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Move to stall child recruitment

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is launching a “National Campaign against the Recruitment of Children for Use in Armed Conflict”.

The Presidential Secretariat said as per reports before 2003, nearly 60 per cent or 8,500 of the 14,000 LTTE fighting cadre were children under 18 years.

“These were often referred to as the LTTE’s ‘Baby Brigade’. There was more reliable information after this, when parents began reporting to UNICEF offices of the forcible recruitment of children for combat,” it said.

According to the latest figures – in December 2008 – the LTTE recruited 3,809 boys and 2,478 girls. There are claims that 2059 such children, or those recruited as children, have been released, which requires verification.

There are recent reports from UNICEF and other organisations that of late the LTTE has stepped up the forcible recruitment of children due to the rapid decline of its fighting cadre.

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