceasefire agreement of February 2002, welcomed her successor Ann Veneman with garlands.

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The LTTE recruited children as young as 10 years old and sent them to the front line during the civil war that raged in Sri Lanka for two decades.

Although the LTTE promised to disband the child brigade after the ceasefire, Bellamy claimed that the Tiger made little progress in rehabilitating them and continued to abduct children, even from government controlled areas especially in the east of the country.

Information collected by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) which maintains an extensive database devoted to child recruitment by the LTTE, and has documented approximately 3,600 cases of LTTE child recruitment from the time the ceasefire took effect in February 2002 through December 31, 2004.

The Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the international body led by the Norwegian government to monitor the ceasefire, also documents cases of child recruitment. Between February 1, 2002 and November 30, 2004, the SLMM received 1851 complaints of child recruitment by the LTTE.

It ruled 1490 of these complaints as violations of the ceasefire.

The LTTE came into widespread international condemnation after UNICEF reported that the rebels were forcible recruiting children orphaned by the tsunami.

As of January 26, UNICEF had registered over forty cases of child recruitment by the LTTE since the disaster occurred, including several cases of child recruitment from relief camps established for tsunami survivors.

Even while the new chief Veneman was conducting talks with the LTTE leadership in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, the Sri Lanka army rescued three children after they were abducted by the female Tiger brigade. [Full Story]

CANADA WELCOMES AGREEMENT BETWEEN SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AND LTTE
PHP NUKE: June 24, 2005
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and International Cooperation Minister Aileen Carroll today welcomed the signing of the Post-Tsunami Operations Management Structure.

Minister Pettigrew also reiterated Canada’s concerns, however, about the political and human rights situation in Sri Lanka. While this accord is a positive step, Canada remains gravely concerned about the escalating violence in Sri Lanka and urges both sides to rigorously respect the terms of the cease-fire agreement, added the Minister. We call on the LTTE to immediately end its recruitment of child soldiers and to implement all the provisions of the 2003 action plan on this matter. [Full Story]

Amnesty International Report on Sri Lanka
Siber News: June 24, 2005
The ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remained in place, despite a number of violations and a failure to resume peace talks. The human rights situation in the north-east deteriorated following a violent split within the LTTE in April and a dramatic increase in politically motivated killings. Although a large number of child soldiers were released during the internal fighting, the LTTE continued to recruit children, including through abduction. In November the government announced a reactivation of the death penalty.

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Child soldiers
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported the recruitment of 448 children as soldiers in the first half of 2004, while acknowledging that the actual figure was probably far higher.

It was reported that a large number of child soldiers were deployed in the fighting between the LTTE and the Karuna faction in April and that there were some child casualties. Following the fighting, over 1,600 child soldiers from the east, who had fought alongside Colonel Karuna, were disbanded and spontaneously returned to their homes. In May and June it was reported that the LTTE were re-recruiting many of these demobilized children, using tactics of intimidation, abduction and violence. Parents in the east, angry that their children had been used in internecine fighting, attempted to mobilize in an effort to resist re-recruitment. There was also an increase in child recruitment in the north in mid-2004 as the LTTE tried to make up for the large number of cadres it had lost during the split.

In May and June, families in Vaharai, Batticaloa district, who tried to prevent the LTTE from forcibly recruiting their children were beaten with wooden sticks. One woman was knocked unconscious and another was cut on the face.

In May, four boys from Trincomalee were forcibly re-recruited from their homes in the middle of the night. The mother of one of the boys was beaten and injured during the incident. [Full Story]

Escaped teenage girl once again abducted by LTTE women cadres
Sinhala Net: June 23, 2005
A sixteen-year old girl arrested earlier and was subsequently handed over to her parents while being taken away by LTTE for conscription was once again abducted by women cadres of the LTTE PRABHAKARAN faction on Wednesday (22) around 12.00 noon from her house in the general area of SUNDARAPURAM, VAVUNIYA.

Security Forces and the Police at OMANTHAI Entry/Exit point on Monday (20) around 1.00 p.m. arrested an LTTE suspect, KULASINGHAM PADMANADAN (25) of PUTUKUDURIPPU in the company of two teenage girls on suspicion. It was later revealed that those teenagers were being forcibly taken away by that LTTE suspect for conscription. (Ref Situation Report 21 June 2005).

However, the Police after necessary interrogations handed those teenage girls to their next of kin through the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and UNICEF, the following day (21).

One of those escaped teenagers, VELU UDAYA KUMAR NISHANDANI (16) of 61, SUNDARAPURAM, VAVUNIYA was at home on Wednesday (22) with her sister when two female LTTE cadres on a push bicycle stormed her house and took the teenager away, regardless of the protests made by the victim herself and her younger sister.

Father of the re-abducted girl, VELU UDAYA KUMAR in a Police complaint made at VAVUNIYA Police station Wednesday (22) evening claimed that two LTTE women cadres had stormed his house in his absence and taken away her daughter by force. This re-abduction was also referred to the SLMM, ICRC and UNICEF by the Police after the formal complaint was received by the Police. [Full Story]

Amnesty International Report on Sri Lanka: Main Focus LTTE Atrocities
Asian Tribune: June 22, 2005
The latest Amnesty International report on Sri Lanka has put the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the dock accusing it of politically motivated killings, assassination of political activists of rival Tamil parties and continued widespread recruitment of child soldiers.

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Although a large number of child soldiers were released during the internal fighting (between the LTTE factions), the LTTE continued to recruit children, including through abductions.

On politically motivated killings, the report says, there was dramatic escalation in political killings, especially in the east, following the split in the LTTE. From April onwards an increasing number of civilians, including members of opposition Tamil groups, were assassinated by the LTTE and colonel Karuna’s supporters. Some of these killings took place in government-controlled territory or near Sri Lankan Army (SLA) checkpoints, leading the LTTE to accuse the SLA of providing support to (dissident) Colonel Karuna’s faction. The continued killings and intimidation created an atmosphere of fear among the civilian population in the east as well as putting the ceasefire under strain.

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On the issue of child soldiers, the AI forcefully charges the LTTE of continuous recruitment. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported the recruitment of 448 children as soldiers in the first half of 2004, while acknowledging that the actual figure was probably far higher.

It was reported that a large number of child soldiers were deployed in the fighting between the LTTE and the Karuna faction in April (2004) and that there were some child casualties. Following the fighting, over 1,600 child soldiers from the east (of Sri Lanka) , who had fought alongside Colonel Karuna, were disbanded and spontaneously returned to their homes. In May and June it was reported that the LTTE were recruiting many of these demobilized children, using tactics of intimidation, abduction and violence. Parents in the east, angry that their children had been used in internecine fighting, attempted to mobilize in an effort to resist re-recruitment. There was also an increase in child recruitment in the north in mid-2004 as the LTTE tried to make up for the large number of cadres it had lost during the split. [Full Story]

UNICEF director takes up child recruitment with LTTE
Colombo Page: June 19, 2005
UNICEF's new executive director Ann Veneman yesterday said she has discussed the recruitment of children in depth with the LTTE.

Making her first visit to Sri Lanka after taking her post, she told reporters in Colombo that she discussed the issue with the Tigers and both parties are now working on it.

Veneman held talks with LTTE political leader S.P. Thamilchelvan yesterday in Kilinochchi.

Last month UNICEF announced that the Tigers had recruited 137 underage soldiers from January to April this year and released 37. This compares with 368 recruited in 2003 and 259 last year. [Full Story]

Relief Efforts Must Focus on Children - UNICF Head Ann Veneman
Asian Tribune: June 19, 2005
The newly appointed Head of the UNICEF Ms. Ann Veneman who was in Sri Lanka on a three day visit expressed her support for the Joint Mechanism to speed up post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction efforts in the country.

UNICEF chief urged the Sri Lanka Government as well as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to come to an understanding on the international tsunami relief aid for the relief and rehabilitation of victims, who were affected by 26 December 2004 tidal wave, which killed more 31,000 Sri Lankan in the North, East and south and rendered millions homeless and internally displaced.

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She also told the reporters in Killinochchi that UNICEF has agreed to work with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels to tackle the issue of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Unicef discusses child soldiers with Tamil Tigers
The Peninsula: June 19, 2005
Unicef agreed yesterday to work with Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels to tackle the issue of child soldiers, a top official of the United Nations childrens’ agency said after talks with a rebel leader.

The executive director of Unicef, Ann Veneman, said she discussed the question of underage combatants in rebel-held areas.

We had a good discussion on this issue..., Veneman said after talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political wing leader S P Thamilselvan. We have agreed we will work together to address the issue. Unicef has repeatedly asked the LTTE to give up the practice of recruiting boys and girls below the age of 18 years. [Full Story]

Donor group notes violence between Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers
Relief Web: June 15, 2005
The co-chairs of the Sri Lanka Donor Group -- including the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway -- met in Washington June 13 to discuss progress in the peace process between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and expressed concern at violence between the two parties.

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The Co-Chairs urge the parties to take all necessary steps to end violence and enforce all provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement in areas under their control. The Co-Chairs call on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to stop assassinations, including of individuals such as Tamil informants, members of other Tamil groups and political parties and government and military officials, and to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The Co-Chairs likewise call on the Sri Lankan government to take decisive action to ensure that killings are stopped and paramilitaries are disarmed immediately as required in the Ceasefire Agreement. [Full Story]

LTTE returning to old practice of abducting children from Hindu temples
Asian Tribune: June 14, 2005
London, 14 June, (Asiantribune.com): The London-based International Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (ICSUCS) -- leading non-governmental organizations to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers, both boys and girls yesterday exposed the increasing LTTE tactic of abducting children from Hindu festivals in the Batticoloa district which is the eastern province of Sri Lanka.

Documenting the known cases ICSUCS states: Most of the children are believed to be about 15 or 16. In one case parents said their 17-year-old son was with friends in Koraweli when he was escorted away by an alleged LTTE member on 23 May. Family members said the LTTE later confirmed that the youth was being held at the Navalady Uttu base. The family said they had met other parents trying to locate their children at the camp. Eight children were reportedly recruited on 9 June at the Punnai Cholai Kali temple festival. There have been further reports of underage recruitment in Koppaveli, Mandur and Mandapathady.

These reports are particularly troubling as they could signal a return to past practice, said Coalition representative, Victoria Forbes Adam.

She added: Temple festivals have been frequent sites for LTTE recruitment. For example, in July 2004, an estimated 26 people, mostly children, were taken from the Thandamalay Murugan temple. Most were subsequently released after family members protested and international agencies intervened.

Up to 100 cases of underage recruitment a month were reported to UNICEF during the second half of 2004 but reports of recruitment decreased substantially in the first months of 2005, with UNICEF registering a total of 154 cases from January to May 2005. The decrease in recruitment over recent months was a welcome and encouraging development, said Ms Forbes Adam, but increased recruitment at temple festivals puts this progress in jeopardy. It contravenes the LTTE’s pledges and is very distressing for the children and their families. [Full Story]

Foreign donors urge Sri Lanka govt, Tamil rebels to stop escalating violence
Forbes: June 14, 2005
Sri Lanka's main international donors asked the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to take action to stop escalating violence and stem a wave of political killings undermining a fragile truce.

The US, Japan, the European Union and Norway at a meeting in Washington expressed concern about the upsurge in violence on the island, according to a joint statement released in Colombo.

'We note with utmost concern that while full-scale hostilities have not resumed, respect for the ceasefire agreement has been undermined by persistent violence...,' said the statement, issued after yesterday's meeting.

It said there have been killings of individuals affiliated with both parties and asked the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to stop murdering rivals and government and military officials.

The Tigers were also asked to stop recruiting child soldiers. . [Full Story]

Co-chairs urge LTTE to stop killings and child recruitment
Colombo Page: June 14, 2005
The co-chairs of the Sri Lanka Donor Group have urged the LTTE to stop assassinations of individuals such as Tamil informants, members of Tamil groups and political parties and government and military officials. They also urged the LTTE to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

Issuing a joint statement, Japan, the European Union, Norway and the United States, who met yesterday in Washington DC to discuss the current situation in Sri Lanka and the way forward, said, The co-chairs urge the parties to take all necessary steps to end violence and enforce all provisions of the Cease-Fire Agreement in areas under their control. [Full Story]

A national plan needed to prevent child abduction
Lanka Truth: June 08, 2005
A national plan has to be formulated to prevent the abduction of under aged children by the Tiger organization, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is reported to have stated. Tigers have abducted more than hundred under aged children in the last five months to be recruited as child soldiers and slave labour. She was referring to an international report on child labour. She expressed her unhappiness about the government's inability to prevent this situation.

It seems that several Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) too are behind this and government should pay more attention to this matter she emphasized further. [Full Story]

Tigers warn Sri Lanka truce under 'serious threat'
Relief Web: June 07, 2005
Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday warned peace broker Norway that an Oslo-arranged truce in Sri Lanka was under "serious threat" and blamed the Colombo government for the deteriorating situation.

The Tigers said they were unhappy at Colombo's failure to enter into a deal to share foreign aid for tsunami survivors and to provide escorts for rebels travelling through government-held areas.

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The monitors have found that the Tigers were responsible for 2,837 truce violations up to April, compared to 129 violations by government forces. Most of the Tigers' violations related to the recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

One more teenager abducted
Sri Lanka Army: June 07, 2005
LTTE men in the general area of NEERAVELI, JAFFNA have abducted a nineteen-year old boy from NEERAVELI area on 6 June 2005 around 9.00 a.m., the troops were informed by next of kin of the victim.

Reports confirmed that the abducted youth, SARVANANDAN JENIYAN (19) of NEERAVELI South, NEERAVELI was being currently detained at NEERAVELI LTTE office for reasons best known only to the LTTE.

The abduction was reported to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). KOPAI Police are conducting further investigations. [Full Story]

US expresses support for JM
Harold Doan and Associates: June 06, 2005
The US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice on Friday June 3, said the US government was supportive of Sri Lanka’s efforts to evolve a Joint Mechanism (JM) with the LTTE to handle post-tsunami rehabilitation in the north and east, according to a Foreign Ministry communiqué.

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Kadirgamar further noted that unfortunate recent acts of the LTTE were not helping in the process of generating confidence among the groups, which had reservations in this regard. The continued acts of violence, recruitment of child soldiers, procurement of weapons and the construction of an airfield and acquisition of air capability by the LTTE were matters of serious concern. [Full Story]

Swiss Government to support proposed travel ban on LTTE
Lanka Academic: June 07, 2005
The LTTE is coming under increasing pressure to eschew violence and stop recruiting child soldiers. The Swiss government is to support a travel ban on the LTTE as recommended by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Ottunu, if the Security Council passes a resolution and the LTTE continues to recruit child soldiers, spokesman at the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka, Martin Steurzinger said yesterday. UN Security Council is expected to discuss the proposal soon.

In February this year Ottunu in his 5th report on Children in Armed Conflict recommended that the Security Council take targeted and concrete measures where insufficient or no progress had been made by parties named in annexed lists, including the imposition of travel restrictions on leaders and their exclusion from any governance structures and amnesty provisions, the imposition of arms embargoes, a ban on military assistance, and restrictions on the flow of financial resources to the parties concerned. Ottunu saw the proposed monitoring system as a way to compel warring parties to observe their obligations with regard to children and armed conflict, particularly in such cases as Sri Lanka, where there was currently no fighting, but no peace either, and it had been reported that the separatist "Tamil Tigers"continued to recruit children.

The Swiss Embassy Spokesman said Ambassador Bernadino Reggazoni met with LTTE's political wing leader, Thamil Chelvan last week and told him that the LTTE must respect the ceasefire agreement. He said, "The Swiss government condemns the killings by the LTTE. It is not acceptable. " Steurzinger said it was an appropriate time for the Ambassador to meet with the LTTE because of the latest killings. He pointed out that the ceasefire agreement is the cornerstone for the path towards peace and the LTTE must respect it at all times. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka to support India’s SC bid: FM
Daily Times: June 05, 2005
Washington: Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has declared his country’s support here India’s bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council.

