posted October 20, 2001 05:46 AM            

OVER SIXTY PER CENT OF ALL FORCED RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN, ALLEGES A TAMIL UNIVERSITY HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles

A well respected human rights group of Tamil university teachers charged that the Tamil Tigers are continuing with the conscription of child soldiers using methods of abduction and the proportion of minors among recruits are above sixty per cent of the total forced recruitment to the guerilla army.

The group, in a special report issued October 19 said the Tamil rebel group continues to conscript minors under 18, the youngest among them in the age group of 10 to 11 unheeding the interference and protests of religious and civil leaders of Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province in a recruitment drive of the most savage nature of child slavery.

The report issued by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) vividly described the human drama unfolding in the Eastern Province where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) recruiters arrive by tractors attached with trailers to transport the precious human cargo and how parents are mercilessly beaten until they scream in pain when they refuse to give away the bundles of love to fulfill the military ambitions of a dictator fighting a secessionist war.

The report revealed the indiscriminate and desperate abduction of children and how in one instance a sick child taken from her home died in a LTTE prison overnight succumbing to an attack of asthma apparently without proper medical attention. The report said only the dead body of the 14 year old girl was handed over to the angry but helpless parents the next day .

The report said, “In kokkadicholai (In Eastern Sri Lanka) LTTE recruiters coming in a tractor and trailer stopped opposite homes. The parents were called out and asked to give a child. When they refused , they were beaten with dry stems of palmyrah fronds having abrasive edges. Usually the children came running on hearing the parents scream. The recruiters then asked a child to come along. The child on declining was beaten and forced into the trailer. The use of this method on a larger scale is suggested by testimony of its use also in Karadiyan Aru.”

According to evidence gathered by the report writers, in Vaharai , LTTE recruiters , including an area leader , were assaulted by parents. In a round up by the LTTE that followed, 20 civilians were detained. The report said, “ In this move to make up numbers, children of delicate health become early casualties. A mother from Kelithumadu was imprisoned by the LTTE for not handing over a child. In the night she was witness to a newly recruited child of 14 succumbing to an attack of asthma.”

The report also described how the Tamil Tigers confiscate properties of parents who refused to hand over their children to the Tigers.

“Among those punished by the confiscation of their properties for refusing to hand over a child , are Nadesan overseer, Mr.Sundaramoorthy and the local Notary Public, all three of them from Pankudaveli. Sundaramoorthy was held in custody by the LTTE and his losses include cows worth 15 lakhs(1.5 million Rupees). The notary’s wife was detained for two days. A new board (sign) displayed at each one of their houses reads: This is the property of the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited.”

The bulletin number 27 of the University Teachers for Human Rights said the bulletin issued about one month prior to this as bulletin number 26, which received wide publicity all over the world and a well publicized Amnesty International report which followed and commented on the same sorry plight of the Tamil children did nothing to sway the Liberation Tigers from the grave crime of child enslavement they were engaged in. “This bulletin,” said the report, “updates the earlier one and elucidates how little the LTTE has been constrained by the publicity.”

The report further said, “ The local media and political establishment are playing out their power games with callous disregard for the gaping pitfalls just ahead. The ongoing tragedy in a corner of this island would tend to be therefore passed by with indifference. Being mindful of this , and yet knowing the trauma of the families concerned, and their desperate entreaties we feel impelled to publish this update.”

To illustrate the plight of the helpless and abandoned like parents and children suffering immensely , as many allege, at the hands of a ruthless terrorist group , the university teachers highlighted few stories on a case by case basis:

(1) Kumar, 11, years, son of Mr. And Mrs. Kanthan of Amanthaveli of North Vaharai who had to enter military training because his parents were taken to a labour camp and asked to sign a letter forefeiting their house.

(2) Vathani, 13, years, youngest girl of Ponnambalam family of Mudalaikudah was taken to LTTE office thinking she might escape being recruited because of her age to save others in the family. But she was never allowed to go home.

(3) Sivaruban, 10 year old son of Mrs. Thiruvanakaarasu , widow from Vaharai was taken by force by the LTTE and his sister attempted suicide by taking a poison. The 16 year old teenager was later discharged from Valaichenai hospital.

(4) Rajabahu, 14 had to go and join the Tigers to save his parents from pain of expropriation and expulsion as his father and mother the Rajadurais had so little to live on. But during a parting meal, in frustration he smashed up the soda bottle, a luxury , in that part of the country, Karadian Aru, which was offered to him as part of the meal on his request.

(5) Thevaruban, 10 year old, was taken in place of his elder brother in Colombo as a hostage until the brother came from Colombo to join the Tiger army. When the Nallaratnams , the parents of Kathiraveli, Vaharai demanded him later the LTTE refused to release him saying he had received military training.

(6) Nalinikanth, 14 of Kalimadu, Kanankudah was dragged from home while his mother was screaming. She later fainted.

But the report also documented the story of 14 year old boy who had better luck than those mentioned above. Kanthan from Kokkakadicholai went and surrendered to the LTTE to save his parents from harassment but managed to escape from the bus he was being transported to a training center and was smuggled out of the area by relatives.

