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Author Topic:   Dear LTTE, Please Let me live my Childhood
Hammer posted January 26, 2002 01:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
I beg you, I miss my parents. I don't want to live in the dream of Rich Tamils who lives in the west support LTTE.

[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited January 26, 2002).]

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:37 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
TWO SINHALA KIDS DRESSED IN LTTE UNIFORMS
Photo by Ministry of Defence cameraman Bandula.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 01:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
I thought you might say that. Would like to see more of your LTTE baby Brigades?

When going gets tough, you will call Prabhakaran a Sinhalese.


LTTE: Master of True-Lies.

Enjoy the folliwing by AI about your LTTE's deployment of kids to kill.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Latest Press Releases


printer friendly format

Sri Lanka: LTTE recruitment drive for child soldiers must stop
AI Index: ASA 37/013/2001
Publish date: 11/10/2001

Amnesty International today appealed to the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to put an immediate halt to the ongoing recruitment of children as combatants and to return all child soldiers to their families or communities.

"Whether the recruitment is forced or not, children have no role to play in war. The LTTE must live up to its own pledge not to use child soldiers, cease recruitment immediately and return the children to their families," Amnesty International said.

According to international standards and the LTTE's own policy commitments, no children should be recruited, regardless of whether they joined voluntarily or were coerced or forced to do so.

The organization has received disturbing reports of an intensive recruitment drive in areas controlled by the LTTE in the north and east of Sri Lanka. In Batticaloa district, hundreds of people have been recruited over the last month or so in the divisions of Vakarai, Vavunativu, Pattipalai, Porativu, Eravurpattu and Koralaipattu. There have also been reports of intensified recruitment in the Vanni, the area to the south of the Jaffna peninsula largely controlled by the LTTE. Several reports also indicate that many families in the Batticaloa area were coerced with threats into letting their children be recruited. Other families who refused were forced to leave their homes and have now taken shelter with relatives in Batticaloa town.

The total number of children recruited is difficult to establish but it is estimated to be several hundred. The LTTE's recruitment policy is that one person from each family has to do "military service". The age limits reportedly currently applied in Batticaloa district are from 15 to 45. However, Amnesty International has received reports that children as young as 14 have been among those recruited.

In an interview with Uthayan newspaper on 4 September, Karikalan, a senior LTTE leader was quoted as having said: "We were deeply moved recently to witness parents bringing their children to enrol to fight. Mothers of Arasaditivu and Kokkadicholai have written a new chapter in the history of the Tamil struggle by their bravery." Karikalan has also been quoted to have said that reports of forced conscription "were malicious rumours spread by the military and government media".

Background
In May 1998, the leadership of the LTTE told the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict that it would not use children under the age of 18 in combat, and would not recruit anyone under the age of 17. However, since then, Amnesty International has received reports that children much younger than 17 years of age have been recruited as combatants.

LTTE representatives have admitted that some of their members are very young, but argue that they have not been forced to join. They have also promised to investigate any complaints regarding the recruitment of children under the age of 17, and that if such children are found to have been recruited, they will be released.

Amnesty International opposes the use of children under 18 as soldiers by government and armed opposition groups, whether they have been conscripted by force or joined on a voluntary basis. It also opposes any form of recruitment, training or deployment of children under the age of 18, including for support roles such as messengers or porters.

The LTTE are not the only armed political group recruiting children in Sri Lanka. Amnesty International has also received reliable reports of the recruitment of children by armed Tamil groups cooperating with the security forces such as the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). PLOTE members were known to have recruited children as young as 12 in the Vavuniya area in early 2001. Amnesty International raised concern with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at the time. An inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department later found three children being trained at a PLOTE camp. They were returned to their parents. Others known to have been recruited by PLOTE however remained unaccounted for.

[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited January 26, 2002).]

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
TWO SINHALA KIDS DRESSED IN LTTE UNIFORMS

Photo by Ministry of Defence(propaganda division) cameraman Bandula.

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
TWO SINHALA KIDS DRESSED IN LTTE UNIFORMS

Photo by Ministry of Defence(propaganda division) cameraman Bandula.

hammers_wife posted January 26, 2002 01:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hammers_wife     Edit Message
hammer,
arent those our kids? What are u doing with my kids dressed in some uniform.
U cant fuck and now you use our own kids?

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 01:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam

Do you claim LTTE does not recruit Child Soldiers?

(Please answer with care, if you answer correct, LTTE's Anton Balasingham will brand you as a traitor and kill you).

Here is their exclusive article on your LTTE's recruitment of Child Soldiers. GIve up your lies, I will prove you are wrong step by step, if you stick with me.


http://www.amnesty-usa.org/news/2001/srilanka10112001.html

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 01:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam, when going gets tough, you have go and hide in the trash to attack me, isn't it?

So truth does hert...


"hammer,
arent those our kids? What are u doing with my kids dressed in some uniform.
U cant fuck and now you use our own kids?"

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
AI report is based on malicious SLG propaganda.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
OK, why they did not pick up LTTE propaganda?

