|
|
|
 |
 |
|||
|
|
LTTE child-soldier recruitment
continues [Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 7.30 GMT] UNICEF has 1.591 outstanding cases of the LTTE child-recruitment up to end May 2007, with 130 children recruited since January this year, despite pledges that its ranks will be free of under-age soldiers by the end of this year. UNICEF reported by Reuters lists 198 cases of under-age recruitment allegedly done by a breakaway faction of the terror outfit. The UNICEF report states the LTTE, who have pledged that their ranks will be free of under-age soldiers by the end of this year, have recruited around 130 children since January, while its renegade faction called the Karuna group has recruited around 70. "The LTTE does still continue to recruit children under the age of 18, despite commitments that they've made to stop," JoAnna Van Gerpen, head of UNICEF's Sri Lanka mission, said in an interview with Reuters. "We do see that there's been a reduction, but it's difficult to say that's because of the actual reduction in recruitment by the LTTE, or if that is because of an overall prevalence of fear within the community that prevents people from reporting." Meanwhile, a considerable number of under-age LTTE rookies have surrendered to the Sri Lankan forces, now consolidating defences in the east. According to defence sources, statements given by LTTE deserters show that the terrorists organization has intimidated every Tamil family in the un-liberated areas to contribute at least one member to their cadre, saying refusing to comply would be dealt with by severe repercussions. "Children ... are easily influenced by ideology. Physically they're still prepared to take orders from adults without questioning the rationale," UNICEF's Van Gerpen, has said. Meanwhile, officials of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) have received 147 complaints by end March 2007, about LTTE's abductions of under-age persons. Earlier, UNICEF reported a shocking 5956 abductions carried out by the LTTE for forced recruitment between January 2002 and December 2006, with 1012 of these being children under the age of 15 years. The UN conventions specifically for preventing of child rights abuses, considers the recruitment of under-age persons in armed aggressions as a 'war crime.'
|
|
Contact Information: Send mail to