The report said while these appalling events were taking place in the Eastern Province , oblivious to the happenings a NGO called the National Peace Council was holding a three day conference in a plush Nilaweli hotel nearby where through carefully selected speakers it was said that Tamil people and the LTTE were inseparable. Meanwhile , a large number of Tamils were fleeing to the lines of the Sri Lankan army to protect their children from the LTTE.

The report accuses the TULF and the UNP , close to the LTTE for showing indifference to the problem.

The report also documents the doings of the delegation led by Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swamipillai , Bishop of Batticaloa and Trincomalee with a Hindu ,Methodist , and other civil leaders who met the LTTE Eastern commander Karikalan to bring some consolation to the grieving parents and the children. In the meeting , the report says the religious leaders voiced their concerns guardedly. “The result was revealing in many respects, particularly as regards the powerlessness of the Tamil people before their acclaimed leaders.”

The report said, “Bishop Swamipillai told Karikalan that people were talking about forced recruitment by his group. The latter replied that this was incorrect and that the parents were giving their children to the LTTE voluntarily.”

“Throughout the discussion the religious leaders did not contest the LTTE’s contentions , but only indicated that they had a different view of things, especially the ongoing recruitment. In closing Bishop Swamipillai made what in normal circumstances would be an ironical plea to an acclaimed liberation leader. He told Karikalan ‘to see that the people are not harmed in the process of liberating them.’

“What this exchanged indicated is the alarming fact of leading members of Tamil society having lost all influence with their acclaimed leaders. They were even unable to make the most routine humanitarian demands from them.”

“The LTTE has destroyed all notions of right and wrong, leaving the people with no grounds to resist even the most criminal of demands.”

The report charged that the Tamil press, espedially the Virakesari, used what has been said at a International Committee of Red Cross press conference in such a manner as to support their cover up of what the LTTE was doing. What the ICRC said was that they had received no complaints regarding the forced recruitment.

posted October 20, 2001 07:05 AM         

Beyond Grief and Beyond Justice

The trauma of events speaks louder than words. Before we go into other ramifications, we give a few detailed examples among thousands. These illustrate the tragedy of families wrenched asunder by criminal demands on them and their children.

Kumar, is the 11-year-old son of Mr. & Mrs. Kanthan of Ammanthaveli, North Vaharai. Kumar, the youngest, has an elder sister and two elder brothers. The latter are in Sammnathurai to the south, working in a rice mill. After the LTTE started its forced recruitment, it detained the father and mother in a labour camp, expecting the two elder boys to return. After 15 days, this ploy having filed, the LTTE released the parents and took Kanthan for military training. The parents were forced to sign a letter forfeiting their house, rice field, fishing boat, cart and bull. The letter further started that they would never again set foot in Tamil Eelam (the North-East).

Vathani, a girl of 13, is the youngest of 8 children in the Ponnambalam family from Mudalaikudah. The LTTE demanded a child and made it clear that a refusal would lead to the confiscation of their home and fields, and the family of 10 thrown on the streets.The eldest, a boy, volunteered to go. The others stopped him. In desperation they clutched at what seemed a faint ray of hope. They figured that if Vathani went, she would soon be discharged as being under age. Vathani agreed to go along with this plan.

Mr. & Mrs. Ponnambalam took Vathani to the LTTE office in Kokkadichcholai on the evening of 8th October. They were given a letter and asked to take Vathani to an LTTE camp in Manalpiddy. The parents were made to recite words of mockery that they were giving their daughter to the cause ‘wholeheartedly’ (‘manapoorvamaha’), and a video was taken of this ‘voluntary’ submission.

The parents went to the same camp at 10.00 AM the following day (9th Oct.) to see Vathani. Vathani, who earlier had no inkling of the trauma of leaving her parents and going into a military environment, broke down crying on seeing them. Between spasms of anguish, she asked to be taken home. However, the parents returned without her, the flower of their life plucked away.

Sivaruban is the 10-year-old son of Mrs. Thirunavukkarasu, a widow from Vaharai. He has an elder sister aged 16. The three of them came to stay with relatives in Vinayagapuram, Valaichenai. This, the mother did for the protection of the children, when the LTTE started its forced recruitment. Though an army-controlled area, the LTTE came there on 15th September and took Sivaruban away by force. The mother screamed, and the sister took poison and was warded for some days at Valaichenai Hospital. The mother returned home to Vaharai with her daughter, her mission having been thwarted.

Rajabahu, aged 14, the eldest son of the Rajadurais, is from a poor family in Karadian Aru. The LTTE demanded Rajabahu on pain of expropriation and expulsion. The boy accepted his fate unwillingly. Before he went, he asked his mother for a treat and a bottle of aerated water, a luxury in the uncleared area. The mother prepared the parting meal, and the precious bottle of aerated water was placed before the son. In a fit of frustration, Rajabahu smashed the bottle.