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Sri Lanka being a democracy, the President was currently engaged in a process of consultation, but that the time would come when the process of consultation would have to end and the leadership would have to lead. He regretted that the recent acts of the LTTE such as recruitment of child soldiers, procurement of weapons and the construction of an airfield and acquisition of air capability had become matters of serious concern. [Full Story]

LTTE’s Acquisition of Air Power Dominates Kadirgamar Talks With Washington Top Brass
Asian Tribune: June 04, 2005
Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s talks with the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Bush Administration’s Deputy National Security Advisor J.H. Crouch on Friday 3rd June prominently figured the acquisition of air power by the LTTE as much as the peace process and the tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction mechanism.

While the Bush administrations top diplomat said the United States government took serious note of the LTTE’s acquisition of air capability, it’s national security advisor expressed US concern over the development of an air capability by Sri Lanka’s separatist Tamil Tigers.

He reminded Bush Administration’s top diplomat that LTTE’s continued acts of violence, recruitment of child soldiers, procurement of weapons and the construction of an air field and acquisition of air capability were matters of serious concern to both the government and the groups who had expressed reservations about the Joint Mechanism. [Full Story]

Abduction of Children by LTTE: "A Horrible Crime ....Horrible" Declared Bill Clinton
Asian Tribune: May 29, 2005
Former U.S.President Bill Clinton, in Colombo as a special UN envoy for Tsunami reconstruction, categorically called the abduction of tsunami affected children, by the LTTE, to be trained as child soldiers, a " Horrible crime."

"It's a crime" Clinton said, adding after a thoughtful pause " A horrible crime"

LTTE has so far recruited 137 children into their ranks since the tsunami, nine of whom were taken directly from relief camps, according to a UNICEF report.

[Full Story]

Abduction and Recruitment of Tsunami Children by the LTTE is a Crime- Clinton
Lanka Academic: May 29, 2005
Former US President and UN Special Envoy for Recovery, Bill Clinton said today in Colombo, that abduction and recruitment of children who were victims of the Tsunami by the LTTE was a crime. Responding to a question, Clinton said "I am very concerned about it. It is a crime and it's horrible. I don't know what I could do about the abduction. It is a hideous thing." Clinton said children were affected badly and they needed psychosocial support to get back to their normal lives. [Full Story]

Scandinavian truce monitors fire first salvo at Tamil Tigers
Asian Tribune: May 28, 2005
The Scandinavian observers of the Sri Lankan ceasefire agreement finally made a public warning that the Tamil militants’ air power could destabilize security of Sri Lanka and neighbouring India. They also warned that constructing of an airstrip and acquisition of air assets by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could lead to another war in Sri Lanka.

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The SLMM have found that the LTTE was responsible for 2,837 truce violations up to April, compared to 129 violations by government forces. Most of the Tigers' violations related to the recruitment of child soldiers. UNICEF and the international community criticized the LTTE’s recruitment of children into its fighting force. [Full Story]

Killings mar S.Lanka truce, but no war seen - monitor
Alert Net: May 27, 2005
A rash of killings in Sri Lanka's restive east and an impasse in peace talks are piling pressure on a ceasefire, but there are no signs Tamil Tiger rebels will resume a civil war, the chief truce monitor says.

While December's tsunami has slowed the rate at which rebels are flouting the ceasfire rules, dozens of killings blamed mostly on rebel infighting are destabilising the east, said Hagrup Haukland, head of the Nordic team monitoring the truce.

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Most rebel ceasefire violations involve recruitment of child soldiers, Haukland said, noting however that such violations had fallen in the months following Asia's tsunami.

"The north and east was heavily affected by the tsunami, so the LTTE as well as the government side said they have their hands full trying to help the people. Obviously the number of complaints and violations will drop," Haukland said.

The Tigers have also blocked access for the 60-member Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission team to an airfield in rebel-held territory, which is again a ceasefire violation, he said. [Full Story]

No improvement in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka
Press Esc: May 25, 2005
The ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remained in place, despite a number of violations and a failure to resume peace talks. The human rights situation in the north-east deteriorated following a violent split within the LTTE in April and a dramatic increase in politically motivated killings. Although a large number of child soldiers were released during the internal fighting, the LTTE continued to recruit children, including through abduction. In November the government announced a "reactivation" of the death penalty. Torture in police custody was widely reported and victims seeking redress faced threats and violence. There was little progress towards holding security forces to account for past human rights violations. Religious minorities came under threat, with attacks on Christians and Muslims, as well as the tabling of a bill aimed at curbing religious conversions.

...

Child soldiers

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported the recruitment of 448 children as soldiers in the first half of 2004, while acknowledging that the actual figure was probably far higher. It was reported that a large number of child soldiers were deployed in the fighting between the LTTE and the Karuna faction in April and that there were some child casualties. Following the fighting, over 1,600 child soldiers from the east, who had fought alongside Colonel Karuna, were disbanded and spontaneously returned to their homes. In May and June it was reported that the LTTE were re-recruiting many of these demobilized children, using tactics of intimidation, abduction and violence. Parents in the east, angry that their children had been used in internecine fighting, attempted to mobilize in an effort to resist re-recruitment. There was also an increase in child recruitment in the north in mid-2004 as the LTTE tried to make up for the large number of cadres it had lost during the split.

" In May and June, families in Vaharai, Batticaloa district, who tried to prevent the LTTE from forcibly recruiting their children were beaten with wooden sticks. One woman was knocked unconscious and another was cut on the face.

" In May, four boys from Trincomalee were forcibly re-recruited from their homes in the middle of the night. The mother of one of the boys was beaten and injured during the incident. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka rebels recruiting fewer child soldiers
Relief Web: May 25, 2005
Tamil guerrillas have recruited fewer child soldiers in Sri Lanka this year amid mounting international condemnation against enlisting underage combatants, official figures showed Wednesday.

The recruitment pattern of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) revealed a decline in the past three years as rights groups and governments urged them to totally abandon the practice, child rights activists said.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Tigers recruited 137 children in the first four months of this year while freeing 37. Among those recruited were nine children displaced by the December 26 tsunamis.

Child recruitment this year compared with 368 boys and girls enlisted during the corresponding period in 2003 and 259 last year, UNICEF spokesman Geoffrey Keele said. [Full Story]

Deep into the Aftermath
Seattle University: May 17, 2005
The morning of December 26, 2004, was blindingly bright. I was shivering from the arctic air-conditioning of my Colombo hostel room when the sunshine flooding through the windows awoke me. It was 9 a.m. I was a hundred yards from the Indian Ocean, and as the first tidal wave came ashore I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I'd arrived in Sri Lanka four days earlier on an assignment to write about the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Controlling an ever-shrinking part of the country's northern and eastern region, the predominantly Hindu Tigers have waged a 20-year civil war against the country's Sinhalese majority. The conflict has left a shameful legacy of human rights violations on both sides. But it was the LTTE's continued recruitment of child soldiers that had drawn me to the island, not as an aid worker attached to an non-governmental organization, but as a rookie journalist attached to no one. [Full Story]

High drama at the opening of foreign donors meeting in Kandy
Asian Tribune: May 17, 2005
Unexpected high drama interrupted yesterday’s inaugural session of the Sri Lanka Development forum held in Kandy. Soon after President Chandrika Kumaratunga finished her own emotional speech in which she said that her life was at risk in sticking to the Joint Mechanism Ven Athuraliye Rathana Thera, the parliamentary leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya, took the floor and blasted the LTTE and the proposed Joint Mechanism.

...
The monk grabbed this opportunity to directly address the foreign donors. His concluding statement was addressed directly to the. He said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are nations that have known war, that have suffered the indelible scars of war. You or your ancestors have known bloodshed and tyranny. You would not, we are convinced, reward terrorism. You would under the circumstances insist that the sovereignty of this beautiful country whose people are by and large peaceful, be preserved intact, and as such insist that the LTTE dismantle its air force, insist that they put an end to the recruitment of child soldiers, and put a stop to its killing spree.”

...
“The LTTE is a terrorist organization and that doesn't even begin to describe them. It is an organization that has absolutely no regard for human rights or for the practice of democracy. In the pursuit of its political objectives, which include the seizure of the traditional homelands of our people, the LTTE has methodically ethnically cleansed the areas under its control of Sinhalese and Muslims. It has massacred even Tamil people and groups that have dared to show dissent. The LTTE, in contravention of all international norms, abducts children and forces them into military service. [Full Story]

The Forgotten Tamils
Asian Tribune: May 15, 2005
A Sri Lankan Tamil has one – and only one – way of being a really existing human being - he must be a member or a fellow traveller of the LTTE. Such Tamils are seen, heard, recognised, talked about, honoured….

Then there are the other Tamils, the ones who fail to support or oppose the Tigers. They are neither seen nor heard nor recognised. They do not have even the most basic human rights, including the right to life. Any attempt to speak, write and act in accordance with their beliefs can bring upon them the wrath of the Tigers. And when that happens, their fate is unnoticed and un-mourned, except by others like them, the future victims of the LTTE, who are merely awaiting their own turn.

They are the forgotten Tamils.

...
Nothing is more tragic than the plight of the Tamil children of the North and the East, the present and future child soldiers, inveigled or forced to join the ranks of the LTTE, taught to obey, hate and kill. The Tigers continued with their practice of child conscription even after the tsunami, preying on the affected children in the camps for the displaced, as the UNCEF, the Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International have amply documented. But this issue is not figuring even marginally in the various discussions about post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation and especially in the debate on the desirability or otherwise of the Joint Mechanism (how to prevent the Tigers from using the powers granted to them under the JM to turn the tsunami refugee camps into recruitment centres). [Full Story]

Sri Lankan president on a political tightrope
World Socialist Web Site: May 14, 2005
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga is facing sharp opposition, both from within government ranks and from outside, over her moves to set up a joint body with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to handle tsunami relief work. The campaign to stop the signing of an agreement, scheduled for next week, is being lead by her key government ally, the Janatha Vimkuthi Peramuna (JVP).

...
Other sections of the media, however, have given prominence to the JVP campaign. An editorial in the Island on May 6 exemplified the general tenor. “If a terror outfit refuses to listen to the US, the UK and the rest of the European Union and continues to recruit child soldiers, exhort money, assassinate politicians, massacre rivals, which country on this planet could control it? And how on earth could a legitimate government have a partnership with it while it continues such crimes?” [Full Story]

Ethics of Journalism and Protecting Human Rights
SPUR: May 10, 2005
It was with surprise that we read your special statement regarding the death of D.P. Sivaram. We do not condone or advocate killings of any kind. It should be condemned as an atrocious act. But what about Mr.Sivaram? He was an analyst of a sort. Very selective in his work. He would be the first to condemn any act of “terrorism” committed by the so called "racist, chauvinist, etc. etc., Sinhalese" whilst simultaneously defending each and every murder or perpetration of human rights violations committed by the Tamil tiger terrorists (the LTTE), an organization banned by the United States and many other countries in the world including Australia.

Sivaram was the editor of Tamilnet, a propagandist instrument of the worst kind, renowned for LTTE slanted reportage. He was the Joseph Goebbels of the LTTE terrorists. His task was to justify genocide, to whitewash atrocity and canonize a megalomaniac. At his death, the manic terrorist leader Prabakran bestowed the highest honour given to terrorist supporters, the ‘mahamantheer’ status to Sivaram. This itself demonstrates Sivaram bias in favour of terrorism whilst he was alive.

How is it that he didn't care about child soldiers? He did not mention one word on the subject whilst the world screamed out about it!!(and is still screaming about it). Please refer to the recent articles below from reputed sources. [Full Story]

JVP grovels to the Bush administration
World Socialist Web Site: May 09, 2005
A recent meeting in Colombo between the representatives of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and top US officials has exposed the sham character of the Sri Lankan party’s anti-imperialist rhetoric and socialist posturing.

The JVP or National Liberation Front was formed in the 1960s by appealing to impoverished rural youth in the south of the island with a radical ideological brew mixed from Maoism, Guevarism and Sinhala communalism. Today it is part of a bourgeois government for the first time—a junior partner to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, a pillar of Sri Lankan capitalism—and several ministerial posts are held by JVP members.

...
Amarasinghe’s letter makes clear that the JVP has since dropped any opposition to the US occupation of Iraq. In hailing Bush’s “war on tyranny”, the organisation is not only backing Washington’s ambitions for global hegemony, but inviting and offering to assist US intervention in Sri Lanka. The letter denounces the LTTE for recruiting child soldiers and for violating democratic rights, obviously seeking to make the case that the US should fight against this “tyranny”. [Full Story]

Canada’s refusal to ban Tamil tigers "a mistake of incredible magnitude" – Mackenzie report
Asian Tribune: May 08, 2005
Blasting the Canadian government for not banning the Tamil Tigers, the reputed Mackenzie Institute had exposed the myths on which the Canadian bureaucrats and the government tend to sweep the issue under a carpet of maple leaves.

...
The Tigers don’t care About Peace.Locked into a stalemated campaign against the Sri Lankan Army, the LTTE evidently feared that they could be badly damaged in their overseas sanctuaries, and so declared a sudden new interest in peace talks in February 2002. However, they have refused to yield on any substantive issues and have taken advantage of the pause to restock their cadres (with child soldiers especially), their arsenal, and their war chest. [Full Story]

SPUR Media Release
Child soldiers and the Tamil Tiger Terrorists
SPUR: May 07, 2005
We write to thank you for the follow-up action of the Security Council to adopt a new resolution to impose severe penalties on the parties recruiting child soldiers.

As you are aware, one of the main organizations violating the rights of the children is the LTTE also known as Tamil Tiger Terrorists operating in Sri Lanka. In spite of studies completed and sanctions proposed by UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, Amnesty International etc., the LTTE continues to recruit children as soldiers.

If the rights of the children are considered to be important as the UN Resolutions specify, it is absolutely necessary to have a mechanism to enforce the declared objectives of the UN. In the case of the Tamil Tigers they have a history of using child soldiers as cannon fodder in the clashes with the Sri Lankan Defence Forces. The LTTE has also gone on a recruitment drive and an abduction binge to beef up their cadres depleted by the tsunami. UNICEF has stated that more than 1600 children have been abducted or conscripted to join the LTTE from tsunami relief camps. Since signing of the Ceasefire Agreement with the Sri Lankan Government in 2002, the LTTE has recruited nearly 3,500 children according to authoritative human rights organizations. There are stories in the latest Save the Children report of molestation of both young boys and girls who are in LTTE captivity. [Full Story]

Caught in the Crossfire
Pop matters: May 06, 2005
From the early-1980s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) quickly became the dominant body in Tamil militancy, and Tamil nationalism in general, not least because of the viciousness with which they dispatched rival groups. In April 1986, for example, hundreds of members of rivals TELO (the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation) were killed in a sequence of attacks, despite their being armed, trained, and supported by the Indian government. From 1987 the "Black Tigers" developed suicide bombing as a tactic, their victims including former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandi. UNICEF and Amnsety International have censured them for the forced conscription of child soldiers, including 40 since the December 26 tsunami. They have been accused of murdering civilians in border areas to induce population displacement. The Sri Lankan government, meanwhile, has continued a series of depredations, including extensive -- and sometimes apparently indiscriminate -- aerial bombing campaigns. Over 65,000 people have died; at one point up to 30 percent of the Tamil population was estimated to have fled the island, with over a million people -- from all ethnic groups -- temporarily or permanently displaced. A 1991 report estimated that perhaps ten percent of the population had been displaced. Sri Lanka is one of the most heavily landmined countries in the world. [Full Story]

UN envoy refuses to meet LTTE
The Peninsula: May 02, 2005
Olara Otunnu, Under-Secretary-General, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, has rejected a second request from the LTTE for a meeting. “I have no plans to meet them until the Security Council adopts a new resolution,” Otunnu told a Sunday Times correspondent in New York, despite a public assurance by the LTTE that it has stopped recruiting child soldiers. The UN children’s agency Unicef has accused the LTTE of breaking its pledges and continuing to recruit children even during and after the tsunami disaster. [Full Story]

JVP opposes any programme with Tigers if separatist agenda continues
Colombo Page: April 27, 2005
The UPFA’s main ally, JVP yesterday said that it will not agree to any programme with the LTTE without an assurance from the LTTE that it would end child recruitment, political killings and abductions and hold free and fair elections in the north and east.

Speaking at a press conference JVP leader, Somawansa Amarasinghe said that the party is opposing to the proposed joint mechanism with the LTTE if the LTTE fails to give up its separatist agenda and violence.

