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Fact Sheet on Child Soldiers in Sri Lanka
- The government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were engaged in a brutal civil war from 1983 to 2002 that killed over 60,000 people. A ceasefire was implemented in February of 2002, but a final peace agreement has not been reached.
- The LTTE has used children as soldiers throughout the conflict. In the 1990’s some studies found that 40-60% of LTTE soldiers killed in battle were children under the age of eighteen. Children have also been used as suicide bombers.
- The LTTE has continued to recruit children even after active fighting ended in 2002. UNICEF has documented over 3,500 new cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire. The true total may be much higher.
- Some children are forced or coerced to join. The LTTE often pressures Tamil families to provide a son or daughter for “the cause.” When families refuse, they may be harassed or threatened, and the children taken by force.
- Some children join the LTTE because of they come from poor families, are orphaned, or have no access to school. Some have experienced abuses by government forces or want to fight for an independent Tamil state.
- Children in the LTTE receive rigorous and sometimes brutal training. Children who try to escape are typically beaten in front of their entire unit as a warning to others.
- Children are typically 14 or 15 years old when they are recruited, though some are as young as 11. Over 40% of the LTTE’s child soldiers are girls.
- In June 2003, the LTTE signed an Action Plan for Children Affected by War and agreed to end its recruitment of child soldiers and to release children from its forces. Between signing the plan and November 2004, the LTTE released 831 children, but recruited or re-recruited 1,700 more.
- International law sets eighteen as the minimum age for all participation in hostilities, all forced recruitment or conscription, and all recruitment by non-state armed groups. Any recruitment or use of children under the age of fifteen is considered a war crime.
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