An Independent and Interactive Tamil Community Web Site

01-07-2006

UNICEF asks Tigers to free 1,358 child soldiers

The UNICEF yesterday urged the LTTE to free 1,358 child soldiers in its captivity.
The agency said it had met the Tamil Tiger rebels and asked them to stop recruiting underage fighters and immediately release those already enlisted.

A three-member UNICEF delegation visited the rebel-controlled town of Kilinochchi on Wednesday and met with the representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, blamed in the past for abducting children and using them as soldiers.

''We emphasized the need to cease all underage recruitment and release all such children,'' UNICEF communications officer Junko Mitani told The Associated Press.

UNICEF says the Tigers are holding up to 1,358 child soldiers, despite the guerrillas' pledges to free all combatants under age 18.

Last month, the Tigers said in a statement that they have handed 16 youths ages 15-17 back to their families.

It also said that the names of 33 young people have been given to UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and that the remaining 17 were in the process of being released.

The UNICEF has also accused a splinter rebel group of kidnapping children since it broke away from the LTTE in 2004.

On Wednesday, the LTTE complained that the breakaway group was abducting children with the tacit support of Sri Lanka's government. The government denied the charge.

Yesterday, Mitani said that UNICEF was mandated to verify and monitor underage recruitment cases reported to the agency mainly by the families, but that it did not carry out other types of investigations.

Source-Daily Mirror