The parents then took their son to the LTTE, and made their recital of ‘wholehearted giving’ before a video camera. These videos will be shown to Tamil audiences abroad as an illustration of the patriotic fervour of Batticaloa parents and children. A sense of guilt in preserving their own children in flourishing circumstances in the West, would no doubt loosen purse strings.

Thevaruban is the 10-year-old son of Mr. & Mrs. Nallaratnam of Kathiraveli, Vaharai. He has an elder sister who is married. The LTTE demanded his elder brother for military service. This brother being in Colombo, the LTTE took Thevaruban as a hostage, saying that they would release him when his elder brother comes home. Some time later, the Nallaratnams went and remonstrated with the LTTE, demanding Thevaruban back, as he is barely a weaned child. The LTTE refused, saying that they have given him training and will release him only after the liberation struggle is concluded.

Nalinikanth, a boy of 14, is a son of the widow, Mrs.Kalalan, of Kalimadu, Kannankudah. Owing to their poverty, the boy had dropped out of school. The LTTE recently came home and took the boy away forcibly. His mother screamed and fainted.

In all the Batticaloa homes above, a funereal air has been overlaid by a sense of guilt over their children. Life has continued in a desultory, abnormal fashion, with cooking done irregularly and consumed indifferently. In the next example we have suppressed some details for reasons that would become evident.

Kanthan, who just reached 14, is from Kokkadichcholai. He is the second of 3 children, the eldest being a girl. The LTTE came home repeatedly and asked for him. Kanthan did not wish to go and his parents too kept him hidden. The LTTE came and locked their home and told the parents that they would not be allowed in until the boy is handed over. On 8th October, the heart broken parents sent the boy with a close relative, Ratnam.

Having obtained a letter from the local LTTE office, they were directed to a centre in Manalpiddy. There the child recruits and their parents were asked to get into a bus to be taken to another place. It was getting dark and the bus had to move slowly along the rutted road. At a bend, Ratnam asked Kanthan to get down and run for it. This was not observed by the LTTE. Kanthan found his way and was hidden by relatives. The next night, a female relative smuggled him out of the LTTE controlled area and he is safe for now.

Oblivious to these appalling events affecting their children, sections of the well-heeled Tamil elite were indulging in strange rituals. The National Peace Council along with two other groups arranged a plush three-day consultation at a hotel in Nilaveli. Several Western diplomats were also present at this conference in early October 2001 that was funded by a Japanese foundation. The decisions at the conference were to serve as a basis for approaching both the Government and the LTTE.

The Sinhalese delegates were silenced by an appeal to their guilt. Through carefully selected speakers, the organisers set the tone. The main message was that the Tamil people are inseparable from the LTTE and this war is to relieve the oppression of the Tamil people by the Government. Some of the supposedly rural Tamil NPC animators were paraded as those who could show the delegates the Tamils in the ‘uncleared’ (i.e. LTTE-controlled) area, if they wished. Away from stage settings, however, the reality is too often ironical.

Thirty miles south, in Vaharai, large numbers of Tamils in the uncleared area were moving towards the lines of the Sri Lankan Army, to protect their children from the LTTE. The LTTE has once more distinguished itself among liberation movements by transforming oppressive state forces into saviours of the oppressed.

The LTTE thus, while on the one hand going for massive forcible recruitment of children, which has a vicious, unstoppable dynamism of its own, is using all channels of influence to replace the PA government by a UNP one. With Parliament dissolved and elections in prospect, the UNP, with help from the TULF (that is now allied to the UNP), will be pushed as the party of peace. Both the LTTE and UNP are clear that this convergence of interests is only temporary.

A group of well-connected Tamil journalists is among those active in organising a front of Tamil parties amenable to the LTTE. After the elections, the bargaining power of these front-parties will be used to push for a cease-fire, where rhetoric will substitute for the scantiest guarantees of permanence. The Tamil parties, and particularly the TULF, know well that this would be the cue for the LTTE to extend recruitment of children to urban areas under army control. In this game, Tamil children face the long prospect of untold savagery, shielded by a conspiracy of silence.

Further cases illustrating the LTTE’s recruitment drive are given in the Appendix. Local observers place the proportion of minors (under 18s) among the recruits at above 60%. The youngest in the list are in the age group of 10-11. It is observed that they are from the poorest areas and were invariably taken forcibly.

1. Batticaloa: Throwing Away the Velvet Glove

In the wake of resistance, by September end, the pretence of a veneer of legality in child-conscription was thrown to the winds. In Kokkadichcholai, LTTE recruiters coming in a tractor and trailer stopped opposite homes. The parents were called out and asked to give a child. When they refused, they were beaten with panaimattais (dry stems of Palmyrah fronds having abrasive edges). Usually the children came running on hearing the parents scream. The recruiters then asked a child to come along. The child on declining was beaten and forced into the trailer. The use of this method on a larger scale is suggested by testimony of its use also in Karadiyan Aru. The LTTE’s current mood is reflected in the leaflet distributed in Valaichenai (see Sec.5 below).