What about BBC, are these child actors too?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_752000/752260.stm

Images of Child soldiers captured by BBC, taken by a BBC Photographer.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam
Do you still claim LTTE does not recruit Child Soldiers?

(Please answer with care, if you answer correct, LTTE's Anton Balasingham will brand you as a traitor and kill you).

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam, I am playing your game Sam, thank for teaching me Sam, thanks for teaching me how to play well Sam, thank you for teaching me how to post pictures Sam, sorry to go after LTTE Sam.


Sam
Do you claim LTTE does not recruit Child Soldiers?

(Please answer with care, if you answer correct, LTTE's Anton Balasingham will brand you as a traitor and kill you).

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:08 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
These people were shown to the BBC correspondent by the military. What do you expect? If those arrested village civilian boys say the truth then you know what will happen to them?

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam, are you forgetting my question or you are scared of your life?


Do you claim LTTE does not recruit Child Soldiers?

(Please answer with care, if you answer correct, LTTE's Anton Balasingham will brand you as a traitor and kill you).

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
"Sam, I am playing your game Sam, thank for teaching me Sam, thanks for teaching me how to play well Sam, thank you for teaching me how to post pictures Sam, sorry to go after LTTE Sam."

Yeah, Yeah. I saw you trying with a deer picture. Atlast you dumb brain manage to learn some new ha. What a dumb ass.

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:14 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
LTTE never recruited children. Only SLA recruits people as young as 14.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
I understand Sam, you are playing for your life Sam. Good you love your life Sam. LTTE is scary isn't it sam?

"LTTE never recruited children. Only SLA recruits people as young as 14."


Sam, here is a long report on LTTE Child Soldiers sam. Please read with carefully sam, if LTTE sees this or finds out you have this in your pc sam, they will kill you sam:

http://www.child-soldiers.org/report2001/countries/sri_lanka.html


SRI LANKA

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA

POPULATION: 18,639,000 total, 6,163,000 under-18s
GOVERNMENT ARMED FORCES: 110,000 – 115,000 active, 4,200 reserves, 88,600 paramilitary
COMPULSORY RECRUITMENT AGE: no conscription
VOLUNTARY RECRUITMENT AGE: 18
VOTING AGE (GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS): 18
CHILD SOLDIERS: none indicated in government armed forces; indicated in paramilitary and armed opposition groups
CRC-OP-CAC: signed on 21/8/00; ratified on 8/9/00; supports "straight-18" position
OTHER TREATIES RATIFIED: GC; ILO 138

The Tamil armed group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has a long record of using child soldiers, some as young as nine. There have been encouraging signs recently of a shift in LTTE policy, but previous promises have been broken and child recruitment has continued to be reported. There are some reports of child recruitment in government allied paramilitary groups. There is inadequate protection and rehabilitation provided to LTTE child soldiers who have surrendered to the government.


CONTEXT
Since 1983, a civil war has been fought between government armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group seeking an independent homeland in the north and east of the country for the minority Tamil population. Approximately 60,000 people have been killed in the war which has been characterised by grave human rights abuses, including thousands of "disappearances" on both sides. In late 1999 and early 2000, the LTTE launched a major offensive in the northeast, seizing new territory and inflicting large losses on government armed forces. During 2000 there were renewed moves towards peace negotiations, facilitated in part by the Norwegian government.


GOVERNMENT
National Recruitment Legislation and Practice
Recruitment into the armed forces is on a voluntary basis. No concrete proposals for introducing conscription have ever been made, although this has been recommended at times by government or army officials.[1] According to official sources, the minimum legal recruitment age for the armed forces is 18.[2] The army has in the past called for applications from candidates under the age of 17, but desisted after appeals from UNICEF and national bodies.[3] In 1992, after its ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Sri Lanka adopted a Children’s Charter, which includes a prohibition on recruitment into the armed forces under the age of 18 years. This document is only a policy paper and does not have legal force.
Several paramilitary forces were created in the 1980s, including the (Muslim) Home Guard and the (Sinhalese) Civil Defence Force. They are armed by the government and collaborate with the armed forces at the local level.[4] The government also has the power to mobilise auxiliary forces and no minimum age is specified under this authority.[5]
The government uses propaganda campaigns and economic incentives to recruit into its armed forces. It seems, however, that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has faced serious shortfalls in recruitment.[6] Troop morale is reportedly low, especially after defeats in late 1999, and the desertion rate is believed to be high, despite frequent general amnesties.[7]

Military Training and Military Schools
There are various military training institutions. Eighteen is the minimum age requirement for entry and students are not considered to be members of the armed forces.[8] The National Cadet Corps, which provides pre-military and civil training to students, is open to those over 16.[9] Cadets may not be called to active service,[10] and it is claimed that cadets are not members of the armed forces. There have been reports that senior schoolboys are required to perform civil defence duties normally performed by Home Guards in the Dimbulagala and Welikanda area of Pollonaruwa district.[11]