He claimed the LTTE’s demand for a joint mechanism is a ‘bridge’ to the LTTE’s demand for an interim administration. [Full Story]

Boy abducted at Trincomalee
EPDP News: April 26, 2005
A boy from 108, Gandhi Nagar, Trincomalee, named Balachandran Dilojan (aged 17) was kidnapped from his house yesterday.

The Parents of this boy had complained the kidnapping to SLLM, Human Rights Commission and the police.

Welfare organizations say that the kidnapping by the LTTE in Trincomalee area has increased. [Full Story]

21000 girls in Sri Lanka’s war
BBC: April 25, 2005
Girls are the greatest casualty of war all over the world, a leading charity working with children said on Monday. A Save the Children report found more than 120,000 girls and young women have been abducted and pushed into conflict worldwide.

...
The report says an estimated 21,500 girls are thought to be associated with the conflict in Sri Lanka while in the Democratic Republic of Congo another 12,000 are believed to be involved in armed organisations.

Over 43% of all children involved in Sri Lanka’s civil war are girls, it said.

Save The Children’s Information and Communication Officer in Sri Lankan Maleec Calyanaratne said that nearly 2800 children have been handed back to their parents since October 2003. This is only the tip of the iceberg because nobody knows exactly how many are actually involved.

Some of these children were handed to the UNICEF by the LTTE and many others were disbanded by renegade rebel leader Karuna, she told BBC Sandeshaya.

Calyanaratne said the UNICEF rehabilitation camps for former LTTE combatants have been very useful in the process of handing them back to parents. [Full Story]

Kumaratunga’s dillema on joint mechanism
Asian Tribune: April 24, 2005
President Chandrika Kumaratunga has two strategies for the vexed question of the proposed tsunami joint mechanism which could ring the death bell for her coalition government if it is handled wrongly. Senior political sources in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said that she is likely to propose two options to her top advisers before adopting one.

...
The second option is to urge the international community to get major concessions from the LTTE on giving up war preparations as precursor for establishment of the joint mechanism. The concessions demanded by the government include dismantling of the air wing of the militants and immediate release of all the child soldiers together with an undertaking that it would desist from future recruitment of children.

The LTTE has constructed an airstrip at Iranamadu in the north and acquired at least two light aircraft in violation f the ceasefire agreement entered into three years ago. The militant’s continuous act of recruiting children has come in for criticism from the UNICEF and the international community. [Full Story]

Rocca urges LTTE to renounce violence
Gulf Times: April 23, 2005
Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca says that the United States will be happy to engage the LTTE if the LTTE renounces violence in word and deed.

She said that the American position regarding the LTTE has not changed and the US will continue to view the organisation as a terrorist group unless they renounce violence, stop extra-judicial killings, recruitment of child soldiers and building its military power.

Rocca arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday to survey United States-funded tsunami reconstruction efforts.

Addressing a group of journalists and academics at the American Centre in Colombo after an assessment tour of tsunami-ravaged Kalmunai in the East, she said the US would continue to co-operate closely with the Sri Lankan government in the reconstruction process. [Full Story]

SPUR urges more US action against LTTE to restore peace
Asian Tribune: April 20, 2005
On the eve of the visit of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Ms Christina B. Rocca, to Sri Lanka, the Society Peace Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR), a leading human rights organization established in Australia, has appealed to her to publicly condemn atrocities committed by the LTTE under cover of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) and to hold it accountable for the 1) recruitment of Tamil children despite international condemnations, 2) the persecution of Tamils in their Vanni stronghold and (3) imprisonment and torture of Tamils residing in foreign countries when they visit relatives and friends in LTTE-held areas.

Ms. Rocca is due to visit Sri Lanka this week [Full Story]

Viewpoint: Our man in Canada
Colombo Page: April 18, 2005
The Canadian government, to go by a report in a Sunday newspaper, has refused to accept the designated Sri Lankan Ambassador on the grounds that he was “guilty of human rights abuses.” There is a touch of almost medieval irony to the whole story. Canada calls the Sri Lankan Ambassador designate a human rights abuser because he served as the Secretary of Defence, knowing fully well that he was fighting the LTTE, which Canada has variously castigated as a terrorist outfit.

Canadian mounties are having sleepless nights trying to contain sabre-rattling mob rivalry between Tamil gangs in cities such as Montréal and Toronto even as we write this. Canada has been one country which has obliquely or otherwise inveighed against the LTTE tendency to recruit child soldiers. [Full Story]

Admiral Fallon visit a clearr show of America’s support to Sri Lanka
Asian Tribune: April 16, 2005
The United States is continuing its policy of maintaining close coordination with the Sri Lankan security forces. Commander of the United States Pacific Command, Admiral William J. Fallon, is currently visiting Sri Lanka. In the last two years since signing of the ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) more than 12 top commanders of the American Army, navy and Air Force visited the island-nation in a clear show of support.

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They also discussed matters relating to post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts including the position regarding the proposed joint mechanism with the LTTE. At the meeting, Minister Kadirgamar thanked the US Marines for their assistance after the tsunami disaster. Sri Lankan side also briefed the US Commander about the ceasefire violations by the LTTE and the militants’ military drive including continuous recruitment of children.
The US issued repeated warnings to the LTTE that the latter must prove that it was not a terrorist outfit by distancing from violent acts. Washington also deplored the recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE. [Full Story]

Thamilchlevan’s European tour Contradictory answers and unanswered questions
EPDP News: April 05, 2005
11 LTTE members lead by Thamilchelvan toured the European countries recently. They had given contradictory answers for the question leveled at them during their visit which is not acceptable to the international community. Only Thamilchelvan answered the questions through his interpreter, George, but none of the others in the group opened their mouth.

Some of the questions and answers:-

• Are children being recruited for the LTTE military?

No children are being recruited to the LTTE military.


• If that is so, how come the UNICEF report states that 4000 children have been taken into the LTTE?

The figures on the UNICEF report are not accurate.


• In that case, are you saying that there are children in the LTTE military but the UNICEF figures are not accurate?

Grins


• LTTE are targeting their political rivals and people who differ from the LTTE ideals and are systematically eliminating them.

LTTE had not engaged in this type activity. It is the Government, which is doing the killings and attacks in order to put the blame on the LTTE.


• For example do you wish to say that the Government is trying to kill Douglas, who is a member in the Government and his party members?

Grins

LTTE crimes: Australia, act with caution
The Island: April 12, 2005
Breaking news, in the Age on 5/4/2005 carried the headline; "Tamil rebels recruit children - UNICEF." This is not something new as they have been recruiting child soldiers from the inception. We must thank the press for highlighting off and on, the horrendous crimes of this terrorist outfit. The recruitment of 106 tsunami affected children as soldiers is unpardonable. For these innocent Tamil kids, it is like falling from the frying pan into the fire. According to a recent Media Release by UNICEF, 3,516 children have been recruited by Tamil Tigers as child soldiers since the signing of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).

Very recently, the LTTE abducted fifteen young schoolgirls on their way to school and their whereabouts are still unknown. Australia is also partly to be blamed for this though the LTTE is a banned terrorist organisation in Australia. Even though the LTTE is banned here, its front organisation, Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), is a registered charity and has been very actively raising funds under the pretext of helping the tsunami victims. In December, in Parliament, our FM Alexander Downer replying to MP John Murphy's question on why the government was not funding TRO, said, "As the TRO is affiliated to banned LTTE, the government cannot fund TRO". However, they have got an open license in Australia and in all the EU countries to raise funds, which are diverted among other things, for child recruitment and procurement of arms.

By allowing the TRO to raise funds openly, Australia and some other countries have automatically become partners in crime of the LTTE.

In February 2005, the UN Security Council passed a resolution based on a report submitted by UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (CACC) Olara Otunu. Among the contents of the report: "Ending the recruitment or use of child soldiers in violation of applicable international law and other violations and abuses committed against children affected by armed conflict situations, and promoting their reintegration and rehabilitation". Among the outfits recruiting child soldiers, the LTTE was named, among others. [Full Story]

LTTE Must Halt Recruitment of Child Soldiers
Refugees International: March 21, 2005
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, have long been known for recruiting children to take up arms in their 22-year independence struggle against the Government of Sri Lanka. With a truce in early 2002, many hoped the illegal conscription of minors as child combatants would cease. In the wake of the tsunami, which devastated Tamil majority areas in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, new reports of abductions and missing children have reaffirmed concerns of international human rights organizations of continued recruitment. (Learn more about the tsunami's effects on Sri Lanka on our Tsunami Crisis Page.)

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The LTTE has long been known for the forced recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and the evidence suggests that recruitment has continued. Reporting 40 verified cases of child recruits in the month following the December 26th tsunami, UNICEF has highlighted the forcible recruitment of three young girls from relief camps. The underage girls, as young as fifteen years of age, disappeared from relief camps in Ampara and Batticaloa, two northeastern districts. While they have since been found and returned to their families, the whereabouts of countless other children remain unknown and they are suspected to be under the control of the rebel forces. [Full Story]

Civilians move in and rescue teenager from LTTE conscription attempt
Sri Lanka Army: April 12, 2005
Angry civilians in the general area of ARIYAMPATHI market, BATTICALOA moved in on three LTTE cadres and chased them away when LTTE men after death threats and assaults on a teenager, tried to conscript him to the LTTE on 09 March 2005 around 8.00 a.m.

The seventeen-year old boy, the son of an Army Lance Corporal who was believed killed after he was abducted by LTTE on 09 July 2002, was on his way to the ARIYAMPATH market when he was confronted by three LTTE men close to a location at the market.

The victim from THILAKAVALEE ROAD, PONNATHURAI STREET, ARIYAMPATHI 3 was threatened with death unless he volunteered to join the LTTE. However, ensuing heated argument over his conscription resulted in LTTE assaults on the victim.

Civilians after witnessing the incident and subsequent assaults began to move in quickly on LTTE cadres but LTTE men took to their heels leaving the teenager behind.

Information confirmed that the victim is the son of an Army Lance Corporal A CLARY (S/028721) of the Sri Lanka National Guard who was abducted and later assassinated by the LTTE in 2002.

Next of kin of the victim has however neither reported the matter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) nor to the Police in fear of possible LTTE reprisals.

Name & particulars of the teenager are withheld for obvious security reasons and questions of human rights. [Full Story]

Secretary-General's Representative on Internally Displaced Persons addresses Commission
Commission Starts Debate on Specific Groups and Individuals after Concluding Discussion on Child Rights and Indigenous Issues
Relief Web: April 11, 2005
The Commission on Human Rights this afternoon began its consideration of the situation of specific groups and individuals, hearing a presentation from the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons. It also concluded its general debate on children's rights and indigenous issues.

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SUGEESHWARA GUNARATNA (Sri Lanka), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, asked why the non-governmental organization International Educational Development tried to whitewash the issue of the recruitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) of child soldiers, which was under scrutiny in the Security Council. That organization would do well to review the statistics and figures available, which showed that 60 per cent of ceasefire violations by the LTTE concerned child soldiers. That organization would do well to avoid slander in the future, and to stop using this forum to whitewash the activities of some. [Full Story]

Rights group wants international experts to investigate LTTE killings
Colombo Page: April 10, 2005
The Sri Lanka Democracy Forum, accusing the LTTE of continued killings in Sri Lanka, urged the country to appoint international human rights experts to end the killings.

Issuing a statement, the Toronto-based organization said, “An international investigation of all killings since the ceasefire came into effect is [a] measure the international community should take.”

The Sri Lankan government should appoint a commission with international human rights experts for such an investigation, with an eye to a longer-term international monitoring presence once modalities are worked out, it said. “The international community [should] apply appropriate sanctions to end the LTTE's continued recruitment of child soldiers in the island's north and east,” it added. [Full Story]

Rights Body sought to end Sri Lanka killings
New Kerala: April 09, 2005
A group of Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates has urged Sri Lanka to appoint international human rights experts to try ending the continuing killings in the island nation.

Blaming the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the murders, the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum said it was time the international community woke up to the dangers of renewed conflict in the country. "An international investigation of all killings since the ceasefire came into effect is (a) measure the international community should take," it said in a statement made available here.

The forum came up in Toronto in Canada in 2002, the year when the Sri Lankan government signed a Norway-sponsored peace pact with Colombo. Toronto is called a "Little Jaffna" because of its large Tamil ethnic population.

The statement said as a first step, the Sri Lankan government should appoint a commission "with international human rights experts for such an investigation, with an eye to a longer-term international monitoring presence once modalities are worked out".

It also asked the international community to apply "appropriate sanctions" to end the LTTE's continued recruitment of child soldiers in the island's north and east. [Full Story]

Mackenzie Institute Report
Still No Tiger Ban
Mackenzie Institute: April 05, 2005
One problem with reading your news over the internet at breakfast is the risk of spewing coffee all over the keyboard when something really outrageous pops up on your monitor. This is what happened last January on learning Ottawa’s latest excuse for continuing to refuse to list the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist group. Apparently, our Federal government believes listing the Tigers would impair the peace process in Sri Lanka.

...
The Tigers don’t care About Peace. As a result of the 9-11 attacks, it looked like most Western nations were about to take a far more aggressive stand against international terrorism — even Canada was contemplating a set of tough new anti-terror laws. Locked into a stalemated campaign against the Sri Lankan Army, the LTTE evidently feared that they could be badly damaged in their overseas sanctuaries, and so declared a sudden new interest in peace talks in February 2002. However, they have refused to yield on any substantive issues and have taken advantage of the pause to restock their cadres (with child soldiers especially), their arsenal, and their war chest. [Full Story]

Tamil rebels recruit children: UNICEF
The Age: April 05, 2005
Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited 106 children into their ranks since the December 26 tsunami hit Sri Lanka, UNICEF officials said.

The recruits included those taken from tsunami refugee camps in the Tamil-majority north and east of Sri Lanka, parts of which are under guerrilla control, UNICEF spokesman Marc Vergara said.

"There have been 106 verified cases over the last three months," he said. There was no immediate response from the rebels.

The Tigers have been known to recruit children into their ranks in their conflict with the government. Peace talks stalled two years ago amid demands by the rebels for wide autonomy in the Tamil-dominated north and east.

Since the rebels signed a truce with the Sri Lankan government in 2002, more than 3,500 children have been enlisted by the insurgents, according to human rights groups. [Full Story]

UNICEF says Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited 106 children since the tsunami
Lanka Academic/Associated Press: April 05, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited 106 children into their ranks since the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, in some cases taking young recruits directly from relief camps, the U.N. children's agency said Tuesday. Vergara said some of the new recruits had been taken from tsunami relief camps in the Tamil-majority north and east of Sri Lanka - , parts of which are under guerrilla control. Vergara said he wasn't certain of their exact ages.

UNICEF considers those under 18 to be children.

``We have been in touch with the LTT (Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam) about the release of the children but we have not received any firm guarantees as yet,'' Vergara said.

There was no immediate response from the rebels, but the Tigers have repeatedly denied actively recruiting children, saying that any minor who joins their forces does so because of poverty or the loss of parents.

...
But the U.N. agency has accused the insurgents of reneging on their promise. Since the agreement, the rebels have recruited 1,892 children, Vergara said. [Full Story]

LTTE recruits more than 100 underage children since tsunami
Colombo Page: April 05, 2005
The UNICEF accused the LTTE for recruiting another 106 underage child soldiers to their fighting unit since the tsunami devastation despite the international pressure not to recruit any children.

It also accused the LTTE for recruiting directly from tsunami displaced camps. “There have been 106 verified cases over the last three months,” UNICEF spokesman Marc Vergara said.

He said that most of these children were new to the fighting and some of them were in the LTTE and later escaped.

He also said that the UNICEF has been in touch with the LTTE regarding the release of the children but said that they have not received any firm guarantees as yet. [Full Story]

LTTE’s new camp at Katukkarai
Sinhala Net: April 05, 2005
The LTTE had detained 300 persons who were kidnapped against their wish and given vigorous training in the newly formed camp at Katukarai, Mannar, named as border guards. There were rumours that this camp was shifted forward towards the Karukkakulam checkpoint and continued shooting could be heard at this place some weeks ago.

The LTTE cadre Beeman is in charge of this camp and he is very famous for his bad behaviour in the community. The children are unable to escape as the LTTE cadres are guarding them from all four sides.

