US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1594

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001594 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, SOCI, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: TIGER CHILD RECRUITMENT OUTSTRIPS 
RELEASES 
 
 
Classified By: CDA JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1. 4 (B,D). 
 
1.  (U) Summary:  The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
continue to recruit children under the age of 18 at a rate 
outpacing the number of child soldiers it has released under 
a UNICEF-sponsored Action Plan signed last year.  UNICEF has 
been forthright in publicizing and criticizing the Tigers' 
demonstrated failure to implement the only human rights 
agreement it has signed since the ceasefire began in 2002. 
End summary. 
 
2.  (U)  UNICEF statistics on the Action Plan for Children 
Affected by War, which was signed by both the Government of 
Sri Lanka (GSL) and the Liberation of Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) just before negotiations broke down in April 2003, 
show that the agency has received reports that the Tigers 
have recruited 4,482 children under the age of 18 since April 
2001.  Some recruits have been as young as 11.  (Note:  Since 
the statistics track only reports received by UNICEF, usually 
from parents of recruits, the actual rate of child 
recruitment is likely far higher.  End note.)  The Tigers 
have formally released only 1,003 children over the same time 
frame.  (Note:  These statistics do not include at least 
1,800 child soldiers in the East who "walked home" after the 
defection of the LTTE's Eastern military commander Karuna in 
March because those children did not receive a formal letter 
of release from the LTTE.  End note.)  During the first six 
months of 2004, UNICEF statistics show that the number of 
children recruited by the LTTE (488) more than filled any 
void left by the number of children formally released by the 
Tigers (449) over the same six-month span.  Releases are more 
or less distributed evenly by gender.  Of the 488 children 
recruited during this period, there were 86 reports of 
"re-recruitment" of children previously released, especially 
in the East.  According to UNICEF, many of these incidents of 
"re-recruitment" occurred at or near schoolgrounds and were 
often accompanied by violence, i.e., LTTE cadres beating 
parents or children who attempted to resist. 
 
3.  (U)  UNICEF officers are frank about the LTTE's failure 
to honor its commitments under the Action Plan, the only 
human rights agreement the LTTE has signed since the 
beginning of the ceasefire in 2002.  In July UNICEF Resident 
Representative Ted Chaiban sent a letter to the diplomatic 
community noting a disturbing spike in recruitment over May 
and June (likely to fill the void created by Karuna's cadres) 
and asking for international pressure on the LTTE to honor 
its commitments.  On September 9 Chaiban issued a press 
release noting that progress under the Action Plan is "at 
risk when the LTTE does not take its commitment to end 
recruitment seriously." 
 
4.  (C)  Bo Victor Nylund, the head of UNICEF's Child 
Protection Section, believes that while the Action Plan may 
have helped increase the number of releases, it has not had 
the desired effect in ending recruitment.  According to 
Nylund, the LTTE signed the Action Plan to enhance its 
credibility as a legitimate political actor and not because 
it had any intention of fulfilling its obligations.  That 
said, Nylund believes that pressure from the international 
community may be the best way to get the LTTE to honor its 
commitments.  The Tiger leadership denies that it actively 
recruits children--despite vivid eyewitness accounts from 
parents to the contrary--claiming instead that the children 
volunteer for service out of a genuine desire to contribute 
to the goal of an ethnic homeland and thus--at least 
according to the LTTE--cannot be turned away.  The LTTE has 
"no political commitment" to end underage recruitment, Nylund 
charged, because the Tigers rely on indoctrination, 
especially of the young, to cultivate the unquestioning 
loyalty needed to wage successful guerrilla warfare.  For 
that reason, he added, many of the children officially 
returned by the LTTE seem to miss the sense of belonging and 
self-importance the organization apparently gave them and say 
they want to return.  Most of the children formally released, 
Nylund observed, seem to be those not wanted by the LTTE, 
e.g., those who showed little promise as recruits because of 
physical or mental limitations. 
5.  (C)  Comment:  The Tigers may want to enhance their 
standing as a legitimate politcal alternative to the 
Government, but not badly enough, apparently, to respect the 
UN-sponsored Action Plan that could give their claims to 
represent Tamil interests some credibility.  The Tigers' 
continued refusal to honor the one human rights commitment 
they have made under the ceasefire so far is not a promising 
indicator of how they will address other commitments they may 
make if negotiations resume.  We will continue to encourage 
our colleagues in the diplomatic community to call the Tigers 
publicly on their cynical and self-interested willingness to 
put the most vulnerable members of the Tamil population in 
harm's way. 
 
 
 
LUNSTEAD