In Vaharai, LTTE recruiters, including an area leader, were assaulted by parents. According to reports from the area, about 20 civilians were detained in a round up by the LTTE. In this move to make up numbers, children of delicate health become early casualties. A mother from Keluthimadu was imprisoned by the LTTE for not handing over a child. In the night she was witness to a newly recruited child of 14 succumbing to an attack of asthma. The body was handed over to the angry parents the next day.

Among those punished by the confiscation of their properties for refusing to hand over a child, are Nadesan Overseer, Mr. Sundaramoorthy, and the local Notary Public, all three of them from Pankudaveli. Sundaramoorthy was held in custody by the LTTE and his losses include cows worth Rs.15 lakhs. The Notary’s wife was detained for two days. A new board displayed at each one of their houses reads ‘THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF THE LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM, UNAUTHORISED ENTRY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED’. In what follows we examine the new trends and issues.

2. Vaharai : The Writing on the Wall

In conducting its ongoing forced recruitment of minors in the Batticaloa District, the LTTE was moving area by area, making a clean sweep as it were. During the last days of September the LTTE had intensified its campaign in Vaharai. But there were neighbouring villages where this activity had not taken place, but the writing was literally on the wall. The schools had on their notice board unsigned cyclostyled notices that had also been widely distributed. The gist of the notices is as follows:

"The Leader is of the opinion that this war should not be prolonged. It must be brought to an end soon so that the coming generations of our people could live in dignity. We must defeat the Sinhalese armed forces that have committed aggression against our soil.

" We now have the requisite weaponry, but it is fighters that we lack. We feel that each family should contribute one member towards the fulfilment of our aim.

Everyone knew that this was an official LTTE notice. The emphasis was on each family contributing one member at least. Age was not talked about and in practice is not an issue. The LTTE had already informed people verbally that those who had sent their children to the army-controlled area must bring them back or lose their property. The dumbfounded parents wanted to make their complaint heard abroad, but felt utterly helpless. A mother of four girls, for instance, who had sent the two elder ones to Valaichenai, was terrified at the thought of bringing them back, but felt she may have no choice.

On 15th June this year, 35 Christian families professing pacifist convictions were expelled from Pannichankerni, in violence orchestrated by the LTTE. The incident in the village south of Vaharai was widely misrepresented as a clash between Hindus and Christians. What lay behind the incident became clear in the coming weeks. On 26th September, 103 days after the Christians were expelled, a similar number of Hindu families from the same village arrived at the army check point near Mankerni in a quest to save their children from the LTTE.

------------------
Larrikin

posted October 20, 2001 07:17 AM            

We the members of the teaching staff of the University of Jaffna wish to express our anger and resentment at the reports published by the so called University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) regarding the recent happenings in the Jaffna peninsula.

The information contained in these reports are based on hearsay and authenticity of the sources from which they are supposed to have been obtained is open to question. The information does not give a true or complete picture of the events preceding and following the exodus of people from the Valigamam and Jaffnatown areas of the peninsula and seems to be intended to serve only one goal, namely to discredit the LTTE.

The authors of these reports under the pseudonym UTHR (Jaffna) with a view to winning respect and credibility from its readers by misleading them into believing that the Jaffna University Teachers are associated with their reports.

We wish to deny categorically, once again, that any teachers of the University of Jaffna other than these two ex-staff members are in any way connected directly or indirectly with this organisation called UTHR (Jaffna) and we challenge the organisation to disprove our assertion.

The authors of the report have not even visited the North ever since they ceased to be members of the University staff five years ago. They have taken up residence in an area outside the theatre of war and have no first hand knowledge of the conditions here. Whatever they publish has to be based on information supplied to them either by the government or the people travelling to Colombo from the North and such information and the inferences the authors have made from them are highly selective and suited to their goal of vilification of the LTTE.

The people living in the North, including ourselves, have suffered infinitely more hardships due to military action by the Sri Lankan security forces and the oppressive administrative actions of the Sri Lankan government than due to any human rights violations of the LTTE. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in a gruesome manner and thousands have suffered serious injuries as a result to the indiscriminate artillery shelling and aerial bombing of thickly populated civilian areas by the security forces.

A large number of houses have also been completely damaged due to the same reasons. Under these circumstances the people living in the war torn area needed no encouragement or coercion from the LTTE or any other sources to leave the area and seek shelter elsewhere when there was a sudden worsening of the security situation. In fact, people who valued their lives more than their properties quickly sought shelter elsewhere as they did during the previous military operations in the peninsula, the islands a nd the eastern province. Heavier civilian casualties were avoided not because of the sympathy and concern shown by the security forces to the safety of civilians but due to the timely evacuation of the civilians from the area of conflict. Perhaps the authors of the report are not aware that people are still leaving the Vadamaratchchi due to intense artillery shelling which has claimed more than fifteen lives during the last two months and caused serious injuries to several more.

Incidentally, the appeal by the government to the civilians to return to the "liberated area" sounds hollow under these circumstances.