The people of this area are concerned about this new LTTE camp in this area. [Full Story]

Teenager arrested while being abducted by LTTE man
Sri Lanka Army: April 04, 2005
Policemen on duty at a roadblock in the general area of KATTANKUDY, BATTICALOA on 2nd April 2005 around 8.00 p.m. were compelled to arrest a seventeen-year old boy who claimed that he was being abducted for conscription to the LTTE.

The Police on suspicion checked the motor-bicycle (EPGS 5467) with two riders including an LTTE cadre, identified himself as S. SELVAGANESHAN alias WEETHAN KUMARAN (LTTE ID No. 05543) of UMAYAMAHAL, VELVETTITHURAI but the seventeen-year old pillion rider has claimed that he was being abducted by LTTE after deceiving him. The victim is from THIRUKKOVIL area. Both of them were taken into Police custody with their motorbike. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was to be informed. The KATTANKUDY Police are conducting investigations.

Name and particulars of the victim are withheld for obvious security reasons and question of Human Right. [Full Story]

Allegations of more child abductions
Daily Mirror: April 04, 2005
Over 30 children have been abducted allegedly by the LTTE in the East since the tsunami destruction. Three of them had been abducted from a refugee camp at Viniyagapuram yesterday.

DIG, STF, Nimal Lewke said though this was the official estimate, the number could be much higher. Fourteen of these children were from Ampara while the rest were from Batticaloa. [Full Story]

Tamil Tiger-terror By: Harm Ede Botje
The Nee/Free Netherlands: April, 2005
In several parts of the world the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization is actively collecting money for the rebuilding Sri Lanka’s North and East. After the tsunami disaster the TRO also collected money in the Netherlands. For the victims? Or for weaponry for the Tamil Tigers? In the first week of April a high delegation of the Tamil Tigers will be expected to pay a visit to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. On a quiet Sunday afternoon at the end of January in Brabant, the Southern Province of The Netherlands, in a place called Oudenbosch small groups of Tamils walk in the town square, men with a nice haircut, women in colourful sari, a red or black dot on their foreheads. They are on their way to community centre ‘Fidei et Arti’ on Pastor Hellemonsstreet for the annual commemoration of commander Kittu, a martyr of the Tamil Tigers who died in 1993. In the hall, Tamil-boys hang around with spike-haircuts and fast ski jackets. A flag on the wall shows the logo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam: the head of a roaring tiger in front of two crossed guns, surrounded by an aureole of bullets.

...
In a recent report Human Rights Watch accuses the Tigers of recruitment of more than 3500 children since the cease fire. Convenor Jo Becker sent a letter to the Toronto Star, in which she morally attacked the Tamils in Canada. ‘The Tamil community in Canada bears some responsibility for the fate of [recruited] children... Many of Canada's 250,000 Sri Lankan Tamils provide financial and political support for the LTTE, enabling the group to continue its recruitment and use of child soldiers.... Experts estimate that Tamils in Canada provide $1 million to $2 million each month to front organizations for the LTTE.’ The letter urged Canadian Tamils to pressure the Tamil Tigers ‘to stop using child soldiers.’ The Tigers have a long tradition in kidnapping and training child soldiers. During the civil war they sent baby brigades to front lines of the Sri Lankan army. The battle fields were strewn with corpses of children. The tsunami disaster did not stop this practice. UNICEF has recently stated that the Tigers recruited one hundred and six children from the East including refugee camps after the tsunami struck. International condemnation has been resounding. In February UN Secretary General Kofi Annan threatened the Tigers with sanctions. In Oudenbosch the interpreter Pirashan Nagalingam tells enthusiastically about the money collections for TRO he and his friends participated in after the tsunami-disaster. Nagalingam is a member of Tamil Tigers youth movement. He lives with three friends in a student house in a city in the North, Groningen, where he studies legal services. Each morning before the lessons start, the four students distribute newspapers for extra income. [Full Story]

LTTE abducts 15 schoolgirls
The Island: April 01, 2005
Army headquarters said that 15 female students had disappeared in the Jaffna peninsula.

A senior army official accused the LTTE of abducting them.

Following the army making representations to the Jaffna based Scandinavian truce monitors, the LTTE political office in Jaffna had been searched. Parents of the disappeared too had accused the LTTE of carrying out the abductions. [Full Story]

Tigers recruit girls for military training
Lanka Truth: April 01, 2005
A group of little girls are being given military training in a camp of Wanni tigers at a place called Nirweli in Jaffna. There are 14 girls in this group and they are being subjected to all kinds of abuse and torture by senior tiger cadres say reports.

The intelligence services of the Security Forces have informed SLMM and UNICEF about this.

The tiger cadres have tried to shift the camp to another site when security forces had known about its existence. Security forces say if the tigers attempt to take away the children they would take legal action. [Full Story]

Tigers’ attempts to abduct children thwarted
Lanka Truth: March 31, 2005
Defense spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake said that steps have been taken to thwart attempts by Wanni tigers to abduct children in the North and the East displaced by tsunami to be conscripted. An attempt to abduct two children from Thirukkovil area in Ampara was thus repulsed.

The attempt by Wanni tiger organization to hold a ‘Harthal’ campaign in Thirukkovil to oppose the action of the security forces thwarting the abduction of children by tigers too failed. Though Wanni tigers tried to stage this ‘Harthal’ yesterday, the people refused to participate and the shops, government offices, schools and transport services functioned normally.

Defense spokesman says Wanni tigers, with their attempts to get people to stage ‘Harthal’ campaigns, want the merge between the security forces and the people in the area to be damaged. However, several tiger members who tried to abduct children were apprehended and steps have been taken to strengthen the security of the displaced said Brig. Daya Ratnayake. [Full Story]

Undeterred LTTE continues its child abduction spree
Sri Lanka Army: March 29, 2005
A teenage school-goer from THIRUKKOVIL area after he left for his school on 22 March 2005 has been abducted and detained at an LTTE camp in KANCHIKUDI-ARU, says a mother in a complaint made to THIRUKKOVIL Police station. The complainant, ARULAMMA of KANAKANAGAR, THAMBILIVIL, further stated that her son, JEEWA (14) has failed to return home after he left home for school on 22 March morning.

However, information received by her has confirmed that her son was being detained at the KANCHIKUDI-ARU LTTE camp in un-cleared areas, complaint further claimed.

Meanwhile, a similar complaint of a mother made to the same THIRUKKOVIL Police station on 28 March 2005 claimed that her teenaged boy was abducted by a group of LTTE men while he was in the general town area of THIRUKKOVIL.

According to the complainant, T.YOGAMALAR of THADULUVIL, THUTHIRUK KOVIL Refugee camp at THIRUKKOVIL, her son, T.R.ATHINKARAN (17) was living with her in the Refugee camp for tsunami victims when the LTTE abducted him.

The abduction, according to the mother has occurred while her son was on his way towards a studio to take a photograph for his National Identity Card. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been informed of both these abductions.

The THIRUKKOVIL Police investigations are on.

The LTTE, undeterred by repeated warnings issued by various international forums including the UN, EU, UNICEF and different agencies against this practice, continues with its child conscription despite many a concern made by parents of those minors in affected areas. [Full Story]

When fear stalks a community
The Island: March 29, 2005
She is a polite, articulate university student who speaks quietly, but passionately. Her message is simple: she wants to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers. "The level of fear and brutality used to force children, some as young as 12 or 13, to become soldiers is severe," she says.

But our conversation takes a sharp turn when I ask her if she would like to write an opinion article about child soldiers and the reaction in her community here in Toronto to people who speak out against groups who use them. [Full Story]

Tsunami welfare centre refugees rise against LTTE abduction attempts
Daily News: March 29, 2005
Scores of irate civilians in the welfare center for Internally Displaced People (IDP) at Mandan, Thirukkovil on Monday confronted an LTTE mob, which came there to abduct a child from the welfare center for LTTE conscription, irrespective of the pleas made by the child's parents, states a Defence Ministry press release.

Irate parents and inmates in the IDP center however confronted those LTTE mobs, abused them and suddenly turned violent assaulting those LTTE mobs with clubs and stones, despite all efforts taken by STF personnel on duty at the center to resolve the matter and restore normalcy as tension began to swell.

At about 12.30 p.m. on Monday four LTTE men had first visited Thambilvil village and abducted a sixteen year old youth child for LTTE conscription, prompting his mother to complain to the nearest Special Task Force (STF) camp in the area, but she was later directed to the Thirukkovil Police station for formal a complaint.

She had also alerted the SLMM of her son's abduction. [Full Story]

Special Report No: 18
Political Killings and Sri Lanka’s Stalled Peace
UNIVERSITY TEACHERS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (JAFFNA) : March 28, 2005
Once again a wave of political killings in northern and eastern Sri Lanka is threatening the security of civilians; the violence also threatens their fragile psychological recovery from the devastating tsunami disaster. Both the LTTE and its rival Karuna faction have carried out violent attacks, but to dismiss these killings lightly as tit-for-tat would be utterly misleading as their forces are far from equivalent. The violence today is occurring at a time when some within the international community, eager to get on with the pressing needs of reconstruction, appear ready to confer quasi-statehood on the LTTE’s violently maintained fiefdom.

...
The LTTE has sought the systematic elimination all real and potential challenges to its self-proclaimed role as “sole representative.” Many of its victims posed little obvious threat, but the LTTE’s leadership appears intent on preventing future representation from emerging by cutting out anyone with even remote links to its critics. A large proportion of the rural folk, including nearly everyone in the rural East, where the LTTE was a latecomer, suffered a near relative killed by the LTTE. The poorer folk live in terror of their children being abducted. Muslims and Sinhalese have been killed, displaced and terrorised. What the LTTE has not understood is that its own repression is what is fuelling the growing opposition, opposition it is increasingly unable to contain. [Full Story]

Child conscription :
Canada frowns on LTTE
Sunday Observer: March 27, 2005
For the first time in its history, the Federal Parliament of Canada has taken up the child conscription issue in Sri Lanka for discussion.

The statement made at the Sub Committee meeting was significant because it was the first time that the issue of child soldiers in Sri Lanka was formally taken up at the Federal Parliament of Canada, a press release issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry stated.

The Canadian Parliamentary Sub Committee on Human Rights and International Development has stressed that the Canadian Government should address the issue of the LTTE's child recruitment and ensure that Canadian funds are utilised for child protection initiatives and prevention of LTTE child conscription. In a statement issued after a meeting on March 23, Committee Chairman and MP David Kilgour said that the international community has raised major concern over the violation of the human rights of Sri Lankan children by the LTTE and the UN Security Council has discussed it in this regard. [Full Story]

When fear stalks a community
Toronto Star: March 26, 2005
She is a polite, articulate university student who speaks quietly, but passionately. Her message is simple: she wants to stop the recruitment and use of child soldiers. "The level of fear and brutality used to force children, some as young as 12 or 13, to become soldiers is severe," she says.

But our conversation takes a sharp turn when I ask her if she would like to write an opinion article about child soldiers and the reaction in her community here in Toronto to people who speak out against groups who use them.

"I couldn't do that," she says, suddenly nervous, speaking haltingly. "There simply is too much intimidation in Toronto. It is too difficult. And please don't quote me saying that."

Welcome to the reality of trying to speak out, to start an honest dialogue in Toronto's thriving Tamil community about child soldiers, about the Tamil Tigers that recruit them, and about allegations that up to $2 million a month is donated by Tamils in Canada to front organizations for the Tamil Tigers.

Clearly the young woman, a Tamil, is worried about the safety of herself and family if she criticizes the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) and those in the Toronto area who financially support the Tigers' 30-year war for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

Sub- committee on Human Rights and International Development of Canadian Paliament takes up recruitment of Children by the LTTE
High Commission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka : March 26, 2005
The Canadian Parliamentary Sub-committee on Human Rights and International Development raised the issue of recruitment of children by the LTTE, at a meeting held this week. Making a statement at the commencement of the meeting, Chair, the Hon. David Kilgour, M.P., said that the forcible recruitment of children as child soldiers by the LTTE is a matter of major concern and that Canada must address this issue, ensuring that Canadian funds are utilized for strengthening recruitment prevention and child protection initiatives.

In a prepared statement Chairman Kilgour said:

(Quote) Violation of the human rights of children in Sri Lanka, through forcible recruitment as child soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a matter of major concern to members of the international community and was recently discussed by the UN Security Council.

UNICEF has documented 3516 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire period since February, 2002. According to UNICEF, "An enormous recruitment drive began with the cease-fire. The LTTE had access to government controlled areas like never before." The recruitment became so intense that less than 50% of students went to school as many parents kept their children at home out of fear that they would be taken away by the LTTE while walking to and from school.

According to UNICEF and Human Rights Watch, following the tsunami devastation in Sri Lanka, LTTE began recruiting orphaned children in a number of affected areas. Human Rights Watch states: "The Tamil Tigers are preying on the most vulnerable by taking advantage of children who have been orphaned or displaced by the tsunami. Every effort must be made to stop this unconscionable recruiting from families who have already suffered so much. As the LTTE seeks to rebuild its forces afterlosing soldiers in the tsunami, children are at enormous risk. Children have always been targeted, but children who have lost their homes or families from the tsunami now are even more susceptible to LTTE recruitment."

Canada must address the issue of child soldiers in Sri Lanka and ensure that Canadian funds provided to improve the situation of children in vulnerable circumstances meet our objective. Recruitment prevention and child protection initiatives should be strengthened in all areas, including tsunami-affected areas, relief camps and orphanages. (Unquote) [Full Story]

LTTE abduct 14-year-old boy
The Island: March 23, 2005
The mother of a 14-year-old boy has complained to the EPRLF (Padmanaba Faction) Batticaloa office that her son was abducted by the LTTE on March 18, from Navathkudah in Irakamam, EPRLF member Sritharan told ‘The Island’

Siritharan said the boy was cycling from Eichantivu past Palaikadu when the LTTE political wing member Kumar stopped the boy and took him under duress to the LTTE’s check point at Karaveddy.

The boy’s mother Mrs.Velumurugu Thangamalar has also made a compliant to the SLMM office in Batticaloa about the abduction on the following day, March 19 he said. [Full Story]

In The Throes Of Tiger Rivalry
Siber News - New York: March 21, 2005
Since his defection, Vinyagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna and cadres loyal to him have been carrying out sporadic targeted attacks against the LTTE. In return, Karuna associates and sympathisers have been murdered.

Child recruitment
Soon after the LTTE wrested control of the east, the SLMM and UNICEF records indicated a sharp rise in complaints of child recruitment in the east. That seems to have stopped, according to the SLMM. "We are still getting reports of forcible recruitment of adults," Joergensen added. Pro-Karuna sources last week said more than 40 LTTE Intelligence Wing cadres and pistol gang members had entered government-controlled areas at Omanthai in Vavuniya on March 17 and reached Batticaloa. They were believed to be working under senior Intelligence Wing cadre Newton, who had been sent from Kilinochchi to the east. There are already at least 25 cadres working under Newton according to pro-Karuna sources. [Full Story]

LTTE must halt recruitment of child soldiers
Relief Web: March 21, 2005
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, have long been known for recruiting children to take up arms in their 22-year independence struggle against the Government of Sri Lanka. With a truce in early 2002, many hoped the illegal conscription of minors as child combatants would cease. In the wake of the tsunami, which devastated Tamil majority areas in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, new reports of abductions and missing children have reaffirmed concerns of international human rights organizations of continued recruitment.

The LTTE has responded effectively to the emergency needs of the population in the aftermath of the tsunami. The group maintains administrative control of large portions of the northern and eastern districts of the country and in these areas LTTE administrators are coordinating an impressive relief and reconstruction effort. New buildings, businesses and government facilities are quickly rising amid the rubble of the war-torn region as the Tamil rebels oversee a flurry of infrastructure development. The LTTE saw the tsunami as a political opportunity and made a point of reaching out to international donors with promises of full access to monitor assistance. [Full Story]

Lanka showcased as case study on conflict prevention; baby brigades continue…
Lanka Acedemic: March 21, 2005
“Learn about conflict and terrorism from Sri Lanka’s armed confrontations’ cries out John Richardson, in a new book titled “Paradise Poisoned’’. Dr Richardson’s book to be launched at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies this Thursday, attempts to showcase Sri Lanka’s ‘’civil war’’ (his words) in order to study terrorism, particularly for an American audience to whom “deadly conflict and terrorism’’ were issues brought home via September 11th and the subsequent invasion of Iraq. Dr Richardson is Professor of International Development, American University.

