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The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) relied heavily on child soldiers during Sri Lanka's civil war, using some as young as nine.
The rebels say they no longer recruit under-18s, but many organisations, including the United Nations' children's agency UNICEF, Amnesty International and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, say recruitment continues.
"LTTE denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training. Child recruitment … is ongoing," said Casey Kelso, international director of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
One girl recruited when she was 14 told the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch how the rebels would sometimes kill those who tried to escape.
"If you get caught, they take you back and beat you. Some children die. If you do it twice, they shoot you. In my wing, if someone escaped the whole group was lined up to watch them get beaten … If the person dies, they don't tell you, but we know it happens."
Children have been recruited at temple festivals, at school and on the way to school. Some have been abducted but others have signed up themselves, sometimes to escape poverty.
A 13-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch: "We learned how to dismantle (weapons) and put them back together again. We did target shooting. If we didn't shoot at the correct target, then we were punished … We had training on war tactics: if there is an army camp, how to approach, kill, plan the attack."
The LTTE promised to stop using children as part of the Action Plan for Children Affected by War, which it signed with the Sri Lankan government in 2003.
But UNICEF says thousands have been recruited since then. It has reports of 3,883 cases up to the end of 2005, including some re-recruitment cases. But it estimates the real figures are three times higher. Some 44 per cent of child soldiers are girls.
"We expect we know about 30 percent of the actual number recruited because we rely on families registering children going missing. When there are releases we find there is approximately a 30 percent overlap with the children we have registered," UNICEF's Sri Lanka spokeswoman Leanne Mitchell said.
Children were used in fighting between rebel factions in 2004 after a renegade commander split from the main LTTE. However, UNICEF said recruitment fell by a third in 2005.
"November and December saw the lowest recruitment since we started collecting figures in 2002," Mitchell said. "The mean age of recruitment has also been going up - last year it was 16."
UNICEF records show the rebels released 1,115 children between 2002 and the end of 2005. Other children have been returned directly to their parents.
Recruits Average age
2002 1,466 14
2003 1,214 15
2004 823 16
2005 543 16
Source: UNICEF
Further reading:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Human Rights Watch report on child soldiers
http://www.alertnet.org/LKchildsoldiers.htm
The rebels say they no longer recruit under-18s, but many organisations, including the United Nations' children's agency UNICEF, Amnesty International and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, say recruitment continues.
"LTTE denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training. Child recruitment … is ongoing," said Casey Kelso, international director of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
One girl recruited when she was 14 told the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch how the rebels would sometimes kill those who tried to escape.
"If you get caught, they take you back and beat you. Some children die. If you do it twice, they shoot you. In my wing, if someone escaped the whole group was lined up to watch them get beaten … If the person dies, they don't tell you, but we know it happens."
Children have been recruited at temple festivals, at school and on the way to school. Some have been abducted but others have signed up themselves, sometimes to escape poverty.
A 13-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch: "We learned how to dismantle (weapons) and put them back together again. We did target shooting. If we didn't shoot at the correct target, then we were punished … We had training on war tactics: if there is an army camp, how to approach, kill, plan the attack."
The LTTE promised to stop using children as part of the Action Plan for Children Affected by War, which it signed with the Sri Lankan government in 2003.
But UNICEF says thousands have been recruited since then. It has reports of 3,883 cases up to the end of 2005, including some re-recruitment cases. But it estimates the real figures are three times higher. Some 44 per cent of child soldiers are girls.
"We expect we know about 30 percent of the actual number recruited because we rely on families registering children going missing. When there are releases we find there is approximately a 30 percent overlap with the children we have registered," UNICEF's Sri Lanka spokeswoman Leanne Mitchell said.
Children were used in fighting between rebel factions in 2004 after a renegade commander split from the main LTTE. However, UNICEF said recruitment fell by a third in 2005.
"November and December saw the lowest recruitment since we started collecting figures in 2002," Mitchell said. "The mean age of recruitment has also been going up - last year it was 16."
UNICEF records show the rebels released 1,115 children between 2002 and the end of 2005. Other children have been returned directly to their parents.
Recruits Average age
2002 1,466 14
2003 1,214 15
2004 823 16
2005 543 16
Source: UNICEF
Further reading:
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Human Rights Watch report on child soldiers
http://www.alertnet.org/LKchildsoldiers.htm