Child Recruitment
There are concerns about recruitment into some of the paramilitary groups that fight with the armed forces, such as the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO).[12] These groups fought against the government in the 1980s, but have since shifted their alliance. The general recruitment policies of these forces are not known, though there have been reliable reports of young men (for instance, 14 to 17-year-olds in Batticaloa town) being forcibly recruited.[13] The PLOTE, like other paramilitary groups, maintains a student wing. In February 1999, a 17-year-old member of the PLOTE’s student organisation was shot and critically wounded by unidentified assailants in Vavuniya.[14]
When hearing Sri Lanka’s Initial State Party Report in 1995, the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended the government submit further information within two years on "[t]he effects of the armed conflict on children, their participation in combat and the way authorities handle child soldiers prisoners of war."[15]

Government Treatment of Suspected Child Soldiers
It seems that children between 16 and 18 years of age can be charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for their alleged activities with the LTTE since the age for criminal responsibility under the PTA is 16. According to human rights lawyers representing detainees, children arrested under the PTA on suspicion of involvement with the LTTE can face years in detention.[16] Amnesty International has reported a number of cases of children who have been tortured in custody after being arrested on suspicion of being LTTE guerrillas.[17] It is claimed that there are more teenage than adult LTTE fighters in government custody because children are more reluctant than their adult counterparts to take the cyanide capsule when they surrender or are wounded.[18]
Children fight with the LTTE and then escape, surrender or are captured are usually interrogated at Special Task Force (STF) barracks but may also be sent to Colombo for further questioning by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), a division of the Sri Lankan police. They may be returned to their families, but are still obliged to report to the STF thereafter, some being used as spies and infiltrators for their contacts on both sides. Captured and surrendered child soldiers have at times also been used for propaganda purposes. For instance, 14 children who surrendered in October 1998 were paraded in front of the media and diplomatic corps by Sri Lankan Defence officials;[19] another LTTE girl soldier was made available to the New York Times and other international media just before the Winnipeg International Conference on War-Affected Children in September 2000.
On 25 October 2000 a mob from nearby villages attacked Bindunuwewa rehabilitation camp killing 26 inmates of whom all were young men between the ages of 14 and 23. Amnesty International accused the police personnel of, at the very least, being negligent in their duty to protect the inmates and called for a full and impartial enquiry into the killing.[20] A Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the massacre began sitting in May 2001.


OPPOSITION
Child Recruitment and Deployment
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
There is substantial evidence of the use of children as soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) throughout the Sri Lankan civil war, the youngest reported age being nine.[21] The LTTE reportedly only began to recruit large numbers of women and children to its ranks after it declared war against the 100,000-strong Indian Peace Keeping Force in October 1987. UNICEF estimates that the age of children recruited currently is mostly between 14 and 17.[22] The LTTE claims it restricts under-18s to training and support functions and does not recruit children under 17.
An assessment of LTTE fighters killed in combat reveal that 40 per cent of its fighting force are under 18 years of age. Another study done by a Sinhala researcher, Dushy Ranatunge, indicated that at least 60 per cent of the dead LTTE fighters are under 18 and, of these, most are girls and boys aged 10 to 16.[23] A group of LTTE child soldiers who surrendered in October 1998 claimed that 75 per cent of LTTE fighters are children.[24]
Young Tamil girls, often orphans, have been systematically recruited by the LTTE since the mid-1980s. The LTTE has claimed that this is its way of "assisting women’s liberation and counteracting the oppressive traditionalism of the present system." The Sri Lankan military believes that half of the LTTE troops are women called ‘Birds of Freedom’ by their fellow fighters. Like boys, they receive training and are told stories of glory from Hindu epics about women who battled enemies of the Tamil people. Government sources have claimed women are deliberately chosen as suicide bombers because they may not undergo as close a body search as men at checkpoints.[25] In December 2000, the bodies of 14 girl soldiers were recovered by troops following a confrontation with the LTTE in Jaffna. [26]
The LTTE uses propaganda to encourage every family to give a son or daughter to the cause.[27] Tamil schools are militarised by the LTTE, who have been known to conduct military training inside school grounds.[28] Most teachers reportedly comply with LTTE directives or are forced out of the classroom during recruitment sessions; those who make their opposition known face harassment and attack. Powerful speakers are said to visit schools, and deliver fiery speeches in a bid to inspire the youngsters to join the movement. Children are given accounts of the brutality of the Sinhalese army and incited to become ‘heroes’. Those recruiting are aware of opposition to recruitment, and therefore make a point of promising the children that their education will not be interrupted if they join the movement since classes will be held for them in the camps.[29] One source has claimed that "parents in these areas [areas controlled by the LTTE] are reluctant to send their children to schools, since they fear their children would be recruited to the LTTE military wing". [30] Another indication of parental concern is the reluctance of some internally displaced Tamil people to register at welfare-centres.[31]
LTTE ‘orphanages’ for children displaced in the fighting are also reported to be centres for indoctrination and recruitment. One report cites the case of a mother who left her child to be brought up in a LTTE-sponsored orphanage called Red Blossomed Garden, only to receive a sealed coffin containing the remains of her 13-year-old child some three years later. [32] The elite Sirasu Puli (Leopard Brigade) is reportedly composed entirely of children drawn from LTTE-orphanages and is one of the LTTE’s most fierce fighting forces.[33]
According to a study presented to the Asia-Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers in Kathmandu in May 2000, based on interviews with 19 former LTTE child soldiers, most had in fact "volunteered" for recruitment. Seven said they had joined out of fear of abduction by the "enemy", others had joined for revenge or the thrill of being a freedom fighter, while three had joined for economic reasons. A majority had tried to escape at least once or disobeyed orders, resulting in trivial punishment such as kitchen duty or severe punishments such as detention in hot and dark rooms, blackmail and threats to family members, or death threats.[34] Another report, however, estimates that only 5% of recruits are truly voluntary.[35]
In 1998, Amnesty International reported on the case of an unaccompanied teenager who sought asylum in the United Kingdom. The child explained how the LTTE tried to recruit him and his sisters on many occasions. The first time, in 1993, he was 14, and living with his family in a camp for internally displaced persons at Urumpirai, Jaffna. An LTTE member, in civilian clothes, tried to convince them to join the armed group while other LTTE members, who were armed and in uniform, waited outside the family’s hut. The LTTE came back with a similar request while they were in another camp.[36]
A typical unit of children is trained for four months in the jungle. All links between the children and their families are broken and discipline is strict. The training became tougher after 1990, from which time children have been used in combat against the Sri Lankan forces on a larger scale. The young fighters are prepared for battle by attacking unprotected or weakly defended border villages. In early 2000, the University Teachers’ Human Rights- Jaffna (UTHR-J) claimed that compulsory self defence training was instituted for civilians between the age of 16 and 45 in LTTE controlled areas from April 1999. Trainees are reportedly used in the border force for defensive and ordinance tasks.