‘Paradise Poisoned’ interestingly carries a cover photograph of LTTE child soldiers, an issue which the international community has unsuccessfully lobbied and failed so far to elicit a positive response from, on the part of the LTTE . Recently the UN Security Council announced that it will take measures to impose strictures on organisations such as the LTTE which continues to induct child soldiers -- but the LTTE has not shown that it is undergoing any change on this score. “Protracted deadly conflict and terrorism are preventable’’ says a blurb touting Richardson’s book, but there does not yet seem to be any antidote found towards alleviating -- leave alone preventing -- such things as induction of child soldiers by the LTTE. [Full Story]

Canada raises voice against child soldiers
Daily Mirror: March 21, 2005
A Canadian Parliamentary Delegation led by Ms. Maria Minna, Minister of International Cooperation of the Canadian Government met Prof. W.A. Wiswa Warnapala, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Foreign Ministry office recently.

The Canadian Parliamentary Delegation, which comprised several eminent parliamentarians, had a fruitful discussion with the Deputy Minister on several international and national issues. The Canadian Delegation informed the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs that they had raised objections on several forums against the recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE. Further they had raised their voice against political killings too. [Full Story]

Mr. Kofi Annan, why are you silent?
The Island: March 21, 2005
When Kausalyan was killed by Karuna’s faction you rushed to the wrong conclusion and issued a statement which smacked of a warning to the Government against the danger of violating the ceasefire agreement. Since then several civilians and Karuna’s supporters have been killed by the LTTE. A soldier was killed by the LTTE and another seriously injured in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Killing by the LTTE in the Eastern Province is almost a daily occurrence now. Are they not a threat to peace? Why are you shy of condemning the LTTE for those atrocious acts? Why are you mum now? Do you know that LTTE perfectly fits into your description of terrorism? It’s high time you gave effect to your own proposal and condemn the LTTE:

1. as a Terrorist organisation, specially when countries like US, UK and India have proscribed it;
2. for its killings of innocent civilians and opponents;
3. for recruitment of thousands of child soldiers;
4. for procuring arms during the so-called ceasefire agreement;
5. for violating the ceasefire agreement nearly 3,000 times.

Canada raised objections against LTTE child recruitment at several forums
Colombo Page: March 21, 2005
A visiting Canadian parliamentary delegation led by Maria Minna, Minister of International Cooperation, has raised objections at several forums against the recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE.

This was revealed at a meeting between the Canadian delegation and Prof. W.A. Wiswa Warnapala, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently. The delegation also raised its voice against political killings.

They discussed with the Deputy Minister several issues relating to the current situation in Sri Lanka and to tsunami rehabilitation work as well. [Full Story]

LTTE has abducted Children on their way to School- Kadirgamar
Lanka Academic: March 16, 2005
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar says that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of children. Addressing the High Level Segment of the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, yesterday Kadirgamar said despite the solemn undertakings given by the LTTE to the UNICEF, the group has continued the practice of recruiting thousands of children, in most cases by force-some of them as young as 11 years old. The minister said “Moreover the LTTE has engaged in re-recruiting those who had been released and even those who had escaped from training camps, thorough threats, and intimidation and physical attacks on the children as well as their family members. During 2004, more than 1000 cases of new recruitment and re-recruitment were reported to UNICEF, a high percentage of them bring girls”

Kadirgamar said Sri Lanka remains in the forefront of the campaign to have the use of child soldiers condemned and banned, worldwide and in 1997 he brought the question of child soldiers to the attention of the UN General Assembly by endorsing the findings of the Graca Machel report of 1996. [Full Story]

Swedes ask Tigers to seek peace,help child soldiers
Reuters: March 15, 2005
STOCKHOLM, March 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan rebels who are in Europe seeking a bigger share of tsunami aid were asked by donor nation Sweden on Tuesday to get back to the negotiating table and take action to avoid recruiting child soldiers.

Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tigers, fighting for a separate state in the north and east, are tussling over foreign aid after the Dec. 26 tsunami which killed over 40,000 islanders. [Full Story]

CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT
PBS: March 10, 2005
A new United Nations report on children and armed conflict says children in areas ravaged by war are at great risk for abuse and exploitation. The U.N. special representative for Children and Armed Conflict discusses the report's findings.

...
There are a few other parties added, especially from Darfur in Sudan. But since this latest report came out, for example, we've had several parties make contact, including the LTTE of Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers, who contacted us to say, "We've noticed that our name has been listed. We want to discuss and we want to see how best we can address the violations for which we have been cited."

We welcome this message by the LTTE, but we insist that immediate steps should be taken to bring an end once and for all for the violations for which they have been cited. [Full Story]

UNICEF has erred - Thamilchelvan
Tamil Net: March 05, 2005
The question of child soldiers continues to vex strained relations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers. That the matter has been raised against the Tigers by the UN and other rights organizations is considered by Colombo as a feather in its foreign policy cap. "The Government of Sri Lanka is more interested in cynically exploiting the child soldiers issue for its black propaganda war against us than in finding a political solution to the conflict", said Mr. S. P . Thamilchelvan in an interview with the TamilNet this week. He said there were serious errors in the UNICEF report on child recruitment by the LTTE. [Full Story]

In Sri Lanka, no war, no peace
Asia times: March 03, 2005
Sri Lanka has been fortunate enough to survive without war for the past three years, and a sigh of relief passed over the country as it marked the third anniversary of the cease fire agreement signed between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on February 22, 2002.

...
The government fears that the LTTE has grown from strength to strength during the cease fire. According to defense officials, it has not only accrued air power, but also swelled its ranks with child soldiers. As of February 2004, there were more than 1,250 child soldiers in LTTE camps, but the real figure could be much higher, according to UNICEF. If a resolution currently being discussed by the United Nations Security Council is adopted next month, there would be targeted sanctions against governments and rebel leaders who continue to recruit child soldiers. The LTTE is likely to play the peace card to circumvent international sanctions. [Full Story]

LTTE demands expulsion of UNICEF from Sri Lanka
Lanka Academic: March 03, 2005
The LTTE has launched an offensive to get the UNICEF expelled from Sri Lanka, following strong criticism and condemnation from the United Nations Security Council for continued recruitment and use of child soldiers. United Nations sources reveal that the LTTE has written to the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict Olara Otunnu requesting for time to respond to allegations made against it by the UN. The LTTE, it is learnt is furious with the UNICEF for its extensive reporting on the continued recruitment of children to the LTTE’s ranks and is demanding that UNICEF be replaced by another agency. The LTTE has even asked to have a dialogue with the UN in this regard.

UNICEF has reported more than 4700 cases of recruitment and re-recruitment of children by the LTTE: by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivals. UNICEF is also on record as having stated that the LTTE recruited 40 children from camps set up for people affected by the December 26 tsunami. The UN Secretary General’s report to the Security Council, highlights the cases reported by UNICEF. The report recommends “targeted and concrete measures” against the armed groups - including the LTTE – which is systematically using child soldiers. Among the proposed sanctions in the SG’s report are: “imposition of travel restrictions on leaders and their exclusion from any governance structures and amnesty provisions, the imposition of arms embargoes, a ban on military assistance and restrictions on the flow of resources to the parties concerned.”

Observers say that it is ironical that an armed group, against which the Security Council is considering punitive action, is virtually making demands from the United Nations and laying down conditions if it is to stop child recruitment. All this, despite pledges made to Olara Otunnu during his Sri Lanka visit in 1998, and an Action Plan agreed to with UNICEF in 2003 covering under-age recruitment. However, Diplomatic sources say that the UN should not even consider a demand to engage in discussions with an armed group facing sanctions, thus undermining action by the Security Council to punish them, is unprecedented and sinister. The question also arises as to whether the UN has a mandate to engage in a dialogue with an armed group which is yet to renounce violence and which is listed or banned as a terrorist group in several of its members states. [Full Story]

LTTE has abducted over 20 children in February
Lanka Academic: March 03, 2005
The LTTE has abducted over 20 under aged children for the month of February alone, this was revealed to the Sri Lankan Military, when they arrested a Tiger Cadre named Mahalingam Manivannan at the Muhamalai entry/exit point, when he was attempting to abduct a teenage girl. The LTTE cadre had also claimed that these 20 under aged children, comprising both girls and boys are currently detained and are under the custody of a LTTE woman cadre 'Madhavee' at a transit camp in Pallai. According to Manivannan, these children will be sent to Kilinochchi for weapons training shortly. [Full Story]

Tamil Rebels Say Attacks Cast `Dark Shadow' on Sri Lankan Peace
Bloomberg: March 02, 2005
Sri Lanka's rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said attacks on its political leaders since the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster cast a ``dark shadow'' on the peace process with the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

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The United Nations said last month the Liberation Tigers are still recruiting child soldiers, a charge denied by the rebels. [Full Story]

Rights record of most South Asian nations poor: US
Indo-Asia News Service: March 01, 2005
The human rights record of South Asian governments remained poor in 2004 as the countries continued to experience numerous serious abuses, according to a US State Department report.

...
It said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas continued to commit serious human rights abuses. "The LTTE was responsible for politically motivated killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, harassment, abduction, disappearances, extortion, and detention.

"The LTTE continued to use and recruit child soldiers. Through a campaign of intimidation, the LTTE continued to undermine the work of elected local government bodies in Jaffna and the east," it said. [Full Story]

UN resolutions ignored and LTTE child conscription continues
The ISland: March 01, 2005
Barely a couple of hours after the UN Security Council called on the LTTE to renounce its continued conscription of children as LTTE soldiers, an irate mother of a seventeen-year old Tamil girl has assisted troops at the MUHAMALAI Entry/Exit point in order to rescue her child from LTTE grips while her daughter was being abducted on 25 February 2005 around 1.15 p.m. [Full Story]

UN resolutions ignored and LTTE child conscription continues
Daily News: March 01, 2005
Barley a couple of hours after the UN Security Council called on the LTTE to renounce its continued conscription of children as LTTE soldiers, an irate mother of a seventeen-year-old Tamil girl has assisted troops at the Muhamalai Entry/Exit point in order to rescue her child from LTTE grips while her daughter was abducted on February 25 around 1.15 p.m.

The victim's mother, Mahendran Wasanthi (42), alter learning that LTTE men were preparing a forged identity card to after her daughter's real age after she was abducted by LTTE, has provided a photo of her teenage daughter` to the Muhamalai Entry/Exit point, Manipay Police station, Human Rights Office and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jaffna, pleading them to help rescue her loved one. [Full Story]

Recruitment of Child Soldiers- Human Rights Watch Slams LTTE Again
Lanka Academic: March 01, 2005
World Report of the Human Rights Watch has slammed the LTTE again for the recruitment of Child Soldiers and for re-recruiting some two thousand children from the East after the Wanni faction defeated the breakaway group led by Karuna. The report also says that the LTTE has recruited thousands of children since the 2002 ceasefire. A Human Rights Watch investigation has shown while the LTTE has released over one thousand children since agreeing to the action plan between the LTTE front TRO and the UNICEF, forcible recruitment of children has intensified and new recruits outnumber those released. According to the investigation The LTTE had specifically targeted for re-recruitment the 1,800 or more child soldiers released by the Karuna faction after its April defeat. The report points out that on October 1, 2004 the US specifically called on the LTTE to stop its recruitment of child soldiers.

On the issue of Political killings the Human Rights Watchdog say the Political killings by the LTTE targeting rival Tamil party members, suspected Karuna sympathizers, and journalists intensified in 2004. Human rights workers who criticize the LTTE have also been threatened. Members of the rival Tamil parties, particularly the ex-militant groups who refuse to accept the LTTE as the “sole representative” of the Tamil people, has been targeted. The report also say that the The Karuna faction is also suspected in a number of political killings, including that of journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan on May 31, 2004, and Eastern University lecturer Kumaravel Thambaiah on May 24, 2004. [Full Story]

US State Dept blasts LTTE over human rights violations
Colombo Page: March 01, 2005
The LTTE continues to commit serious human rights abuses, such as politically motivated killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, harassment, abduction, disappearances, extortion and detention, the latest human rights report said. In its report on Human Rights in Sri Lanka during the year 2004, the United States’ State Department said yesterday, “The LTTE continued to use and recruit child soldiers. Through a campaign of intimidation, the LTTE continued to undermine the work of elected local government bodies in Jaffna and the east. On occasion, the LTTE prevented political and governmental activities from occurring in the north and east. [Full Story]

UN resolutions ignored and LTTE child conscription continues
Sri Lanka Army: February 28, 2005
Barely a couple of hours after the UN Security Council called on the LTTE to renounce its continued conscription of children as LTTE soldiers, an irate mother of a seventeen-year old Tamil girl has assisted troops at the MUHAMALAI Entry/Exit point in order to rescue her child from LTTE grips while her daughter was being abducted on 25 February 2005 around 1.15 p.m.

The victim’s mother, MAHENDRAN WASANTHI (42), after learning that LTTE men were preparing a forged identity card to alter her daughter’s real age after she was abducted by LTTE, has provided copies of photo of her teenage daughter to the MUHAMALAI Entry/Exit point, MANIPAY Police station, Human Rights Office and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in JAFFNA, pleading them to help rescue her loved one.

Teenage girl’s LTTE abductor, MAHALINGAM MANIVANNAN who was also arrested at the Entry/Exit point along with the girl, has gone on record saying to the Police that LTTE, within February (2005) month alone, has managed to abduct over 20 such minors and subsequently detained them under an LTTE woman cadre, named MADHAVEE at a transit in PALLAI before those minors were handed over to LTTE women’s ‘corps’ at KILINOCHCHI or elsewhere for LTTE weapon training.

The victimized girl has allegedly fallen victim to LTTE when she approached KOKKUVIL, POTHPATHY LTTE office after she reportedly developed a personal dispute with an unknown party.

During her stay at the LTTE office on 23 February 2005, those LTTE men had duped the girl in question into believing that they (LTTE) were in the process of issuing a new Identity Card to her, similar to those being issued to JAFFNA residents.

Both teenage girl and the LTTE abductor were arrested by the Police at MUHAMALAI Entry/Exit point while she was being abducted and handed over subsequently to the KODIKAMAM Police for further investigations. [Full Story]

Erik Solheim pays courtesy call on prelates of Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters
Colombo Page: February 27, 2005
Norwegian special peace envoy Erik Solheim, who is now in Sri Lanka with his son, this morning paid a courtesy call on the prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters of the Siyam Nikaya.

...
The prelates recalled the shooting of two soldiers on the third anniversary of the CFA. The LTTE disregard the warnings on child conscription and continue to torture innocent civilians, they added. The SLMM and the peace envoys do nothing, and there must be a mechanism to deal with the situation, the prelates said. [Full Story]

Using children as soldiers in conflict
Lanka Newspapers: February 25, 2005
The LTTE will come under further pressure to cease their child recruiting antics as the UN Security Council plans to set up a mechanism to bring an end to the use of children as soldiers and severely punish offenders.
An AFP report filed from the United Nations said: The Security Council on Wednesday said it had begun looking at UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal to monitor the use of child soldiers and other violations of children's rights in conflict.
A draft resolution by current council president Benin would try to set up a mechanism by September in a bid to ending the recruitment or use of child soldiers, of whom there are currently an estimated 300,000 worldwide. [Full Story]

UN Security Council tells LTTE to end child conscription
Daily News: February 25, 2005
The United Nations yesterday condemned the use of child soldiers in conflicts around the world, calling on the LTTE to end once and for all its practice of conscripting children as fighters.

The UN Security Council also called for a monitoring and reporting mechanism to track child recruitment and other children's rights violations.

The United Nations Security Council said it has started considering the proposal for such an instrument from Secretary-General Kofi Annan. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka lauds U.N. move on child soldiers
The Hindu: February 25, 2005
Sri Lanka yesterday endorsed the recommendations of the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for targeted measures including sanctions by the Security Council against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other groups for continued child recruitment.

Pointing out that that the LTTE had "for many years been engaged in recruiting children for armed conflict," Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the U.N., Bernard Goonatilleke, told the Security Council at an open debate that "despite solemn undertakings" the LTTE had "continued the practice of recruiting thousands of children, in most cases by force."