The above human rights violations by the security forces and those of the government in preventing free flow of food, medicine, liquid cash and other essential items to the North, detaining mails and postal articles destined to the North in Colombo for several months, indiscriminate arrest and harassment
of Tamil people in the South and detaining Tamils who travelled to Colombo in transit camps in Vavuniya irrespective of their age, sex or status, do not apparently seem to the authors as serious human rights violations as those purported to have been committed by the LTTE. If these matters are referred to at all, they find only casual mention in the reports and their inclusion seems to be intended to give a semblance of impartiality with a view of hiding the real purpose of the reports.

We are surprised that even the BBC and particularly its Tamil service which has been one of the few dependable sources of news for the Tamil people in Northern Sri Lanka has come under attack by this so called human rights organisation. It appears that the popularity of the BBC among the Tamil people seems to be a cause of worry for the authors of the report. We would like to congratulate the BBC and urge them to continue their impartial reporting without being deterred by the comments or criticism by organisations like the UTHR (Jaffna)

It is not clear on whose behalf or for whose benefit the authors have been preparing these reports but it is obvious that the reports will not serve the cause of the Tamils who have been struggling for over four decades to liberate themselves from the tyranny of an ethnic majority, first peacefully, and having
failed in their peaceful attempts, now militarily.

Yourstruly,

Dr. A. Navaratnarajah, Senior Lecturer in Animal Science

Mr. R. Vijayaratnam, Senior Lecturer in Agrucultural Engineering

Mr. S. Rajadurai, Senior Lecturer in Agronomy

Dr. S. Mohanadhas, Senior Lecturer in Agricultural Chemistry

Prof. S.V. Parameswaran, Senior Professor of Physiology

posted October 20, 2001 09:33 AM            

Not only he got rid of Sinhalese from Jaffna, now the Jaffna university Staff and Students is 100% Tamil. Meanwhile, Colombo university Staff and Students are over 10% Tamil !

posted October 20, 2001 09:59 AM            

wait for the retard to next post a few sexual or otherwise irrelevant postings now under several different user names to try and bury these.

posted October 20, 2001 12:25 PM            

Cold hard truth?? how do you know that. All the names on UTHR(J) article are fake names. None of them are real.

posted October 20, 2001 02:24 PM            

"Signed by all Tamils.
Must be Prabhakaran's appointees."

Any Tamil who speaks the truth is called a LTTE member or Prabhakaran's appointee. So you expect all the Tamils to lie and support the killers of their brothers and sisters and be "innocent", "good" Tamils.

"Not only he got rid of Sinhalese from Jaffna, now the Jaffna university Staff and Students is 100% Tamil. Meanwhile, Colombo university Staff and Students are over 10% Tamil !

Who discriminate who???"

LTTE didn't ask the Sinhalese in Jaffna to leave nor they attack them. The Sinhalese left because they feared reprisal by the Tamil people for the atrocities committed by SLA on Tamils.
Does the Ruhunu and Rajarata campuses have any Tamils? No. They don't. So Nothing wrong in Jaffna University not having any Sinhalese. But the Sinhalese are not prevented from going and studying there. Only thing is they are not willing to go there because of the war situation.

"Imagine living in a country where your enemy is finally is your own and the hate within LTTE towards Sinhalese is so high that they are willing to sacrifice their own to kill every Sinhalese on the Planet."

This is absolutely false. The LTTE is never againt the Sinhalese. They are only fighting to restore Tamils' rights. The problem is that the Sinhalese think the whole country is theirs. So when the LTTE says that this country belongs to the Tamils too, the Sinhalese see them as anti-Sinhalese.

"LTTE never want to admit and tell their own is that there are enough Sinhalese on Sri Lanka who are willing to help out the People in Jaffna achieve the same lifestyle enjoyed by Tamils in COlombo."

First of all what Tamils in colombo are going through is no better than what Tamils in Jaffna are going through. May be a little bit better. Otherwise at both places they are second class citizens. But if you say there are enough Sinhalese in the South who are willing to help out the people in Jaffna achieve the same life style enjoyed by the Sinhalese in the south then only a federal system can ensure the equality. Not just words.

posted October 21, 2001 09:50 AM         

Press-Ganging of Children and Adults
In what follows we give, in addition to the cases above, further examples of children and young adults forcibly removed by the LTTE. The force is not necessarily wholly physical, although it frequently is in the case of the youngest recruits. When for example the LTTE visit a home, threaten to turn the inmates out and lay their hands on a child, the parents often find themselves in a quandary. Account must also be taken of many years of conditioning by the political environment and the media. Resistance to the LTTE has been made to appear illegitimate and useless.