" I didn’t know why I had to fight government soldiers. A rebel leader just told me that I had to kill as many soldiers as possible for independence.... at marching drills in the hot sun.I was frequently punished. .I really was not very good.I just want to be a good girl and have a normal life"
14 year old girl former LTTE child soldier, was kidnapped by LTTE at age 8. (Bangkok Post, 16 August 2000)
"Overlooking vast tea gardens and flower farms, a tin-roofed building on a small hill echoes with the laughter of boys playing an unusual game of charades. One gestures as if plowing a rice field.
Another playmate hazards a guess: "He is digging a mass grave". "No", says another. "He is bayoneting a half-dead soldier"
Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre, just weeks before the massacre (AP, 9/9/00)


DEVELOPMENTS
International Standards
Sri Lanka signed the CRC-OP-CAC on 21 August 2000 and ratified the instrument on 8 September 2000. The government supports the "straight-18" position. In its binding declaration upon ratification, Sri Lanka stated that there is no compulsory, forced or coerced recruitment into the national armed forces; recruitment is solely on a voluntary basis; and the minimum age for recruitment into the armed forces is 18.

Commitments by the LTTE
During a visit to Sri Lanka in May 1998 by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Mr Olara Otunnu, the LTTE leadership made an oral commitment not to recruit children under 17 and not to use children under 18 in hostilities.[37] No commitment was made release children already recruited.[38] In October 1998, however, according to Human Rights Watch, hundreds of children were believed to have been recruited from the Batticaloa area, and shortly after 64 children were taken from one school.[39] In November Mr Otunnu appealed to the LTTE to fulfil the commitments made to him earlier that year;[40] UNICEF also raised the issue with the LTTE.[41] But the LTTE subsequently appeared to step up its recruitment drive in the eastern Batticaloa district, with at least 150-200 children being added to its ranks.[42]
In October 1999, 49 children, including 32 girls aged between 11 and 15 years of age were among the 140 LTTE cadres killed in a battle with the security forces at Ampakamam in the north. The bodies were handed over to the Red Cross which declared the use of the children as a war crime. Mr. Otunnu once more renewed his appeal to the LTTE to respect its pledges.[43]
In May 2000, there were reports of a more intensive LTTE propaganda and recruitment campaign, celebrating a key LTTE victory at Elephant Pass. Classes were suspended for compulsory military training of children above grade 9 (aged 14/15 up). Statistics from one school in Mallavi show the escalating scale of child recruitment from 4 children in April 1999, to 15 by early 2000, to 24 children in June 2000. Nine of these children were believed to have been killed within one year: the bodies of six former students were displayed as ‘martyrs’ to other pupils at the school. At another school, 20 girls were recruited, their uniforms burnt and then taken to a military camp. Five of the girls aged 14 and 15 who wanted to leave were locked up and ill-treated; three finally managed to escape.[44] In July 2000, UNICEF again publicly accused the LTTE of reneging on its previous promises.[45] 31 child soldiers were reportedly killed in one weekend during a government offensive in December 2000.[46]
The LTTE has shown encouraging signs of a shift in policy in recent months. In a meeting with the UN in early 2001, the LTTE repeated that they do not recruit under 17-year-olds claiming that those recruited are "mistakes". They promised to investigate any such reports and release any child found to be under 17 (which has reportedly already been done in a few cases). They have also promised to publicly announce 17 as the minimum recruitment age and have put up a sign accordingly near the UN compound near Vanni .[47] Implementation of these commitments will need to be carefully monitored.