In addition, it had also engaged in "re-recruiting those who had been released and even those who had escaped from training camps, through threats, intimidation and physical attacks on the children as well as their family members."

The number of under-aged recruitment by the LTTE, he said, stood at 4,811, with 1,402 outstanding cases as of January 31, this year. [Full Story]

Parties react to Sri Lankan govt's willingness to talk to LTTE
Colombo Page: February 24, 2005
While the media went to town with a statement from the Director of Information that the Sri Lankan government is ready for talks with the LTTE based on the proposed interim authority, the country's political parties have come out with mixed reactions.

...
However, the Thera said that in the event the government still wants to go for talks with the LTTE, three conditions should be fulfilled: the LTTE should drop the demand for a separate state, hand over all arms and weapons to the government, and stop recruiting child soldiers. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Rebels Kill Soldier in Shooting Incident Near Jaffna
Bloomberg: February 24, 2005
Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels killed an army soldier and wounded another in a shooting incident in the Jaffna Peninsula, a day after a cease-fire accord with the government entered its fourth year.

...
The cease-fire has been violated by Tamil Tiger rebels at least 2,600 times, according to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission Web site, which said most breaches involved the recruitment of child soldiers and abductions. [Full Story]

UN Press Release
SECURITY COUNCIL REITERATES STRONG CONDEMNATION OF USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS, BEGINS CONSIDERATION OF SECRETARY-GENERAL’S PLAN OF ACTION
United Nations: February 23, 2005
Reaffirming its strong condemnation of the continued recruitment and use of child soldiers by parties to armed conflicts, the Security Council today indicated it had begun consideration of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s proposal for an action plan for a monitoring, reporting and compliance mechanism.

BERNARD GOONETILLEKE (Sri Lanka) said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been listed in Annex II of the report as having been engaged for many years in recruiting children for armed combat. The report notes that the LTTE had also been responsible for the abduction of children during the reporting period, a fact that had been corroborated by other organizations. That was being denied by the LTTE. Following the signing of an action plan for children affected by war, the LTTE had agreed to halt recruitment of children and release all children within its ranks. However, the LTTE had engaged in re-recruiting those who had been released and in recruiting thousands of other children, some of them as young as 11 years. Sixty children orphaned or affected by the tsunami had been recruited from transit camps to be used as combatants. As of 31 January, the total number of cases of under-age recruitment by the LTTE stood at 4,811, with 1,425 outstanding cases.

He said, despite increased global awareness of the phenomenon of child soldiers, there had been no commensurate improvement in the ground situation. The practice of naming and shaming offenders did not seem to have yielded the desired results. That situation could not be allowed to continue. His country, therefore, supported the recommendations of the Secretary-General that the Council should take measures against those who failed to halt the practice of recruiting child combatants. In that regard, the International Criminal Court and ad hoc tribunals had been mentioned to bring the perpetrators of crimes against vulnerable children to justice. Enforcement of those measures on a gradual scale would have a persuasive impact on all those who were willingly and deliberately violating the rights of children affected by armed conflict.

His country also supported the establishment of a monitoring, reporting and compliance mechanism to support the “era of application”, focusing on six broad areas of grave violations, he said. Whenever possible, the Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting should draw from the child protective networks on the ground and, where possible, cooperate with the relevant government institutions. He welcomed the fact that the report had recognized the central role of national governments, and that the United Nations entities and international non-governmental organizations at the country level should always support and complement the protection and rehabilitation roles of national authorities. [Full Story]

Security Council reiterates strong condemnation of use of child soldiers, begins consideration of Secretary-General's plan of action
Relief Web: February 23, 2005
Reaffirming its strong condemnation of the continued recruitment and use of child soldiers by parties to armed conflicts, the Security Council today indicated it had begun consideration of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s proposal for an action plan for a monitoring, reporting and compliance mechanism.

...
BERNARD GOONETILLEKE (Sri Lanka) said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had been listed in Annex II of the report as having been engaged for many years in recruiting children for armed combat. The report notes that the LTTE had also been responsible for the abduction of children during the reporting period, a fact that had been corroborated by other organizations. That was being denied by the LTTE. Following the signing of an action plan for children affected by war, the LTTE had agreed to halt recruitment of children and release all children within its ranks. However, the LTTE had engaged in re-recruiting those who had been released and in recruiting thousands of other children, some of them as young as 11 years. Sixty children orphaned or affected by the tsunami had been recruited from transit camps to be used as combatants. As of 31 January, the total number of cases of under-age recruitment by the LTTE stood at 4,811, with 1,425 outstanding cases. [Full Story]

Security Council to consider Annan's action plan on ending child soldier recruitment
UN News Centre: February 23, 2005
Acknowledging the need for a monitoring and reporting mechanism to track the recruitment of child soldiers and other children's rights violations, the United Nations Security Council today said it has started considering the proposal for such an instrument from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

...
The LTTE of Sri Lanka, named in this year's report, notified him in a letter he received just yesterday of "their readiness to enter into dialogue, using the framework of the monitoring and reporting mechanism," he said.

He called on the LTTE leadership to embark immediately on tangible actions, leading to a time-bound action plan to end, once and for all, the practices of recruitment, abductions and use of children as soldiers. [Full Story]

Lack of Birth Records Leaves Children Open to Predators
All Africa: February 22, 2005
When rebel leaders who recruit child soldiers are confronted by U.N. officials or human rights activists, they try to evade responsibility mostly by overstating the ages of rifle-toting children pressed into battle.

Every time you talk to a child soldier, he is invariably coached to say he is over 18 years old, Olara Otunnu, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, once told IPS.

Otunnu had just returned from northern Sri Lanka where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have gained worldwide notoriety for deploying thousands of underage child soldiers in its 20-year-old separatist war. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Govt, Rebels Argue as Cease-Fire Enters Fourth Year
Bloomburg: February 23, 2005
Sri Lanka's government and Tamil rebels, observing the third anniversary of a cease-fire in their two-decade civil war today, said the peace process is being threatened by wrangling over post-tsunami reconstruction efforts.

....
The cease-fire has been violated by Tamil Tiger rebels at least 2,600 times, according to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission Web site, which said most breaches involved the recruitment of child soldiers and abductions. [Full Story]

Canada not ready to outlaw Tigers
Daily Mirror: February 17, 2005
OTTAWA (CP) - Canada condemns terrorist activities by the LTTE, including suspected recruitment of child soldiers, but the Liberal government still isn't ready to outlaw the organization, says Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

Moving now to put the Tigers on Ottawa's proscribed list of terrorist organizations could disrupt delicate efforts to negotiate peace in Sri Lanka, Mr. Pettigrew said.

He was queried at a Commons committee, in light of reports by New York-based Human Rights Watch and by UNICEF that the Tigers have been recruiting children orphaned by the Asian tsunami. [Full Story]

Canadian Press
Canada condemns Tamil Tiger actions: Pettigrew
CTV - Canada: February 15, 2005
OTTAWA — Canada condemns terrorist activity by the Tamil Tigers, including suspected recruitment of child soldiers, but the Liberal government still isn't ready to outlaw the organization, says Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

Moving now to put the Tigers on Ottawa's proscribed list of terrorist organizations could disrupt delicate efforts to negotiate peace in Sri Lanka, Pettigrew said Tuesday.

He was queried at a Commons committee, in light of reports by New York-based Human Rights Watch and by UNICEF that the Tigers have been recruiting children orphaned by the Asian tsunami. [Full Story]

UN Chief Gets Tough On Recruiters of Child Soldiers
All Africa: February 14, 2005
Alarmed at the continued widespread abuse of children in war zones, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is calling for tough new measures to penalise those guilty of atrocities.

....
In Sri Lanka, where there was currently no fighting but also no peace, the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue to recruit children.

The report says the LTTE "has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children." [Full Story]

Canadian MP Asks PM Martin to Ban LTTE in Canada
Lanka Academic: February 11, 2005
Canadian Member of Parliament Stockwell Day has questioned the Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, why he is not banning the LTTE and its support groups within its borders. During the question time at the Canadian House of Commons early this week, Stockwell said “Mr Speaker, the Tamil Tigers are world leaders in terrorism. They perfected the art of suicide bombing, they have done more suicide attacks than al-Qaeda, they have assassinated world leaders including former Indian Prime Minister Gandhi, and they recruit children into death squads. Other countries have banned this organisation and all its support groups within their borders.”

Stockwell also said “Mr. Speaker, the leader of the political arm of the Tamil Tigers worldwide has looked at the Canadian process and when the Prime Minister was overseas, he said Canada was the Tamil Tigers great ally. This is unacceptable. Other allies, true allies, the United States, Britain, have shut down this organisation and its support groups. A previous High Commissioner to Sri Lanka has denounced the Prime Minister for not shutting them down. The good people of the Tamil community in Canada want this terrorist organisation and all its support groups shut down. Why will the Prime Minister not shut down this international gang of murderers?” [Full Story]

United Press International
U.N. child soldier report lists violators
The Washington times: February 11, 2005
United Nations, United States, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The U.N. advocate for children caught in conflict Wednesday, blaming both government armies and rebel groups in the abuse of children's rights, proposed stiff penalties.

The Special Representative of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for Children and Armed Conflict -- Olara Otunnu, who authored the report on behalf of Annan -- for the first time put forward a menu of penalties for nations or groups violating the human rights of minors.

The penalties suggested included the imposition of travel restrictions for leaders, the revocation of traditional amnesty for leaders and "a ban on the export or supply of small arms, a ban on military assistance, (and) restrictions on the flow of financial resources to offending parties." [Full Story]

UN puts Tigers on notice over child soldiers
The Island / AFP: February 11, 2005
- Face an international travel ban

- Exclusion from any governance structures

- Ban on military assistance

COLOMBO, Feb 10 (AFP) - Sri Lanka’s Tiger rebels have been reported to the UN Security Council for recruiting thousands of child soldiers and could face an international travel ban, a report received here showed Thursday.

Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on "Children and Armed Conflict," a copy of which was seen by AFP here, said Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers had recruited more than 4,700 children, some as young as 11, since 2001.

"The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children," Annan said.

He said he was recommending to UN Security Council take "targeted and concrete measures where insufficient or no progress has been made" by parties named in his report, including the Tigers. [Full Story]

Child soldiers: UN puts LTTE on notice
Daily mirror: February 11, 2005
The LTTE has been reported to the UN Security Council for recruiting thousands of child soldiers and could face an international travel ban, a report said yesterday.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on "Children and Armed Conflict," said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers had recruited more than 4,700 children, some as young as 11, since 2001.

"The LTTE has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children," Mr. Annan said. [Full Story]

UN must punish groups using child soldiers - Annan
Daily News: February 11, 2005
Governments and rebel groups found to be forcing children into combat or sexual slavery should be punished if they fail to stem the abuses, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

The UN Security Council should hit the responsible individuals with targeted measures such as travel limits, arms embargoes, a cutoff of military aid or restrictions on their finances, Annan said in a new report on child soldiers.

Certain abuses should be given priority attention, including killing or maiming children, recruiting or using them as soldiers, attacking schools or hospitals, rape and other sexual violence, abduction of children and cutting them off from humanitarian assistance, he recommended. The 15-nation Security Council has scheduled a Feb. 23 debate on the report.

Olara Otunnu, Annan's special envoy for children in armed conflict, said the report marked a milestone for children in combat zones as it signaled the United Nations was finally getting serious about ensuring their protection. [Full Story]

UN puts Sri Lanka Tigers on notice over child soldiers
Channel news asia: February 10, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels have been reported to the UN Security Council for recruiting thousands of child soldiers and could face an international travel ban, a report received in Colombo showed.

Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on "Children and Armed Conflict," a copy of which was seen by AFP here, said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers had recruited more than 4,700 children, some as young as 11, since 2001. [Full Story]

UN seeks Tamil Tiger travel ban
BBC: February 10, 2005
Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka should face travel curbs and other penalties if they keep using children as soldiers, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says. Mr Annan is urging sanctions against the Tamil Tigers and 40 other groups accused of using children in war.

As well as travel bans, his report to the Security Council recommends arms embargoes and financial restrictions.

The child soldiers row has long split the UN and the Tigers. The rebels deny forcibly recruiting children.

They claim underage fighters in their ranks join voluntarily.

Mr Annan disagreed: "The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children." [Full Story]

LTTE faces international travel ban from United Nations as child recruitment continues
Colombo Page: February 10, 2005
Following reports to the United Nations Security Council that it continues to recruit child soldiers, the LTTE could face an international travel ban.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on “Children and Armed Conflict” said that since 2001, Sri Lanka’s LTTE has recruited more than 4700 children, some as young as 11.

“The LTTE has often carried out recruitment by force, abducting children while on their way to school or during religious festivities, and beating families and teachers who resisted the seizure of the children,” Mr. Annan said. [Full Story]

UN puts Sri Lankan Tigers on notice over child soldiers
Tribune De Geneva: February 10, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels have been reported to the UN Security Council for recruiting thousands of child soldiers and could face sanctions including a travel ban, a report said Thursday.

UB Secretary General Kofi Annan in his latest report on "Children and Armed Conflict," a copy of which was seen by AFP here, said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers had recruited more than 4,700 children, some as young as 11, since 2001. [Full Story]

Canadian PM urged to get Tigers end recruitment of children
The Island: February 10, 2005
The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch and former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy have urged Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin "to publicly call on the LTTE to end all recruitment of children in Sri Lanka and to release the children currently in their ranks."

The Human Rights Watch also urged the Canadian premier to call on the Tigers and their rehabilitation front body, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, to end attempts to control relief efforts in Tamil speaking areas and to allow unhindered operation and access by impartial local and international operations.

Children’s Rights Advocacy Director of the HRW, Jo Becker in a letter addressed to the Canadian premier Paul Martin said that Canada had provided refuge to thousands of Tamils fleeing alleged human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government during the war. "It should also address the Tigers’ on-going recruitment and use of Tamil children as soldiers," Becker said. [Full Story]

Call on Tamil Tigers to End Child Soldier Use
Scoop - New Zealand: February 10, 2005
Prime Minister Paul Martin should publicly call on the Tamil Tigers to end all recruitment of children in Sri Lanka and to release the children currently in their ranks, former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy and Human Rights Watch urged in a letter made public today.

[Full Story]

The Demonizing of Human Rights Watch: Child Soldiers and the Suppression of Dissent
Sri Lanka Media Watch: Februay 09, 2005
In November 2004, Human Rights Watch released a report that is extremely critical of the LTTE. The report, which focuses on the LTTE’s forced conscription of under-age children, paints a disturbing picture of the LTTE as taking advantage of the ceasefire situation in Sri Lanka to increase its recruiting of children and flaunt the promises and pledges it has repeatedly made to the international community.

Following the tsunami that struck Sri Lanka, the child soldiers issue has again attracted international attention following reports that the LTTE has started another recruitment spree – this time, targeting the vulnerable children left orphaned or homeless from the tsunami.

LTTE Reaction

Just as alarming as the report itself, and receiving far less media attention, has been the reaction of LTTE to this report. In a follow-up meeting hosted by Human Rights Watch in Canada, the LTTE intimidated the Tamil community in Toronto to such an extent that not a single Tamil agreed to appear as a panelist in the meeting. The meeting itself was interrupted by LTTE members that heckled the speakers and refused to allow the meeting to proceeded. [Full Story]

Canadian Premier should call on LTTE to end all child recruitment
Colombo Page: Februay 09, 2005
Former Canadian foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy and New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch have urged Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to publicly call on the LTTE to end all recruitment of children in Sri Lanka and to release the children currently in their ranks.

In a letter to the Premier, they also mentioned an extensive report published by Human Rights Watch in November 2004, documenting the widespread recruitment and use of child soldiers by the Tigers.

Media reports quoting Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said, “Canada provided refuge to thousands of Tamils fleeing human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government during the war. It should also address the Tigers’ ongoing recruitment and use of Tamil children as soldiers.”

Human Rights Watch also urged the Canadian Prime Minister to call on the Tigers and their humanitarian arm, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, to end attempts to control relief efforts in Tamil areas and to allow unhindered operation and access by impartial local and international organizations.

