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VIII. LTTE Commitments to End the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers

The LTTE has made numerous public commitments to end their recruitment and use of child soldiers. In May of 1998, during a visit to Sri Lanka by the Special Representative  of the U.N. Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, the LTTE pledged not to use children below age eighteen in combat and not to recruit children below the age of seventeen.¹⁴⁴ The LTTE reiterated this pledge to the then UNICEF deputy executive director, Andre Roberfroid, during his visit  to northern Sri Lanka in February of 2001.¹⁴⁵ In January of 2003, UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy visited Sri Lanka, securing yet another agreement from the LTTE to end child recruitment and use.¹⁴⁶

In early February 2003, the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE held their fifth round of peace talks in Berlin. Due to international pressure, especially from UNICEF and the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the Norwegian led entity charged with monitoring compliance with the cease-fire agreement, the issue of child soldiers was one of the central issues of this round of peace talks.  According to Norwegian officials facilitating the talks, LTTE senior officials guaranteed that there would be a “complete cessation of recruitment of, and recruitment campaigns aimed at persons under eighteen.”¹⁴⁷  This pledge strengthened previous LTTE commitments by establishing eighteen not only as the LTTE’s minimum age for combat, but also for recruitment.

In March 2003, the LTTE and UNICEF issued a joint press release pledging to develop an action plan on children affected by war. The head of the LTTE political section, S.P. Tamilselvan, stated at the time, “Our commitment to all children affected by war and not to recruit children has been firm and remains firm.” He claimed that the LTTE had informed all military commanders and heads of political sections in writing of the policy not to recruit children under the age of eighteen.¹⁴⁸ 

A month later, in April 2003, seventy-five participants from the LTTE, the government of Sri Lanka, UNICEF, and other international agencies met and agreed on a ten-point Action Plan for Children Affected by War (Action Plan). Under the plan, which was officially signed in June of 2003 by both the LTTE and the government, LTTE officials pledged again to end child recruitment, and to release child soldiers who were in LTTE custody. The plan states, “The LTTE wishes to emphasize their commitment to release and rehabilitate children currently enlisted and children seeking recruitment with the LTTE and will closely work and cooperate with local and international organizations. The LTTE is totally committed to avoid recruitment of children in LTTE ranks.”¹⁴⁹

The Action Plan (discussed in more detail below) included plans to establish three transit centers to receive children released by the LTTE, which would be co-managed by UNICEF and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), which is effectively the humanitarian arm wing of the LTTE. It also included other provisions: child rights training for the LTTE, government armed forces, and communities; a monitoring mechanism administered by UNICEF for children in the North and East; and programs providing micro credit, vocational training, education, health and nutritional services, and psychosocial care.¹⁵⁰