Pope, child soldiers and LTTE

by Walter JAYAWARDHANA

While Pope Benedict has appealed in his Christmas homily to the world to end all forms of child abuse including child soldiering - the Supremo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has sent an order simultaneously demanding all students who just sat for the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) examination be conscripted for military training.

Despite the Pope’s appeal Prabhakaran wants to conscript the 8000 girls and boys who sat for the GCE O/L exam to beef up his army as a last resort to save his tottering Fascist regime and the self-declared political capital, Kilinochchi now surrounded and besieged by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

The Holy Father celebrating the fourth Christmas since he became the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, said from the historic St. Peter’s Basilica, “Let us think of those street children who do not have the blessing of a family home, Let us think of those children who are victims of the industry of pornography and every other appalling form of abuse, and thus are traumatised to the depths of their soul.” The Pope said Catholics had to “do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children”.

Traumatised indeed, according to UNESCO reports, six thousand child soldiers are still enslaved, inside the abominable military camps of Prabhakaran, from where they are ordered to the battlefield to become the cannon fodder of the enemy. We do not know exactly how many of them have perished in his Waterloo which Prabhakaran is currently facing.

Approximately 21 days ago, according to the UNESCO, “On 4 December, the Government of Sri Lanka, the TMVP (a breakaway faction from the rebel group, the Tamil Tigers) and UNICEF signed an Action Plan to ensure that the recruitment and use of children by the TMVP comes to an end, and that all children currently with the TMVP are released and provided with reintegration assistance....According to UNICEF’s most recent figures, the TMVP has 133 outstanding cases of underage recruitment in its ranks.

“Monday’s signing clearly states the commitment of the three parties to efficiently tackle the issue of use and recruitment of children, which is against Sri Lankan and international law and does great physical and psychological damage to children,” said the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation, Suhada Gamlath.

The Government of Sri Lanka regards the recruitment and use of children in Armed conflict as a serious child rights’ violation and has consistently asserted its “zero tolerance” position on the practice.

“The agreement was signed by the leader of the TMVP, V. Muralitharan, in the presence of Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan; and by the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation, Suhada Gamlath; and the UNICEF Representative in Sri Lanka, Philippe Duamelle.

The Action Plan - which gives a clear timetable of required actions by the signatories over the next three months “This agreement shows a clear political commitment and is a very important step in putting an end to the recruitment and use of children by the TMVP,” said UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka, Philippe Duamelle.

“The Action Plan must now be translated into concrete actions on the ground which will then lead to significant results for children in the very near future.” The Coalition to stop Child Soldiers said in their Global Report for 2008, “As of September 2007 the total number of children known to have been recruited by the LTTE since January 2002 was well over six thousand, although the real number was thought to be much higher. Over the years the recruitment rate had fallen steadily, from almost 1,500 in 2002 to around 125 in the first nine months of 2007. Re-recruitment trends over this period fluctuated, with 30 children in 2002, about 70 in 2003, almost 300 in 2004, about a hundred each year in 2005 and 2006, and about 25 in the first nine months of 2007. With one exception (April) the number of children recruited each month during 2007 was always lower than the number released. By mid-2007 about 1,500 people recruited as children remained in LTTE ranks, of whom over 300 were still below 18. The average age of recruitment increased from 14 to 16 during the period 2002-7. Approximately one third of the children recruited by the LTTE were girls.”

The same group in a different report said, “The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) relied heavily on child soldiers during Sri Lanka’s civil war, using some as young as nine. The rebels say they no longer recruit under-18s, but many organisations, including the United Nations’ children’s agency UNICEF and Amnesty International say recruitment continues.

“LTTE denials are belied by consistent evidence of abductions of children for military training. Child recruitment ... is ongoing,” said Casey Kelso, international director of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.One girl recruited when she was 14 told the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch how the rebels would sometimes kill those who tried to escape.“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 ... If the person dies, they don’t tell you, but we know it happens.” Children have been recruited at temple festivals, at school and on the way to school. Some have been abducted but others have signed up themselves, sometimes to escape poverty.

A 13-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch: “We learned how to dismantle (weapons) and put them back together. We did target shooting. If we didn’t shoot at the correct target, then we were punished ... We had training on war tactics: if there is an army camp, how to approach, kill, plan the attack.”

During this Christmas it has been emphasised that the Catholic Church’s great concern about Child soldiers: “Expressions of the Holy See’s continuing concern about the impact of Armed conflict on children included a statement in the 2006 Christmas Eve Homily of Pope Benedict XVI. With reference to the birth of Christ, the Pope stated that “The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze towards all children who suffer and are abused in the world.” Among several examples of such especially vulnerable children he mentioned “children who are placed as soldiers in a violent world”. In August 2007, during a visit to northern Uganda, Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, condemned the Lord’s Resistance Army for the kidnap and forced recruitment of thousands of children into their Forces. He also called on the international community to increase its funding and support for the reintegration of former child soldiers.”

The concerns of the Pope also should become the inner strength and spirit of the wide Catholic communities in Kilinochchi and Mulaitivu to resist this crime.