It also urged Canada to support basic human rights protections by both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE as a core component of any future peace process. [Full Story]

Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka: Earthquake and Tsunami OCHA Situation Report No. 25
Relief Web: February 8, 2005
The Tamil Tigers freed 23 child soldiers after allegations that the LTTE recruited at least 40 underage combatants. The 23 children were handed over to the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) to be reunited with their parents. [Full Story]

Step up campaign to liberate robbed children
The Island - Editorial: Feruary 7, 2005
The release by the LTTE of 23 child combatants is a matter for happiness. But for the efforts of some human rights activists and a section of the media – only a section as others have chosen to turn a blind eye to the issue so as not be ‘branded as being anti-LTTE’ in the eyes of the NGO circuit – the LTTE would not have let go of them.

Those who are wary of taking on the LTTE over child soldiers however are at the forefront of campaigns to protect children’s rights in the south. An oft heard argument from these quarters is that the issue of child soldiers is being used as a bludgeon with which to beat the LTTE. Inevitably, such a crime against children, which causes immense worry to the civilised world, becomes ammunition in the hands of anti-LTTE activists. However, that it is the rivals and enemies of the outfit who have become more vocal on this issue should in no way be claimed in extenuation of this crime.

An occasional release of some children in captivity has been part of the LTTE strategy to tide over the international pressure at times when the issue of child abductions becomes too embarrassing for it and the countries supportive of it such as Norway. This, we have seen many times in the past, but thousands of children continue to languish as combatants.

In some areas in the East, as the CNN reported in 2003, parents had stopped sending their children to school fearing that the LTTE would abduct them. [Full Story]

Tigers free 23 child soldiers
Daily News: February 5, 2005
The LTTE said yesterday they were freeing 23 child soldiers after allegations they recruited at least 40 underage combatants since the island was battered by tsunamis.

The LTTE said the 23 children were handed over to the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) on Thursday to be reunited with their parents.

"In a process of identifying underage kids among those volunteered for enlistment with the LTTE... 23 such children were handed over to the NESOHR chairperson Rev. Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam," the Tigers said in a statement.

The release came a week after the United Nations children's fund accused Tigers of recruiting at least 40 child soldiers since tsunamis devastated Sri Lanka's coastlines and killed nearly 31,000 people on December 26. [Full Story]

LTTE releases 23 children, Army rescues a teenager while being abducted by two cadres
Lanka Academic: February 3, 2005
With the LTTE today announcing that its Organisation had released 23 under aged children, the Sri Lanka Army alleged that a 14-year-old student while being abducted by two Wanni LTTE cadres in Batticaloa’s Kumburumullai was rescued by troops and Policemen on Tuesday night.

The LTTE Peace Secretariat claimed today that 23 children were handed over to the Chairperson of the North East Secretariat for Human Rights (NESOHR) in Kilinochchi.

The LTTE office noted that out of the 23, four children were handed over to their parents today, while the NESOHR is trying to trace the parents of the other 19 children.

Meanwhile the Army which claimed to have saved a teenager from the clutches of the LTTE noted that preliminary investigations have revealed that the two LTTE cadres namely K. Sinnathurai from kalkudah and S.R. Kumar from Valachchenai had abducted the boy when he was riding his father’s motorcycle. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has been informed of this latest incident. [Full Story]

BATTICALOA
One more teenager escaped from LTTE abduction attempt
Sri Lanka Army: February 3, 2005
A fourteen -year old school boy while being abducted by two WANNI LTTE cadres from the general area of KUMBURUMULLAI has been rescued by troops and Policemen on 01 February 2005 around 7.50 p.m.

Preliminary inquiries confirmed that two LTTE cadres, named K. SINNATHURAI (20) of No. 359, MURUGAN KOVIL, PETHALAI, KALKUDAH and S.R. KUMAR (20) of KORAVALI Road, PETHALAI, VALAICHCHENAI had abducted the teenaged school boy when he was riding his father’s motorcycle (149-3713).

It was further disclosed that those two LTTE cadres had reportedly snatched the motorcycle worth Rs. 80,000/= (US$ 816) into their possession to be taken to an undisclosed destination after kidnapping the minor, K.A. PRASAD (14) of WARD No. 05, VINAYAGAPURAM, VALAICHCHENAI.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has been informed. The KALKUDAH Police investigations are on. [Full Story]

Archbishop Urges Action on Child Soldiers
News Scotsman - UK: February 2, 2005
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, tonight demanded international action to stop the use of child soldiers in conflicts.

...
“These are children who were frequently abducted and are then invariably brutalised and abused. The problem is not primarily caused by governments but by the uncontrolled activity of rebel forces. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka - Rebels' ties to charities cause concerns
Melbourne Indymedia: January 31, 2005
Links between charities and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department, have raised concerns in Western governments that the Sri Lankan rebel group is using aid meant for victims of the tsunami to buy weapons and replenish its depleted ranks with child soldiers.

One of the prominent groups disbursing humanitarian aid in Sri Lanka, the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), has become the subject of scrutiny by politicians in Canada and Australia, and State Department officials in Washington say the charity's ties to the Tamil Tigers are "problematic."

...
The State Department report notes that the LTTE's front organizations support Tamil separatism by lobbying foreign governments and the United Nations. The LTTE also uses its international contacts to "procure weapons, communications, and any other equipment and supplies it needs. The LTTE exploits large Tamil communities in North America, Europe, and Asia to obtain funds and supplies for its fighters in Sri Lanka."

...
Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said the Tamil Tigers are "preying on the most vulnerable by taking advantage of children who have been orphaned or displaced by the tsunami." [Full Story]

LTTE mum on UNICEF child recruitment claims
The Island: January 30, 2005
The LTTE has failed to respond to UNICEF’s latest claims that the group had recruited at least 40 child soldiers – four of them from three relief camps — since the tsunami disaster of December 26. UNICEF spokesman Geoff Keele confirmed last week that they had raised the issue with the LTTE. Asked whether the Tigers had responded, Keele told the Sunday Island: "Not yet".

Neither TamilNet nor the website of the LTTE Peace Secretariat issued a denial, although UNICEF did specify that their reports (of recruitment) had been verified. All complaints were lodged with UNICEF by families or extended families of the children.

Keele also rebuffed past LTTE claims that UNICEF opted to speak to the media about child recruitment without first referring to them. "We bring up issues of child recruitment with them on a regular basis," he said. "We had already referred 29 cases to them and the number has now risen to 40. When we are asked for information, we like to provide it in a clear and open manner. We are not hiding things from anybody and we raise issues of child recruitment with the LTTE regularly." [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers deliver peace blow
BBC: January 28, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have ruled out talks on tsunami reconstruction being used to revive the country's peace process. The Tigers' senior negotiator, Anton Balasingham said efforts needed to be focused on "alleviating hardships" rather than political matters.

He was speaking ahead of talks in the capital, Colombo, over tsunami aid. [Full Story]

Using children for selfish ends
Gulf News: January 28, 2005
LTTE will not win hearts if it recruits child soldiers from tsunami affected areas Natural disasters, even when they serve to unite the international community and strike a chord in humanity, also, sadly, underline the harsh reality of life in lands held hostage by ethnic rivalry. Sri Lanka is a case in point.

Immediately after the tragedy, people joined across the the ethnic and religious divide to help those in need. But the disaster also highlighted the deep distrust between the government forces and rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (which have waged a bloody two-decade war for autonomy), with both sides trading accusations.

The LTTE has been quick to decry many aspects of the tortured negotiations overseen by foreign mediator Norway. But it has remained in a state of denial over the most controversial issue its recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Rebels' ties to charities cause concerns
Washington Times: January 28, 2005
Links between charities and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department, have raised concerns in Western governments that the Sri Lankan rebel group is using aid meant for victims of the tsunami to buy weapons and replenish its depleted ranks with child soldiers.

One of the prominent groups disbursing humanitarian aid in Sri Lanka, the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), has become the subject of scrutiny by politicians in Canada and Australia, and State Department officials in Washington say the charity's ties to the Tamil Tigers are "problematic."

...
According to a report on the "Patterns of Global Terrorism — 2003" issued by the office of the coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department last year, despite the cease-fire the LTTE has not renounced terrorism or disbanded its "Black Tiger" suicide squads.

The LTTE also continues to smuggle weaponry into Sri Lanka and to forcibly recruit children into its ranks, the report says. [Full Story]

Fresh wave of child soldiers in Sri Lanka after tsunamis
Daily Times: January 27, 2005
The United Nations children’s fund Wednesday accused Tamil Tiger rebels of recruiting at least 40 child soldiers since tsunamis devastated Sri Lanka’s coastlines and killed nearly 31,000 people.

...
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had taken three children from a relief centre for survivors in the northeastern region of Trincomalee and another from the neighbouring Batticaloa district, UNICEF said. The other children had been recruited from areas of the northeast held by the guerrillas, UNICEF spokesman Geoffrey Keele said. “We have 40 cases of confirmed child recruitment since the tsunamis,” Keele said. “We had hoped that with such a disaster the LTTE would have ended this practice. But unfortunately no.” A child as young as 13 was among the 22 boys and 18 girls recruited by the Tigers despite repeated international condemnation of the practice. Most of them were aged between 15 and 17. [Full Story]

Violence mars Republic Day
Gulf News: January 27, 2005
COLOMBO: Asia's tsunami may have muffled the war drums between Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers and the island's government, but the rebels are still recruiting child soldiers, the Unicef said yesterday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have recruited 40 children under the age of 18 in the month since the tsunami ravaged Sri Lankan coasts, said Martin Dawes, Unicef spokesman for South Asia. [Full Story]

Tigers prey on young survivors to boost ranks of child soldiers
Asia News: January 27, 2005
Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited at least 40 child soldiers since the tsunami devastated Sri Lanka's coastline and killed nearly 31,000 people, the UN children's fund said yester- day.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had taken three children from a relief centre for survivors, while others had been recruited from areas of the northeast held by the guerillas, Unicef said.

"We have 40 cases of confirmed child recruitment since the tsunami," Unicef spokesman Geoffrey Keele said.

"We had hoped that with such a disaster, the LTTE would have ended this practice. But unfortunately no." Human Rights Watch in November accused the rebels of enlisting more than 3,500 boys and girls under 18 since the Oslo-brokered truce went into place in April 2003.

A child as young as 13 was among 22 boys and 18 girls recruited by the Tigers. Most of them were aged between 15 and 17.

There was no immediate response from the rebels. Tiger guerillas were not immediately available for comment, but have said they were providing food and shelter to poor children.

The Tigers used intimidation and threats to pressure Tamil families in the north and east to provide their sons and daughters for military service. [Full Story]

UNICEF Charges Sri Lanka Guerrillas with Recruiting Children
Voice of America: January 26, 2005
Officials with the U.N. Children's Fund in Sri Lanka say they have confirmed 40 cases of children being abducted or recruited as soldiers by the Tamil Tiger rebel group. It is the first major series of such recruitments since the December tsunami affected areas under the rebels' control.

A spokesman for UNICEF in the Sri Lankan capital, Martin Dawes, says the organization is seeking the safe return of 40 children taken since last month's tsunami disaster by the Tamil rebels, also known as the LTTE.

"We have had 40 verified cases by UNICEF of child recruitment of the LTTE since the tsunami. When we say verified, these are cases that have come to our attention from families or concerned people, which we were able to check out and basically take to the LTTE as a complaint," he said. [Full Story]

UNICEF Charges Sri Lanka Rebels with Recruiting Child Soldiers
Polit Info: January 26, 2005
Officials with the U.N. Children's Fund in Sri Lanka say they have confirmed 40 cases of children being abducted or recruited as soldiers by the Tamil Tiger rebel group. It is the first major series of such recruitments since the December tsunami affected areas under the rebels' control.

A spokesman for UNICEF in the Sri Lankan capital, Martin Dawes, says the organization is seeking the safe return of 40 children taken since last month's tsunami disaster by the Tamil rebels, also known as the LTTE. [Full Story]

Tsunami victims now soldiers
News 24 - South Africa: January 26, 2005
Colombo - Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited at least 40 child soldiers since tsunamis devastated Sri Lanka and killed nearly 31 000 people, the United Nations children's fund said on Wednesday.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had taken three children from a relief centre for survivors while others had been recruited from areas of the northeast held by the guerrillas, UNICEF said. [Full Story]

SRI LANKA: Tsunami, LTTE's uproar put government on defensive
Asia Media: January 26, 2005
Colombo -- Trudging along to secure some kind of normalcy after the devastating tsunami attack of December 26, the government of President Kumaratunge is finding itself bombarded by accusations from the LTTE and the opposition parties that it just isn't 'doing enough'.

....
"We told them that we are gravely concerned of the government's military deal with Iran for 150 million dollars at a time when the Tamils are seriously affected by the tsunami", the LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham and closest confidante of the Tiger leader said. He warned that the tsunami had not made the LTTE give up its freedom fight for a separate state.

....
Asked to comment on the accusations by the UNICEF that the LTTE were recruiting children orphaned by the tsunami as child soldiers, an irate theoretician brushed the question away stating it was all 'rubbish'.

A similar response was given when asked about the LTTE cadres killed in the tsunami. According to Balasingham 'only around six' cadres had been killed by the sea waves. "Our naval bases are away from the shore. There has been a purposeful campaign by the South to exaggerate", is his abrupt response. [Full Story]

Mournful Asia marks one month on from the tsunami
Sify News: January 26, 2005
Mournful silences for the dead were observed on Wednesday as people around the Indian Ocean recalled the day one month ago when tsunami waves crashed ashore, taking families, friends and homes.

....
In Sri Lanka there were further concerns for children's welfare with the United Nations accusing the Tamil Tigers, known as LTTE, of recruiting at least 40 child soldiers since the tsunami hit.

"We have 40 cases of confirmed child recruitment since the tsunamis," said UNICEF spokesman Geoffrey Keele. "We had hoped that with such a disaster the LTTE would have ended this practice. But unfortunately no." [Full Story]

Tigers recruit 40 child soldiers since tsunamis: UNICEF
Khaleej Times: January 26, 2005
Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited at least 40 child soldiers since tsunamis devastated Sri Lanka’s coastline and killed nearly 31,000 people, the United Nations children’s fund said Wednesday.

....
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had taken three children from a relief centre for survivors while others had been recruited from areas of the northeast held by the guerrillas, UNICEF said.

....
“We have 40 cases of confirmed child recruitment since the tsunamis,” UNICEF spokesman Geoffrey Keele said. “We had hoped that with such a disaster the LTTE would have ended this practice. But unfortunately no.”

....
A child as young as 13 was among the 22 boys and 18 girls recruited by the Tigers despite repeated international condemnation of the practice. Most of them were aged between 15 and 17. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan rebels illegally recruiting child soldiers, UNICEF says
JURIST: January 26, 2005
UN Children's Fund [official website] officials have confirmed 40 cases of children been abducted or recruited as soldiers [UNICEF fact sheet, PDF] by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebel group [factional website] since December's tsunami disaster [JURIST Hot Topic]. According to UNICEF spokesman Martin Dawes, "We have had 40 verified cases by UNICEF of child recruitment of the LTTE [Tamil rebels] since the tsunami. When we say verified, these are cases that have come to our attention from families or concerned people, which we were able to check out and basically take to the LTTE as a complaint." Dawes said that only four children were removed from tsunami displacement camps, which raises the possibility that there is general recruitment amongst the population. Recruiting of child soldiers is banned by international convention. [Full Story]

PM meets pair linked to rebel group
Toronto Star: January 25, 2005
COLOMBO—Prime Minister Paul Martin today meets three political leaders linked to the Tamil Tigers, two of whom were refused visas to enter Canada last year under anti-terrorist fundraising laws. The two who were refused visas — Ponnambalam and Pararajasingham, who each identifies himself by only one name — are elected Tamil members of Sri Lanka's parliament.

....
Martin volunteered earlier yesterday that he intends to discuss with the Tamil politicians "the rumoured use of child soldiers which is simply not on, not acceptable."

"The stories are out there of child soldiers being recruited. I want to find out from them if that is in fact the case. I very much hope that it is not. But if it is the case, then that is the kind of thing which as far as I'm concerned really requires universal condemnation." [Full Story]

Md. M.D. struggles for Tamil patients
baltimoresun: January 23, 2005
Compared with the setup Dr. Joseph Angelo has back in Bel Air, Md., the medical office here was unimpressive, just a faded lime-green picnic table of slatted wood and a few small chairs on the bare concrete floor of a schoolroom.