[1] Sambandan, V.S. "Debate over Army recruitment in Sri Lanka", The Hindu, 29/1/00.
[2] Initial State Report of Sri Lanka to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/8/Add. 13, 5/5/94, para. 32.
[3] Summary records of the 228th meeting, UN Doc. CRC/C/SR 228, 13/6/95, para. 16.
[4] Horeman and Stolwijk op. cit.
[5] Section 52(1) of the 1985 Mobilisation and Supplementary Forces Act
[6] "SLA launches recruitment drive", TamilNet, 24/11/98.
[7] Price, S., "High rate of desertion, lack of rank and file recruits take toll on beleaguered force", South China Morning Post, 5/11/99; "Schwere Niederlage der Armee in Sri Lanka: Die LTTE erobern zehn Stützpunkte", Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 8/11/99; "Army loses ground after Tamil rebel attack", Xinhua, 9/11/99.
[8] Information provided by UNICEF to CSC on 17/3/01.
[9] 1985 Mobilisation and Supplementary Forces Act, Sections 40(1) and 51(h).
[10] Section 49.
[11] AI, Children in South Asia: op. cit.
[12] Other groups such as the Eelam Revolutionary organisation of Students (EROS), the Tamil Eelam Army/Tamil Ealam Liberation Army (TEA/Tela), the Eelam Revolutionary Communist Party (ERCP), the Tamil Eelam National Army (TENA) and the People’s Revolutionary Red Army (PRRA) have disappeared. Balencie and de La Grange.
[13] AI, Children in South Asia: securing their rights, ASA 04/01/98.
[14] "PLOTE’s student wing cadre wounded", Tamilnet, 5/2/99.
[15] Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. CRC/C/15/Add. 40, 21/6/95, para. 44.
[16] Information provided by HRW, 1/99 and 4/00.
[17] "Amnesty calls for tough action against Sri Lanka torturers", AFP, 31/5/99.
[18] Gunaratna, R., "LTTE child combatants", Jane’s Intelligence Review, 7/98.
[19] Cruez, D., "Sri Lanka shows rebel child soldiers to media", Reuters, 7/1098; Sambandan, V.S., "Drawn young, they know not what war is", The Hindu, 8/10/98; Eliatamby, N., "Sri Lanka Government shows kid soldiers", Associated Press, 8/10/98.
[20] Open letter to Sri Lankan President from AI dated 27/10/00.
[21] AI. Children in South Asia op. cit.
[22] UNICEF, 17/3/01 op. cit.
[23] Gunaratna, R; "LTTE Child Comatants", Jane’s Intelligence Review, July 1998
[24] Balachanddran, P.K., "Most of the LTTE fighters are kids, say Tiger captives", The Hindustan Times, 4/10/98.
[25] Ganguly, D., "Female assassins seen in Sri Lanka", Associated Press, 5/1/00; Ganguly, D., "Female fighters used in Sri Lanka", Associated Press, 10/1/00.
[26] AP 12/24/00
[27] Gunaratna, R., "LTTE child combatants", Jane’s Intelligence Review, 7/98.
[28] Goodwin-Gill and Cohn op. cit.
[29] Balachanddran, P.K. "‘Join us, be a hero’, new LTTE mantra", The Hindustan Times, 2/2/00.
[30] Information from University Teachers for Human Rights quoted in "Amnesty mounts battle against use of Tamil Tiger child soldiers", AFP, 30/5/99.
[31] Horeman and Stolwijk, op. cit.
[32] "Tigers’ refugee children returning home in coffins"; AFP, 17/07/00
[33] Gunaratna, R., "LTTE child combatants", op. cit.
[34] Paper presented by Prof Harendra de Silva, National Child Protection Authority, Sri Lanka, to Asia Pacific Conference on the Use of Children as Soldiers, Kathmandu, May 2000.
[35] CSC Update 4, 8/00 quoting UTHR report op.cit
[36] AI. Children in South Asia, op. cit.
[37] Commitment by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the SRSGCAC on the participation in combat and recruitment of children, 8/5/98, SRSG-CAC/PR/4; "UN Official on talks with the LTTE", TamilNet, 8/5/98; Karunakharan, P. and Jeevakadas, M.K., "Otunnu-LTTE talks in Wanni", The Weekend Express, 9-10/5/98.
[38] Perera, S., "Will Tigers keep their promises? UN official unsure", The Island, 10/5/98.
[39] Information provided by HRW, 1/99.
[40] "LTTE broke promises on child soldiers: UN" The Indian Express, 6/11/98; SG’s Special Representative for children and armed conflict condemns attacks in civilians and use of child soldiers, Press Release HR/4388, 9/11/98.
[41] "UNICEF concern at Tigers recruiting children", BBC News, 8/10/98.
[42] Sambandan, V.S., "Security forces, LTTE step up recruitment", The Hindu, 18/10/98. For an extensive list of articles dealing with child soldiers in the LTTE from that period, see the web site of an anti-LTTE organisation, SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka): http://www.spur.asn.au/childwar1.htm.
[43] "Sri Lanka army says rebels using child combatants", Associated Press, 21/10/99; "LTTE continue to use child conscripts", The Times of India, 21/10/99.
[44] University Teachers for Human Rights – Jaffna; Bulletin No 23, 11/7/00. See also Balachanddran, P.K., "‘Join us, be a hero’, new LTTE mantra", The Hindustan Times, 2/2/00.
[45] UN Wire 13/7/00
[46] Daily News, 28/12/00
[47] UNICEF 17/3/01, op. cit.