Children
No
Title
Name
Surname
Age
Village
Division

1
Mas
Sivaruban
Thirunavukkarasu
10
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

2
Mas
Thevaruban
Nallaratnam
10
Kathiravelli
Vaharai

3
Mas
Rameshkumar
Krishnapillai
11
Ward 7
Vaharai

4
Mas
Vinoth
Sivakumar
11
Kandalady
Vaharai

5
Mas
Kumar
Kanthan
11
Ammanthai Veli
Vaharai

7
Mas
Vasanathakumar
Sinnathamby
13
Ward 5
Vaharai

10
Mas
Mohan
Perinbanayagam
13
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

11
Mas
Pathmaraj
Sinrasa
13
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

12
Miss
Vathani
Ponnambalam
13
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

13
Mas
Suresh
Sivapragasam
14
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

14
Mas
Rajabahu
Rajadurai
14
Karadiniyan Aaru
Kokkadichcholai

15
Miss
Vinothini
Nagendran
14
Oddumadu
Vaharai

16
Mas
Nalinikanth
Kalalan
14
Kalimaddu
Kannangkudah

17
Mas
Arulraj
Vinayagam
14
Kathiravelli
Vaharai

18
Miss
Thavamany
Perambamoorthy
15
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

19
Miss
Rajani19
Nallathamby
15
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

19 Rajani was Caught on the road about 29th Sept., after Kausalyan, Robert, Thurai and Vijayan Master of the LTTE addressed a meeting in her school

20
Miss
Nadiya
Shanmugam
15
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

21
Mas
Raviharan21
Muthulingam
16
Mahiladithivu
Kokkadicholai

21Raviharan Muthulingam was an O.Level student at Shivananda Hindu College, Batticaloa. The LTTE went home and demanded him. The parents pleaded that he be allowed to sit for his O.Levels, due in December. The LTTE refused. The boy was called home from Batticaloa and his fate was sealed

22
Mas
Mangalaprabhu
Soundararajan
16
Ward 4
Vaharai

23
Mas
Ramanan23
Sellathamby
16
Pandariveli
Kokkadichcholai

23 Caught on the road about 2nd October, after Kauslayan et.al. above addressed a meeting at school.

24
Mas
Krishanthan
Nesathurai
17
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

25
Miss
Nageswary
Kopalapillai
17
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

26
Mas
Vimalanathan
Konalingam
17
Mudalaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

27
Mas
Priyadharshan
Krishnapillai
17
Oddumadu
Vaharai,

28
Mas
Bhaskaran
Samithamby
17
Sallithivu
Pannichankerni

29
Miss
Geetha
Sathyarajah
17
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

30
Miss
Srikanthy
Shanmugam
17
Sallithivu
Pannichankerni

31
Miss
Kalashini
Gnanasekeram
17
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

32
Miss
Kavitha
Ponniah
17
Kandalady
Vaharai

Adults
The following women/men were forcibly taken from the streets or their homes

No
Title
Name
Surname
Age
Village
Division

1
Miss
Suthamathy
Sinnavan
18
Pandariveli
Kokkadichcholai

2
Miss
Kiruparajani
Kirupanathan
18
Sallithivu
Pannichankerni

3
Miss
Thapethini
Soundararajan
18
Kandalady
Vaharai

4
Miss
Kalyani
Kanapathipillai
19
Sacred Hill St.
Vaharai

5
Miss
Shobana
Sinnathamby
19
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

6
Miss
Rani
Joseph
20
Kirumichchai Rd
Mathurankulam

7
Miss
Kala
Nagarajah
21
Peththai
Valaichenai

8
Miss
Sutha
Tharmalingam
21
Mudailaikudah
Kokkadichcholai

9
Miss
Kumari
Vallipuram
22
Peththalai
Valaichenai

10
Miss
Sivatharshini
Shanmugalingam
22
Sallithivu
Pannichankerni

11
Miss
Kavithavasuki
Sinnathamby
25
Kandalady
Vaharai

12
Miss
Rajakumari
Subramaniam
27
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai


1
Mr
Kiriyanathan
Thevarajah
18
Ward 5
Vaharai

2
Mr
Niranjan
Puvanesarajan
18
Vaharai

3
Mr
Ratheesweran
Vadivel
19
Kandalady
Vaharai

4
Mr
Jeyakumar
Rasiah
20
Kandalady
Vaharai

5
Mr
Divakaran
Puvanesarajan
20
Vaharai

6
Mr
Ravichandran
Nallaratnam
21
Pandariveli
Kokkadichcholai

7
Mr
Suthan
Kanthasamy
26
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

8
Mr
Shanmugalingam
Panchatcharam
32
Vinayagapuram
Valaichenai

Mr.Gunaseelan (29) of Munaikkadu was absconding after being called up by the LTTE. His father was detained as a hostage. The father was confined to a labour camp and the strain proved too much for him. He was released by Gunaseelan's younger sister, who surrendered herself to the LTTE for her father's sake.

The total taken from the Batticaloa District may be placed at above 2000. Local sources place the number taken from Munaikkadu at well above 100.

It may also be noted that the children in the list from Valaichenai were taken from a technically 'cleared' area. There are signs that recruiting agents may even be operating in Batticaloa town. In testimony received by us, an eleven year old boy was accosted by a man who told him that his father had been admitted to hospital and offered to take him there. The boy ran away from him.

