Tamil Tigers prepare a massive recruitment campaign of child soldiers
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Increasingly fewer students are presenting themselves for GCSE exams in Vanni North Sri Lanka. The reason: they are afraid that if they leave their homes they will fall into the clutches of Tamil rebels, who continue to forcibly recruit child soldiers among their ranks.
The alarm was sounded by the Minister for Social Services, Douglas Devanada, and the leader of the Tamil Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP).
According to the minister, only 7 – 8% of enrolled students in Vanni succeeded in sustaining Advance Level exams recently held in the country: the Tamil tigers have decided to recruit 60 thousand children forcibly removing one from every home in the North of the Jaffna peninsula.
The Minister cited “reliable sources”, according to whom the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Velupillai Prebhakaran, “is considering the possibility of demanding and increase in the numbers of little recruits in his discourse due to held on Martyrs Day November 26th next”.
Devanada maintains that the lives of over 2 thousand families are at risk who have only recently been moved from Ariyali to Jaffna after the government declared it “a maximum security zone”. These people live in tents on the coastal areas of Navalady and Maniam Thottam and are vulnerable to LTTE pressure.
According to UNICEF data, since the signing of the cease fire in 2002, more than 5600 children have been drawn into the ranks of the Tiger soldiers. But the actual number could be far higher given that it is difficult to reach remote zones where many camps are based. The average age of these young recruits is 16. About 60% is composed of boys the rest are girls.
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