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:24 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
AI report is based on malicious SLG propaganda.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sam, here is another report, it is a busy night isn't it Sam?


SRI LANKA - Bishops tell Tamil Tigers: no more child soldiers

Colombo (Fides) – No more child soldiers: this is the call that the Church in Sri Lanka has made to the LTTE fighters after substantial evidence emerged on the use of children in war, boys and girls. In the area of Vanni, in the northern part of the Island under control of the separatist rebels, where youth have very few opportunities for education or employment, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue to enlist minors. This has been confirmed by displaced persons fleeing Vanni who have taken refuge in Batticaloa.

Sources say that a number of youth are fleeing the area to avoid recruitment. The LTTE have banned officials from registering marriages since many of the youth were seeking marriage as a way out as LTTE did not take married persons into their fighting cadres. In view of the exodus of these people for whom no provision was available, with the approval of the army commander, Bishop Joseph Kingsley Swampillai, of Trincomalee-Batticaloa, firmly appealed to Mr. Karikarlan the leader of the LTTE political wing for this forced recruitment to be stopped. The Bishop said such methods increased the sufferings of the people. The LTTE leadership was of the opinion that the people joined willingly.

Local Fides sources say that youth in the area, with few opportunities for study or work, are an easy target for forced recruitment. So far over sixty families have fled to Batticaloa and since there are no refugee camps to house these persons or a system of providing rations, they are suffering untold difficulties. Bishop Kingsley hopes that the LTTE will stop forced recruitment to enable the people to go back to their homes.

The LTTE is known for its child soldiers. According to a Child Soldiers Global Report 2001, produced by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, it is estimated that 40% of the LTTE fighting force are under 18 years of age. The LTTE uses propaganda to encourage every family to give a son or daughter to the cause. Children are trained for four months in the jungle. All links between the children and their families are severed, discipline is strict and the children are prepared for battle in attacks on unprotected or weakly defended border villages. (26/10/2001)

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
Another concoction of SL media.

chaminda posted January 26, 2002 02:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message
Sam,

Still can’t handle the truth? These pictures were not taken during the Mahawamsa time, you know.

Am I to understand that you are ashamed of using child soldiers?

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 09:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Denying the existence of Child Soldiers is an insult to these little fighters who put their life on the line so that big ones can live longer.

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 09:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Sammy
I am going to humiliate you again.

I got some FAN mail from a Tamil Person. I have some help now to prove that what you say here below is another LIE. Yes, the silent majority speaks once in a while, when they do, they are so grateful on what we do here day and night.

This is the third time I am humiliating you since you lied on this forum?

Would you like to see where this picture coming from? Do you want to find out who actually took this picture?

What you say below is a blatant LIE. You are nothing but a LIE Machine on this forum, just like your LTTE. Do you think you can built a country from your lies? What did you achieve during last 25 years with your lies?: “0”

"
TWO SINHALA KIDS DRESSED IN LTTE UNIFORMS
Photo by Ministry of Defence cameraman Bandula."

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 09:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Chaminda

Take a look at the picture, the Seal on the left bottom. See whether you can read it
and let me know what it says?

Sam, please help me out my man, see whether you can see the fine print on this picture?

I think this seal trying to tell us where this picture coming from. The unknown Tamil person sent me an email mentioning this.

(Sam, sorry for playing this small game, I have the trumph card, I am about to play it if you can't read this fine print.)

Thank you both.

[This message has been edited by Hammer (edited January 26, 2002).]

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
"Sam, sorry for playing this small game, I have the trumph card, I am about to play it if you can't read this fine print."

Hammer,

If you don't see the picture in my next post,
Goto this site

http://www.geocities.com/sam1541ca/ai_child_soldiers_1.jpg

Now tell me what your trump card is.

[This message has been edited by sam (edited January 26, 2002).]

sam posted January 26, 2002 01:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
Only SL Army has child soldiers


leaflet distributed in SL for SLA recruitment

Hammer posted January 26, 2002 02:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Funny sam, I can prove that you altered my image.

Show me the source of this image, if you can't I will show you (it has to be a very credible source).