------------------
Larrikin

posted October 21, 2001 08:31 PM            

http://www.uthr.org/bulletins/bul27.htm

The readers can decide who the real coolies are - the concerned members of the UTHR who refuse to let their voice be supressed in bringing the atrocities committed by the LTTE against Tamils in Jaffna to the rest of the world; or the "selectively uninformed" LTTE apologists in this forum who, if this issue is accepted as a benchmark for their level of knowledge about the LTTE and terrorism in SL, don't really seem to have a clue as they can't seem to accept that the LTTE is kidnapping and forcibly conscripting poor Tamil children in Jaffna as human fodder.

posted October 21, 2001 11:41 PM            

UTHR is one voice that is speaking out against these atrocities being committed by LTTE. The UTHR obviously has sources in Jaffna where these revealing and personal details are being elicited directly from the poor people affected by the LTTE "come in tractor, snatch kids and bash parents" recruitment methods.

The Red Cross, the UN, journalists have all reported on LTTE use of children in combat. The bodies of children recovered by Army after battles attest to LTTE use of children in combat. The children who escaped from LTTE training camps where they were held against their will and made it to govt controlled areas have told horror stories of LTTE forced conscription of children into combat. Are they all paid by the govt too Sam?

What about those children? What about their rights? Who is the LTTE to deny them their rights? Would you dismiss it so easily if it were your children? Is it easier to throw $20 to a LTTE front in Canada and forget about whats actually happening back in Jaffna?

posted October 22, 2001 07:13 AM         

In Vaharai, LTTE recruiters, including an area leader, were assaulted by parents. According to reports from the area, about 20 civilians were detained in a round up by the LTTE. In this move to make up numbers, children of delicate health become early casualties. A mother from Keluthimadu was imprisoned by the LTTE for not handing over a child. In the night she was witness to a newly recruited child of 14 succumbing to an attack of asthma. The body was handed over to the angry parents the next day.

Among those punished by the confiscation of their properties for refusing to hand over a child, are Nadesan Overseer, Mr. Sundaramoorthy, and the local Notary Public, all three of them from Pankudaveli. Sundaramoorthy was held in custody by the LTTE and his losses include cows worth Rs.15 lakhs. The Notary's wife was detained for two days. A new board displayed at each one of their houses reads 'THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF THE LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM, UNAUTHORISED ENTRY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED'.

------------------
Larrikin

posted October 22, 2001 01:56 PM            

UTHR claims:

"OVER SIXTY PER CENT OF ALL FORCED RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN"

If you says this UTHR number is wrong, what is the right number?

Everytime when someone write a true report against LTTE, you come out and challenge it.

I am finding it difficult to believe you disputing UTHR reports since when you said bombs are exploiding in Colombo everyday and a foriegner came and disputed that.

It is very possible that UTHR reports are credible and yours is not.

Do you believe Talibans are punishing women in Public?

posted October 22, 2001 02:40 PM            

"OVER SIXTY PER CENT OF ALL FORCED RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN"

If you says this UTHR number is wrong, what is the right number?"

ZERO PERCENT OF ALL RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN.
ZERO PERCENT OF ALL RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN.
ZERO PERCENT OF ALL RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN.
ZERO PERCENT OF ALL RECRUITMENT TO THE TIGERS ARE CHILDREN.

posted October 22, 2001 06:53 PM            

they will be eventually have to face the evil SL forces...so it dont matter....

The pictures u see r false propaganda of sinhala government...these people dont even have pictures of real soldiers LTTE, but they have pcitures of child LTTE soldiers..?

When i was back home, my friend who was 13 ranaway to join the LTTE, but they sent him back ...cos he was too young.

there is a an age limit in all organization..
hey but then ,what r they supposed to do when they r attacked by SL forces ?..just die?
or put up a fight and die?

i would rather die putting up a fight and causing some damage to the oppresssive forces..

posted October 22, 2001 08:03 PM            

casualties and deaths are high with this tactic but it is irrelevant because the children are usually only trained for that function - and as such are not valuable fighters - not as valuable as more seasoned (older) fighters and those who would have expereince in other aspects of guerilla warfare.

Bunker Boy does not mind using Tamil children as human fodder. representing tamil rights my a**.

posted October 22, 2001 08:12 PM            

get ur head out of ur ass...

these kids..r matured enough to make their decisions..thats why they r chosing to fight rather than be oppressed by dumb ass sinhalese just like u...

posted October 22, 2001 11:57 PM         

right indran...
11 year old kids are mature enough to make the decision of strapping explosives onto their bodies...
they are mature enough to hang a cyanide tablet around their nect & think its heroic to swallow it....
right of course a 11 year old can decide this!!!!

are you opressed indran????
why dont you come and fight with the LTTE????
you may save a 11 yr olds life! oh no but, you are too busy sucking on that fancy cigar so of course tamil children dying is ok....

posted October 23, 2001 12:29 AM            

Sam, Visit this site, learn all about LTTE child solders or baby Brigades and don't make any attempt to deny it in the future.

Hammer

SRI LANKAN CHILDREN IN CRISIS
Underage Recruitment Continues As More Children Drop Out of School

Statement Attributable to Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF

Recent press releases and statements on child soldiers
GENEVA / NEW YORK, 20 July 2001 - The United Nations Children's Fund today urges the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to live up to its commitment not to recruit children into its ranks, and urges the Government of Sri Lanka to ease restrictions on humanitarian activity and address the critical shortage of teachers in conflict-affected areas.

