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By abducting children or threatening their families, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have recruited thousands of child soldiers in Sri Lanka since active fighting ended in 2002, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) use intimidation and threats to pressure Tamil families in the north and east of Sri Lanka to provide sons and daughters for military service. When families refuse, their children are sometimes abducted from their homes at night or forcibly recruited while walking to school. Parents who resist the recruitment of their children face retribution from the Tamil Tigers, including violence or detention.

"The ceasefire has brought an end to the fighting, but not to the Tamil Tigers' use of children as soldiers," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, and a co-author of the report. "Many Tamil families who expected a 'peace dividend' now expect an unwelcome visit from armed Tamil Tiger recruiters."

The 80-page report, "Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka," includes firsthand testimonies from dozens of children from northeastern Sri Lanka who have been recruited by the Tamil Tigers since the ceasefire came into effect. Children described rigorous and sometimes brutal military training, including training with heavy weapons, bombs and landmines. Children who try to escape are typically beaten in front of their entire unit as a warning to others.

The Tamil Tigers have recruited at least 3,516 children since the start of the February 2002 ceasefire with the government, according to cases documented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The agency states that this figure represents only a portion of the total number of children recruited...

"They took away my younger brother the other day. He was coming home from the market and he was taken away," said Vanji, who was recruited by the LTTE in 1997 at age 16. "They didn't release him, and they threatened to shoot if I reported his abduction. They also told me at the same time that I had to re-join."

In June 2003, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government agreed to a formal Action Plan on Children Affected by War. Under the Action Plan, the Tamil Tigers agreed to end their recruitment of children and to release children from their forces, either directly to the children's families or to new transit centers that were constructed specifically for this purpose.

Since the Action Plan was signed, UNICEF figures show that the LTTE has recruited more than twice as many children as it has released. A transit center opened in October 2003 received a total of only 172 children in its first year of operation. Although the center has capacity for 100 children, it has never held more than 49, and for a six-week period in mid-2004, was completely empty. The other two centers never opened because of the low number of children released.

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Personal accounts from "Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka:"

"My parents refused to give me to the LTTE so about 15 of them came to my house-it was both men and women, in uniforms, with rifles, and guns in holsters... I was fast asleep when they came to get me at one in the morning.… These people dragged me out of the house. My father shouted at them, saying, "What is going on?", but some of the LTTE soldiers took my father away towards the woods and beat him... They also pushed my mother onto the ground when she tried to stop them." - 16-year-old girl recruited by the LTTE in 2003

"I went to school to grade 5. I dropped out because my mother and father died. No one cared for me, I had no parents, so I was willing to join. I lived with my aunt after my parents died. I cooked for her family. I had frustration in my life, so I was willing to join the LTTE. I wanted to live in this world without anyone's help. When I joined the LTTE, I went to the political office, and told the LTTE I wanted to join. They agreed. I told them I was sixteen, but they didn't care." - 16-year-old girl who joined the LTTE in 2003

"The training was very difficult. They don't care if it's a rainy or sunny day. If you get too tired and can't continue, they will beat you. Once when I first joined, I was dizzy. I couldn't continue and asked for a rest. They said, "This is the LTTE. You have to face problems. You can't take a rest." They hit me four or five times with their hands." - 15-year-old girl recruited in 2002

"After four months I was sent to a landmines unit. I learned to handle landmines, to place them. I did this for four months. I couldn't concentrate. Sometime a landmine would explode and children would be injured. Their fingers, hands, face. One time we were working in a line, and the last girl made a mistake when removing a landmine. It exploded and she lost a finger. She was 17. I was scared to handle them." - 17-year-old girl recruited in 2003

"Lots of people tried to escape. But 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. I saw it happen, and know of cases from other groups. If the person dies, they don't tell you, but we know it happens." - 14-year-old girl recruited by the LTTE in 2001

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UPDATE: Tamil Tigers Recruits 1,000 Child Soldiers

by Associated Press - January 19, 2005

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Tamil Tiger rebels have forcibly enlisted more than 1,000 child soldiers since agreeing to release and rehabilitate child fighters already among the ranks, a U.S.-based human rights group said Friday.

While the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam released more than 1,000 child soldiers since a 2003 agreement, "forcible recruitment of children has intensified, and new recruits outnumber those released," said New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The rebel group agreed with UNICEF and the Sri Lankan government in 2003 to release all child combatants for rehabilitation, and later reunite them with their families. The U.N. agency has also accused the Tigers of reneging on its promises.

UNICEF said Thursday the rebels forcibly recruited three tsunami-affected girls living in camps after the Dec. 26 disaster. Nearly 31,000 Sri Lankans were killed in the catastrophe, and 800,000 made homeless.

Human Rights Watch said many children recruited were ones released by a dissident Tiger commander who broke away from the main faction in March. The rebels' former eastern commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna, split from the group along with some 6,000 trained fighters, including many children.

"The LTT specifically targeted for re-recruitment the 1,800 or more child soldiers released by the Karuna faction after its April defeat," the group said. The mainstream rebel group crushed the renegades in April.

Many political rivals, mainly those perceived as Muralitharan loyalists, have been killed by the Tigers during the year, the group said.

Tamil Tigers fought a 19-year civil war against the government to carve out a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. The conflict killed more than 65,000 people.

However, the situation improved with a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire, which continues to hold despite infractions. Peace talks broke down in April 2003 when the rebels withdrew after demanding more autonomy in Tamil-majority areas.