Yes, this is my trumph card.

sam posted January 26, 2002 02:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
Hammer,

You show me the source of your image first.

RaviS posted January 27, 2002 10:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for RaviS   Click Here to Email RaviS     Edit Message

Beware: Shocking Images: SINHALA BUDDHIST SRI LANKAN STATE TERRORISM ON INNOCENT TAMILS

chaminda posted January 27, 2002 04:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message

The above is a typical attempt by the LTTE to distort the truth. This was expected of them, as this has been the way they cover-up heinous crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. The claim for the mythical homeland elam is based on blatant lies such as above, by blaming the others for the crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. One such example of this is avoidance of accepting the suicide assassination of the Indian PM Rajive Gandhi.. However, in the preceding days we will be presenting disturbing images of LTTE terrorist’s savagery committed in the name of Tamil Liberation. One might wonder, liberation from what? However, we will be expecting them to distort the truth as done above with the images to follow. This is the basis of Tamil Liberation by LTTE terrorists based on distorting the truth.

Ethnic cleansing in the name of Tamil Liberation
-----------------------------------------------------
The above massacre was carried out in November 1995, in Kotiyagala, Sri Lanka. Where 19 Member of the majority Sinhalese community were hacked to death by Tamil LTTE Terrorist murderers, in the name of "Tamil Liberation." Hundreds of such brutal massacres of Sinhalese civilians have taken place in the past, by these Tamil LTTE Terrorists. These Tamil LTTE terrorists have also assassinated two heads of State, Rajiv Gandhi of India and President Premadasa of Sri Lanka, also in the name of Tamil Liberation.

But, unlike the Tamil LTTE terrorists, who have a well organised propaganda network, to show to the world the "plight of the Tamils", these innocents they massacre, have no such sophisticated propaganda machinery to bring their butchery to the attention of the World.

The Tamil LTTE terrorists and their sympathisers in the West cleverly manipulate their propaganda, often distorting facts, to put forward a case for EELAM, a separate state, on the grounds that they are an oppressed minority. Some Westerners, who have a soft corner for the under-dog, often believe their distortions and untruths merely because they feel minorities are naturally discriminated and oppressed.

The reason, these innocents were butchered
-------------------------------------------------
The Tamil LTTE terrorists are trying to carve out an ethnically pure Tamil enclave in North and Eastern Sri Lanka called Tamil Eelam. This butchery is a part of the grand Tamil plan to ethnically cleanse these areas of Sinhalese and Muslims by terrorising the innocent, hacking them to death.

Tamil terrorism is funded, by funds raised in Western countries, in the name of "Tamil Liberation", "Tamil self-determination", "Tamil Freedom Struggle" etc. Their sympathisers operate under various front organisation, some of which are listed in the US State Department Report on Global terrorism, which is attached.
Other than the Sinhalese majority, They have also massacred and ethnically cleansed parts of the North and East of a smaller Muslim minority. The US State Department Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka for 1995, published in April 1996 ,states, "In the northern part of the island LTTE insurgents expelled some 46,000 Muslim inhabitants from their homes in 1990...virtually the entire Muslim population...expropriated Muslim homes, lands and businesses and threatened Muslim families with death if they attempt to return...In October over 120 Sinhalese civilians were massacred by LTTE forces in an attempt to inflame communal violence...many of the victims were hacked to death with swords and axes."
These Tamil LTTE terrorists have even killed thousands of members of their own Tamil community. Here is a list of more prominent Tamils, mostly members and activists of Democratic political parties, killed by the Tamil Terrorists in order to silence the Democratic Tamil voice, so that they can GRAB POWER by terror. Any Tamil who speaks against them will be killed.