In Sri Lanka, one of the world's longest running armed conflicts continues to cause immense suffering and violations of children's rights. After 18 years of continuous strife, a generation of young people across the country has been robbed of a normal childhood. And tragically, conditions for children are worsening.

During a visit to Sri Lanka in 1998, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, obtained assurances from both the Government and the LTTE that gave hope for an improvement in the situation of children. In the ensuing three years, despite occasional positive signs, the overall situation of children has continued to deteriorate.

More on
Children in War
Recruitment Goes On

One of the most serious violations of children's rights in Sri Lanka is the continued recruitment of children by the LTTE, despite its promises to end this practice. In the years since Mr Otunnu's visit, the UN has observed increasing recruitment activity in and near schools and has received an increasing number of complaints from parents. Recent reports indicate some children are recruited even as young as 12. The UN has intervened with the LTTE several times, but so far with little result.

On a visit to northern Sri Lanka in February 2001, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Andre Roberfroid met senior representatives of the LTTE to express the UN's growing concerns. The LTTE confirmed its earlier commitments and agreed to implement additional measures proposed by the UN, which included widely publicising the minimum age for recruitment, not conducting any recruitment in or near schools, investigating all reported cases of children who have been recruited, and releasing those under the age of 17 years. The LTTE also undertook to allow the UN to systematically monitor compliance with these measures, including access to school attendance records by UNICEF and UNHCR staff to identify absent children.

Children Dropping Out

A second problem highlighted by Mr. Roberfroid was the increasing number of children dropping out of school. This is largely due to an acute shortage of trained teachers (resulting in an excessive reliance on untrained volunteer teachers) and the need for children to help their parents supplement family income. Even more worrying is the growing disillusion with education as a way to a better future.

Basic education is the right of every child, and also a deterrent to child recruitment. UNICEF therefore obtained agreement from the LTTE not to obstruct a nationwide Government campaign, supported by UNICEF, to identify children out of school and to help communities find local solutions to get them back to the classroom. Under this programme, where there is a possibility that a missing child might have been recruited, the UN asks the LTTE to investigate and, if true, to release the child. UNICEF has offered to provide additional resources for schools and for upgrading the skills of volunteer teachers if the LTTE follows through on these commitments.

During his February visit, Mr. Roberfroid also appealed to the Government to streamline humanitarian access so that child-related activities can take place in LTTE-controlled areas as they do in all other areas of the country. He also urged the Government to provide training for volunteer teachers and recognise their work, and to facilitate the work and security of UN staff in these areas. UNICEF has also been urging the Government to vacate schools currently occupied by its security forces.

All Parties Must Act

Despite one or two encouraging signs, there has been little demonstrable progress on any of these problems, and UNICEF calls for a much more vigorous and transparent response than has been shown thus far.

Specifically, UNICEF calls on the LTTE to adhere to all commitments made concerning recruitment, and to go even further by adhering to the Optional Protocol to the CRC that prohibits recruitment under the age of 18 years. UNICEF calls on the Government to take urgent steps to liberalise the current constraints to humanitarian access, to resolve the acute teacher shortage in the areas worst affected by the conflict and to remove military presence from schools. UNICEF also urges all Sri Lankans abroad who have influence on the situation in their country of origin to express their support for all measures to eradicate the twin issues of recruitment and school drop-out.

Replace Despair with Hope

Being recruited and dropping out of school are just two of the many ways children are affected by Sri Lanka's protracted conflict. Growing up displaced and in a heavily militarised environment both lead to psychological stress, family break-up, despair, alcoholism, violence and suicides. Lack of economic opportunities renders families dependent on handouts barely adequate for survival, undermining dignity and self-respect, and causing further harm to children. In such an environment, no child can develop to his or her full potential.

An overwhelming majority of Sri Lankans, especially children, want peace. Their hopes have been dashed by the recent stalling of peace initiatives facilitated by Norway, and the resumption of fighting. UNICEF calls on all parties to renew and re-double their efforts to find peace, the most precious right of every child in Sri Lanka.

posted October 23, 2001 05:58 AM         

The recruitment of children by the LTTE has been perceived to be one of the most serious violations of the rights of children in Sri Lanka.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted that involving children as soldiers has been made easier by the proliferation of inexpensive light weapons.

The Government has a National Action Plan to address the problems of such children and youth affected by the present conflict. This includes the rehabilitation and care of those who surrender, and steps to prevent the recruitment of children and youth by armed militant groups operating in the country.

Save the Children Fund (SCF) have observed that there is evidence now that some parents in an attempt to prevent their children being recruited by the LTTE are placing them in institutions

------------------
Larrikin

posted October 23, 2001 01:34 PM            

If there r 11 year old kids, these kids..
made a good choice...instead of dieing in the hands of modaya sinhalese....make a statement die ...die a hero...

u sinhalese wont know anything about this..
cos u all lack, passion, courage ,commitment
and honor......