....
When charities send their money and volunteers here, the issue of the Tigers confronts them.

For 19 years, the rebel Tigers fought a guerrilla insurgency during which they became known for suicide bombings and political killings. The Tigers also have a long history of recruiting children as soldiers, and this month UNICEF and Human Rights Watch reported that the rebels have done so even in tsunami relief camps.

The Tigers are in some way involved in every phase of the tsunami relief and recovery in their territory, and the money and aid flowing into locally run relief organizations could at least indirectly bolster them. Some expatriate Tamils volunteering here are troubled by the long-term prospects of authoritarian Tiger rule and by tales of their ruthlessness. [Full Story]

S.Lanka peace tied to tsunami
Reuters: January 20, 2005
COLOMBO (Reuters) - It took a devastating tsunami to finally give the Sri Lankan government and its feared Tamil Tiger foes a common goal after two decades of bloody civil war -- and now the clean-up may hold the key to elusive lasting peace.

....
In addition, the Tigers are furious that the government blocked U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan from visiting their territory during a post-tsunami tour earlier this month.

And they angrily reject UNICEF reports that their cadres are recruiting children from camps for tsunami-displaced as child soldiers.

But the Tigers, whom the United States has put on a list of banned terror groups alongside the likes of al Qaeda, are now focusing on cleaning up dozens of decimated coastal villages in their northeastern stronghold.

Analysts warn that neglecting the rebels' central demands for autonomy in the wake of the tsunami could be fatal. [Full Story]

PM shaken by tsunami destruction in Sri Lanka
CTV News Canada: January 17, 2005
The tsunami devastation in Thailand didn't prepare Prime Minister Paul Martin for the scale of destruction he saw in Sri Lanka on Monday.

....
The Tigers are considered terrorists by the United States and Britain, but not by Canada.

In Canada, Conservative MP Jason Kenney told reporters, "they (the Tigers) invented suicide bombers and recruiting children into armies." [Full Story]

Chaiban right on LTTE child recruitment – Army
The Island: January 17, 2005
The army warns of a major LTTE recruitment campaign targeting tsunami orphans, particularly at makeshift tsunami welfare centres in the northern and eastern provinces.

"They have begun taking orphans to their camps," a senior officer, stationed in the east, said. But they hadn’t been able to intensify their campaign as police and security forces had been in charge of security at welfare centres in government-held areas.

"They are focusing, particularly on welfare centres in the Ampara-Batticaloa district," he said, appreciating the UNICEF’s opposition to conscription. "Hats off to UNICEF’s Ted Chaiban for warning Tigers not to prey at shelters," the officer said, expressing confidence that the five-nation Scandinavian truce monitoring mission would take note of the UNICEF chief representative’s stand. The mission comprises members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and is led by Maj.General (retd) Trond Furuhovde.

The military said that Chaiban wouldn’t have demanded an immediate halt to preying at shelters without verifying facts.

The military and the STF claimed that the LTTE and their cronies wanted to get rid of the police and troops guarding welfare centres. "That would have made their task easier. Very much easier," a senior police officer said, expressing confidence that the government would not give in to LTTE pressure. They claimed that the LTTE was demanding unrestricted access to welfare centres to influence orphans. They would also target the destitute, the military said. They would be desperate to fill an unprecedented number of vacancies in the fighting cadre, particularly the Sea Tigers due the recent Indian Ocean tsunami. Although senior LTTE commanders including Soosai had played down losses, claiming their losses were significant, the military believes the LTTE had suffered considerable losses.

The military said that the UNICEF, the truce monitoring mission and the international community should also check on welfare centres in LTTE-held areas. [Full Story]

Canada PM to probe reports of recruiting of child soldiers in Sri Lanka
Yahoo News/AFP: January 16, 2005
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said that during his visit to Sri Lanka, he would check on reports of a stepped-up child recruitment drive by rebel Tamil Tigers in the wake of the tsunami.

"I want to find out from them if that is the case. I very much hope that it is not, but if it is the case, that is the kind of thing which requires universal condemnation," Martin told reporters on this Thai tourist island on Sunday.

The United Nations (news - web sites) children's fund said Thursday it suspects that the rebels may have recruited a 15-year-old tsunami survivor as a child soldier in eastern Sri Lanka.

Human Rights Watch said it had received additional information on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) recruiting children in Trincomalee and Jaffna. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Child Tsunami Victims Recruited by Tamil Tigers
Human Rights Watch: January 14, 2005
(New York: January 14, 2005) -- The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) are recruiting children affected by the tsunami for use as soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch said that the Tamil Tigers, who were already recruiting large numbers of child soldiers, now may seek to replace forces lost to the tsunami with child recruits.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported Thursday on three cases of children recruited from camps for tsunami survivors in Batticaloa and Ampara, on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast. Human Rights Watch has received additional information on LTTE recruitment of children in Trincomalee and Jaffna.

“The Tamil Tigers are preying on the most vulnerable by taking advantage of children who have been orphaned or displaced by the tsunami,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “Every effort must be made to stop this unconscionable recruiting from families who have already suffered so much.”

At a relief camp in Trincomalee, a 16-year old boy who had been recruited prior to the tsunami and later escaped told credible sources that he recently witnessed the LTTE recruit three girls from the camp. In Jaffna, independent human rights monitors documented LTTE recruitment of two 13-year old boys on January 3.

The LTTE has a long history of recruiting children as soldiers. A Human Rights Watch report published in November 2004 documented LTTE recruitment of thousands of children since a ceasefire between the government and LTTE took effect in early 2002. Human Rights Watch found that the LTTE often used threats, intimidation and even abduction to bring children into its ranks. Prior to the ceasefire, children were routinely used in combat, and often deployed on suicide missions. [Full Story]

Child Tsunami Victims Recruited by Tamil Tigers
Reuters: January 14, 2005
(LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) are recruiting children affected by the tsunami for use as soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. (New York: January 14, 2005) -- The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) are recruiting children affected by the tsunami for use as soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said that the Tamil Tigers, who were already recruiting large numbers of child soldiers, now may seek to replace forces lost to the tsunami with child recruits.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported Thursday on three cases of children recruited from camps for tsunami survivors in Batticaloa and Ampara, on Sri Lanka's eastern coast. Human Rights Watch has received additional information on LTTE recruitment of children in Trincomalee and Jaffna.

"The Tamil Tigers are preying on the most vulnerable by taking advantage of children who have been orphaned or displaced by the tsunami," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "Every effort must be made to stop this unconscionable recruiting from families who have already suffered so much."

At a relief camp in Trincomalee, a 16-year old boy who had been recruited prior to the tsunami and later escaped told credible sources that he recently witnessed the LTTE recruit three girls from the camp. In Jaffna, independent human rights monitors documented LTTE recruitment of two 13-year old boys on January 3. [Full Story]

Hands off tsunami kids, S.Lanka rebels warned
Reuters: January 14, 2005
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has received reports that Tamil Tiger rebels are recruiting children displaced by last month’s devastating tsunami as soldiers, and has warned the rebels to stop preying at shelters.

Unicef’s Sri Lanka representative Ted Chaiban said he had received reports of three children recruited in the Indian Ocean island’s east, where the Tigers control large pockets of jungle. Two had since been re-united with family.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE relied heavily on child soldiers during their bloody two-decade war for autonomy, an ethnic conflict which has been in limbo for three years thanks to a ceasefire.

“Recruitment... was an issue before the tsunami, it’s an issue that continues to be of concern,” Chaiban said today. “We know of three cases of reported under-age recruitment that took place in the east.” [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers 'drafting children'
BBC: January 13, 2005
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have been recruiting child soldiers from relief camps set up after December's tsunami, the United Nations says. The UN's child agency, Unicef, says it has monitored the cases of three girls who had been recruited by the rebels.

"In the aftermath of the tsunami, you would have hoped that recruitment would have stopped," Unicef's Victor Nylund told the BBC News website.

The Tamil Tigers and the government are in a bitter dispute over aid provision.

The issue of child recruitment has been a major point of difference between Unicef and the Tamil Tigers since a ceasefire began in early 2002.

Correspondents say the issue is particularly sensitive now, given the arguments between the rebels and the government about the distribution of aid in areas of Sri Lanka controlled by the Tigers.

'All efforts needed'

"We have enough proof that these children had gone missing from the camps and are now with the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), " the head of Unicef in Sri Lanka, Ted Chaiban, told reporters on Thursday.

There has been no response yet from the Tamil Tigers who repeatedly denied reports last year that they were recruiting underage fighters. [Full Story]

UNICEF: Sri Lankan Children Coping with Disaster
Voice Of America: January 13, 2005
The head of the U.N. Children's Fund in Sri Lanka has hailed as a success, relief efforts following December 26 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean.

But he warns that much work remains to be done, especially in helping children cope with the trauma of the disaster.

UNICEF's chief in Sri Lanka, Ted Chaiban, says that in the aftermath of the deadly tsunami, Sri Lanka has been largely successful at protecting children from health threats associated with humanitarian crises. [Full Story]

Tramil Tigers Recruiting Tsunami Children Says UN
News Scotsman: January 13, 2005
Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have recruited tsunami-affected children into their ranks, Unicef officials said today.

They said there were three verified cases of child recruitment, all girls.

Two of the three – an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old – were released following an appeal for their freedom from the UN body said Geoffrey Keel, Unicef spokesman in Colombo.

“They have been reunited with their parents,” he said.

Unicef was working to secure the release of the other child, a 15-year-old, he added.

It was unclear whether the girls were recruited to fight in rebel ranks or to work in the guerrilla camps.

All three children were from eastern Batticaloa and Ampara, among the areas worst hit by the 26 tsunami. [Full Story]

Tsunami orphans in danger
Townsville Bulletin: January 13, 2005
TSUNAMI orphans could be forced into Sri Lanka's child sex trade or military.

Townsville doctor John Whitehall, travelling Sri Lanka's devastated coasts, yesterday said fears were rising tsunami orphans in Tamil-held areas would be forced into the army.

Concerns came amid reports of orphaned children in hospitals going missing.

They are believed to have been channelled into Sri Lanka's child sex trade.

In Jaffna, Dr Whitehall said there was a strong military presence with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) soldiers posted every 400m.

"They are rebuilding army postings with coconut trunks and sandbags," Dr Whitehall said.

"The buildings here are grey brick, pockmarked with bullet holes."

After speaking to LTTE political advisories yesterday Dr Whitehall said peace, for them, was essentially independence.

"There is this bristling threat that without independence hostilities will rise again," he said.

"The adviser spoke proudly of the suicide bombers, the black tigers.

"He said they were the most respected in the army.

"Now the fear is orphans will be put in the military."

Dr Whitehall said he questioned the adviser about children younger than 12 years old forced into military operations.

"He denied it vehemently," he said.

But the LTTE adviser's denial conflicted with Dr Whitehall's own experiences.

"I met a boy missing his arm and I asked him how he lost it.

"He told me he was a soldier, hit in the army. [Full Story]

JVP asks UN to help ''dismantle'' LTTE
India Daily: January 12, 2005
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has asked the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to "help dismantle the terrorist LTTE." In a letter to Annan last Saturday, the JVP's Supremo, Somawansa Amarasinghe, said that the international community had an obligation to stand up for what it had been advocating, namely democracy, free elections, free speech, the rule of law, accountability, transparency and the rights of children. The LTTE had no such attributes, the Amarasinghe said.

The LTTE was preventing relief from reaching the Tamil victims of the tsunami, sometimes by firing in the air to scare away the Good Samaritans, he said. "Help dismantle the terrorist LTTE," he urged. International relief should be handed over only to elected bodies and elected representatives who could be accountable and the LTTE was not accountable, he said. Aid should not be handed over to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) either, because the TNA got into parliament only because the elections in the Tamil North East were massively rigged by the LTTE, he charged.

Amarasinghe pointed out that even the Canadian government had said that the LTTE was collecting money to buy arms and not to provide relief to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. He described the LTTE as "vultures" and said that its front organisation, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), was "raiding" orphanages and refugee camps to capture kids for training them as child soldiers. [Full Story]

Hunting season has opened for the Liberation Tigers

Denunge.dk: January 11, 2005
By our reporter, Annieke Kranenberg BATTICALOA
Now, just as relief efforts in Sri Lanka are getting underway, most of the refugees already appear to be leaving the refugee camps. They are being pressured into leaving by the Tamil Tigers, according to relief workers. 'They want control, control, control.'

.....

'At this moment, the LTTE is recruiting child soldiers in the camps. The orphaned children are especially vulnerable. It is open hunting season for the Tigers.'

At some schools, where most of the refugees in this area are being housed, government army soldiers are keeping watch. Miller, who has devoted himself to helping former child soldiers of the LTTE, nevertheless fears that little can be done to prevent young boys and girls from being recruited. 'The LTTE is abusing this disaster in order to increase its influence in the east.' [Full Story]

University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka - Information Bulletin
A Tale of two Disasters and the Fickleness of Terror Politics
University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna): January 10, 2005
In the aftermath of the Tsunami aid has poured into Sri Lanka from people and governments around the world. Sri Lanka’s North and East witnessed a spontaneous outpouring of generosity that defied communal boundaries. A schoolmistress in Batticaloa-Amparai described the impact it created, “At the bottom of their heart all Sri Lankans want to live in peace with one another. This is what the Tidal Wave taught us. What we saw is the people eager to help each other, forgetting all differences. Whatever community we belong to, there is something called Sri Lankan hospitality. The politicians should remember that when they get back to negotiations.”

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Its lack of transparency and history of strong-arm tactics abroad was also catching up with it. More and more Canadian Tamils were asking questions about where the money raised by the TRO was going. In the months leading up to 25th December, the TRO was facing a worrying decline of contributions. An important event was the Human Rights Watch report on the LTTE’s use of child soldiers and the meetings by the HRW in London and Toronto where the issue was placed before Tamil expatriate audiences.

Among other things an HRW representative raised questions about expatriate donations to LTTE front organisations, and warned of their potential misuse to support the LTTE’s recruitment of child soldiers. This reference received prominent attention in the Canadian press. LTTE supporters in Canada reacted with anger and HRW received veiled threats against Tamils who associated with the organisation. [Full Story]

Tamil relief group is linked to terror
National Post, Canada: January 09, 2005
TORONTO - A Canadian government panel ruled three years ago that some of the money collected by the main Tamil relief organization now soliciting donations for tsunami victims in Sri Lanka had been used to buy guns for terrorists. The Immigration and Refugee Board said there was "reliable evidence from three sources that affirm or strongly suggest" that funds collected by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) had been diverted to pay for weapons.

"The TRO is the rehabilitation wing of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or Tamil Tigers); the funds it collects are used for both rehabilitaiton and weapons procurement," reads the panel's 22-page decision. "It is part of the LTTE modus operandi to siphon off funds that are intended for rehabilitation programs in Sri Lanka".

There is no evidence that recent tsunami aid has been used to buy guns in Sri Lanka, but Canadian officials are concerned because the RCMP is currently investigating several Tamil Tiger front organizations across Canada to determine whether charges are warranted under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Some of the Tamil groups now collecting for victims of the disaster have been linked to terrorist financing in the past.

Last week, some Liberal MPs raised concerns about aid ending up in the hands of terrorists.

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The LTTE, the armed faction fighting a civil war against the Sri Lankan government, controls Sri Lanka's north and east, hard hit by the tsunami. The LTTE has been widely condemned for its suicide bombings, assassinations and recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Orphaned children face a new nightmare of abuse
Sydney Morning Herald: Januay 5, 2005

This tragedy has brought out the best and worst in people, writes Valerie Lawson.

It is not the number that resonates, but the images. Aid organisations talk of 1.5 million children dead, orphaned or made homeless in the tsunami disaster. But the mind cannot grasp that figure. What makes the calamity so vivid and intimate are the individual stories told by small coffins, children begging for help, and parents cradling their infants' bodies.

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In Thailand, a 12-year-old Swedish boy may have been abducted from a hospital, and in Sri Lanka The Island reported yesterday that Tiger rebels in the north, who have a history of using child soldiers, had begun to abduct displaced children under the guise of offering shelter.

The Island claimed the Tigers, whose numbers have seriously diminished in their north-eastern strongholds, were targeting boys aged between 12 and 14. [Full Story]