· A.T. Duraiyappah [SLFP Mayor of Jaffna on 27.7.75]
· A.Thiagarajah [ex ACTC M.P. for Vadukoddai who later joined the UNP on 24.4.81]
· K.T.Pulendran [UNP Organiuser for Vavuniya on 19.1.83]
· A.J.Rajasooriar [UNP Organiser for Jaffna on 12.8.83]
· Mala Ramachandran [UNP MMC for Batticaloa on1.9.83]
· Gnanachandiram [Ex District Judge Point Pedro and Government Agent Mullaitivu on 24.2.85]
· C.E.Anandarajah [Principal St.Johns College, Jaffna on 26.6.85]
· B.K.Thambipillai, [President, Citizens Committee Oddusudan on 22.8.85]
· V.Dharmalingam [Ex TULF M.P. for Manipay and father of D.Siddharthan Leader of PLOTE on 2.9.85]
· Alalasunderam [Ex TULF M.P. for Kopay on 2.9.95]
· P.Kirubakaran [Primary Court Judge on 11.3.86]
· Kathiramalai [Sarvodaya leader on 26.9.86]
· Vignarajah [Assistant Government Agent Samanthurai on 15.9.87]
· Anthonimuttu [Government Agent Batticaloa on 8.10.87]
· S.S.Jeganathan [Assistant Government Agent Batticaloa on 8.10.87]
· Sinnadurai [Assistant Government Agent Trincomalee on 26.11.87]
· M.E.Kandasamy [Principal, Palugamam Maha Vidyalaya on 14.12.87]
· S.Siththamparanathan [Principal Vigneswara Vidyalaya Trincomalee on 31.1.88]
· S.Wijayanandan [District Secretary Ceylon Communist Party on 8.3.88]
· Velmurugu Master [TULF Organiser and Citizens Committee Member Kalmunai on 20.3.88]
· Rev. Father Chandra Fernando [President, Citizens' Committee, Batticaloa on 6.6.88]
· Rajshankar [President Citizen's Committee Tennamarachchi on 27.10.88]
· S.Sambandamoorthy [Ex TULF Chairman District Development Council, Batticaloa on 7.3.89]
· V.M.Panchalingam [Government Agent, Jaffna on 1.5.89]
· K.Pulendran [Assistant Government Agent, Kopay on 28.6.89]
· A.Amirthalingam [TULF Leader and National List M.P. on 13.7.89]
· V.Yogeswaran [ex TULF M.P for Jaffna on 13.7.89]
· Dr. (Mrs) Rajini Thiranagama [Lecturer in Anatomy at the Jaffna University and co-author of the 'Broken Palmyrah' on 25.9.89]
· Ganeshalingam [ex EPRLF Provincial Minister for North & East on 28.1.90]
· Sam Thambimuttu [EPRLF MP] and Mrs. Tambimuttu [on 7.5.90]
· V.Yogasangari [EPRLF MP in Madras on 19.6.90]

Hammer posted January 27, 2002 05:17 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Thanks Chaminda for good work on answering LTTE propaganda.

Actually, every time they try propaganda, it is like unlicking a grenade and putting in their own pocket.

They give us lot opportunity to reveal the truth.

Good work!

Hammer posted January 27, 2002 05:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message

Beware: Shocking Images: SEE HOW LTTE ETHNIC CLEANSE IN SRI LANKA

chaminda posted January 28, 2002 07:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message
Hammer,

What did I tell you: They have sent a BOY to do a man's job.

chaminda posted January 29, 2002 02:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message

What are the other sites which carry valuable pictured such as the above?

chaminda posted January 29, 2002 07:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message

Give us toys, not bombs: Tamil children
Give us a future, not guns: Tamil children

EALEMSUCKS posted January 30, 2002 09:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for EALEMSUCKS   Click Here to Email EALEMSUCKS     Edit Message
SAM>>
WHERE ARE U?????????

Hammer posted January 31, 2002 11:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hammer   Click Here to Email Hammer     Edit Message
Tamil kids are worst affected in LTTE controlled areas.

Give them food, don't steal their money to buy arms.

sam posted February 01, 2002 01:30 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sam   Click Here to Email sam     Edit Message
SLA killed scores of Sinhala civilians to put the blame on LTTE. Shame on them. How could they go to such low levels just to give LTTE a bad name?

chaminda posted February 01, 2002 05:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message

Oh yeah SAM! What’s the matter, you still cannot handle the truth? You must be really ashamed by LTTE’s heroics then!


Is this the way you cover up for heinous crimes committed by LTTE Terrorists?


The above is a typical attempt by the LTTE to distort the truth. This was expected of them, as this has been the way they cover-up heinous crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. The claim for the mythical homeland elam is based on blatant lies such as above, by blaming the others for the crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. One such example of this is avoidance of accepting the suicide assassination of the Indian PM Rajive Gandhi. However, in the preceding days we will be presenting disturbing images of LTTE terrorist’s savagery committed in the name of Tamil Liberation. One might wonder, liberation from what? However, we will be expecting them to distort the truth as done above with the images to follow. This is the basis of Tamil Liberation by LTTE terrorists based on distorting the truth.


ANSWER THIS Sam: WHO KILLED INDIAN PM Rajive Gandhi?


[This message has been edited by chaminda (edited February 01, 2002).]

chaminda posted February 04, 2002 08:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message

?

chaminda posted February 04, 2002 11:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for chaminda     Edit Message
Oh yeah SAM! What’s the matter, you still cannot handle the truth? You must be really ashamed by LTTE’s heroics then!

Is this the way you cover up for heinous crimes committed by LTTE Terrorists?

The above is a typical attempt by the LTTE to distort the truth. This was expected of them, as this has been the way they cover-up heinous crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. The claim for the mythical homeland elam is based on blatant lies such as above, by blaming the others for the crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists. One such example of this is avoidance of accepting the suicide assassination of the Indian PM Rajive Gandhi. However, in the preceding days we will be presenting disturbing images of LTTE terrorist’s savagery committed in the name of Tamil Liberation. One might wonder, liberation from what? However, we will be expecting them to distort the truth as done above with the images to follow. This is the basis of Tamil Liberation by LTTE terrorists based on distorting the truth.

ANSWER THIS Sam: WHO KILLED INDIAN PM Rajive Gandhi?

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