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(New York) – The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed opposition group in Sri Lanka, must halt all efforts to recruit recently released child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. International agencies in eastern Sri Lanka should actively monitor the situation to help ensure the safety of hundreds of threatened children.

LTTE forces on April 9 defeated a breakaway group under their former eastern commander, known as Karuna. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least two child soldiers, both girls, died in the fighting; unconfirmed reports indicate many more child combatants were killed during the battle or after having surrendered. Both the LTTE army and Karuna’s forces of some 6000 fighters included many child soldiers. An unknown number of the latter surrendered to the main LTTE force. After the families of the children demanded their return, according to UNICEF, 209 were released to their families; a reported 800 others from Karuna’s disbanded force returned home on their own. Thousands more child soldiers are believed to remain with LTTE forces in the north of the country.

“The release of hundreds of LTTE child soldiers to their families is good news,” said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. “The issue now is whether the Tigers will permit these children to stay home or force their return to the front lines.”

In the eastern towns of Batticaloa and Ampara, the LTTE reportedly sent around vans with megaphones instructing Karuna’s former fighters, including the released child combatants, to report for re-registration. Families in the area feared that the LTTE were going to take away their children. Many families were reportedly seeking shelter for their children from international and local human rights and aid agencies, and even journalists.

Human Rights Watch called on international agencies present in eastern Sri Lanka, including UNICEF and the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, which monitors the ceasefire between the LTTE and the government, to pursue active measures to deter the LTTE from recruiting the former child soldiers. It is especially important that international field monitors be present in areas with high risk of LTTE re-recruitment. Human Rights Watch also urged UN agencies and their partners to devote more resources to reintegration and follow-up activities to reduce risks of re-recruitment of child soldiers.

“Children need to be kept away from the ranks of fighters, and the Tamil Tigers especially,” Adams said. “International agencies must have a presence in the villages where these children live if there is any hope of preventing the LTTE from returning these children to its forces.”

Human Rights Watch also called on the Sri Lankan government to take immediate action toward protecting these released children and working towards their rehabilitation and re-integration into society. The government should also declare amnesty for all child soldiers who have returned home, in order to ensure the children feel they can seek help from state protection agencies.

A two-decade long civil war in Sri Lanka cost more than 60,000 lives and resulted in numerous atrocities by both the LTTE and government forces. A ceasefire between the LTTE and the government has been in effect since February 2002. Under the ceasefire, the LTTE has virtual autonomy in most of the north and east of the country. Although there has been little fighting during this time, the LTTE has continued to recruit children under 18 years into their forces. The LTTE assault on Karuna’s breakaway army was the first major fighting since the ceasefire began.

The LTTE has had a history of forcibly recruiting children and placing them on the front lines during combat operations, a history which they denied until recently. In February 2003, the LTTE released a press statement in which they pledged to cease all child recruitment, and to investigate and punish commanders found responsible for child recruitment. However, UNICEF and human rights workers received confirmed reports of forcible recruitment of children. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on children in armed conflict, which came into force in February 2002, prohibits the direct use of any child under the age of 18 in armed conflict and prohibits all use of children under 18 by non-state armed groups.

“The burden is on the LTTE to honor its commitment and safely return all children in its ranks to their families, free from the fear of recruitment,” Adams said.

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