.::c.a.c.u::.

.::Contact Us::.
 
You are in: Home > News Stories

News Stories

Tigers slam UNICEF over child soldier claims



By Amal Jayasinghe

July 2, 2006

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels hit back at claims by the United Nations that more than 1000 children are enlisted as soldiers, saying its reports are grossly exaggerated.

The United Nations Children's Fund released a list of 1,387 children last week that it said were rebel soldiers amid increasing violence in Sri Lanka that threatens an already shaky truce with the government.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said it had checked the list and determined that more than 800 of those named were aged over 18.

"Given that more than 800 of the youths in the list are now over the age of 18, UNICEFs call for the release of these youths is not based on any international human rights standards," the LTTE said in a statement on Sunday.

It also said 54 children on the list had been released from rebel ranks and claimed a random check showed UNICEF had counted some names several times to boost its numbers.

"It can only be viewed as a desperate attempt to boost the numbers in their list with the view to discredit the LTTE," the statement said.

"When viewed against the silence of the UNICEF in the face of horrendous attacks on children by the government of Sri Lanka operated forces, the above view is further reinforced.

The Tigers say they do not force children to join, but discover later that some have lied about their age so they can enlist. Some children living in poor and embattled areas have few alternatives to life as a rebel soldier. Others do not have birth certificates to check their age.

In June, the LTTE listed 24 children that it claimed government forces had killed during attacks in the northwest district of Mannar, a claim that the military denied. It said UNICEF failed to condemn the government for those deaths.

There was no immediate reaction from UNICEF to Sunday's statement.

However, last month, UNICEF said Tamil rebels and the government should resume peace talks as surging violence in Sri Lanka caused further harm to children, and accused the Tigers of stepping up its recruitment of child soldiers, a charge that the guerrillas denied.

"The ongoing violence underlines the urgency for the parties to the conflict to take immediate action to avoid slipping back into a state of war," UNICEF said in a statement last month.

At least 825 people have died over the past six months despite a four-year truce between government forces and the LTTE in an ethnic conflict that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a November 2004 report, said UNICEF had documented 3,516 new cases of underage recruitment by the LTTE between February 2002, when a ceasefire was reached with the government, and October 2004.


URL: page url
WARNING:
The Children and Armed Conflict Unit is not responsible for the content of external websites. Links are for informational purposes only. A link does not imply an endorsement of the linked site or its contents.
.:: AFP

.:: Agence France-Presse
 
 

© 1999- The Children and Armed Conflict Unit