US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO324

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000324 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS 
NSC FOR DORMANDY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PHUM, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: LTTE POST-TSUNAMI CHILD RECRUITMENT, 
RUMORED BREAK WITH UNICEF 
 
REF: A. 04 COLOMBO 1594 
 
     B. 04 COLOMBO 1843 
 
Classified By: James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of Mission.  1.4 (b,d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  January media reports highlighted 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) recruitment of child 
soldiers in the north and east, particularly in welfare camps 
for tsunami-affected persons.  In early February, displeased 
by unfavorable media attention, the LTTE threatened to pull 
out of UNICEF's Action Plan for Children, but to date, has 
not done so.  On February 3 the Tigers, in a direct 
nose-thumbing at its agreement with UNICEF, released 23 
children to the LTTE's North East Secretariat on Human Rights 
(NESOHR).  Continuing Tiger recruitment is no surprise, but 
releasing children to an LTTE-run organization created to 
deflect criticism of Tiger human rights violations is a 
departure from the LTTE's usual practice. The Tigers' 
agreement with UNICEF allows the LTTE to showcase "concern" 
for child recruitment, but at a cost--UNICEF demands for more 
releases of child soldiers grow increasingly louder.  By 
bypassing UNICEF in this latest move, the LTTE may be sending 
a message that international criticism of its human rights 
abuses--even if valid--is not welcome.  End Summary. 
 
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No Surprise: Pre-Tsunami LTTE Promises to UNICEF Broken 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
2. (U)  December 26, 2004 press reports (written pre-tsunami) 
claimed  that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had 
embarked on a house-to-house recruitment campaign of children 
and adults, focusing on the Jaffna, Trincomalee and Vavuniya 
areas; and that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was 
aware of the situation and termed it a cease-fire violation. 
 
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Post-Tsunami LTTE Recruitment of Child Soldiers 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
3.(C)  Reports of LTTE child recruitment continued throughout 
January.  Local and international media repeatedly reported 
LTTE recruitment of child soldiers in the north and east, 
particularly in welfare camps for tsunami-affected persons. 
In response to multiple press inquiries in January, UNICEF 
spokesman Geoff Keele revealed that post-tsunami, the LTTE 
had recruited 40 children.  On January 21, Sri Lankan media 
reported that LTTE's Tamilchelvan told UNHCR Assistant High 
Commissioner Kamel Morjane that the allegations against the 
LTTE were "totally false and a fabrication to malign us." 
UNICEF lead protection officer Christine Watkins told poloff 
on February 7 that since the December 26 tsunami, UNICEF had 
documented 51 cases of child recruitment, although only 4 
cases were tsunami-affected children.  Most cases were from 
Trincomalee and Vavuniya, and none from the Ampara area. 
Watkins noted that the number of children recruited by the 
LTTE is consistent with recent Tiger recruitment patterns. 
 
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LTTE, Touchy About International Criticism 
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4. (C)   In early February, a rumor emerged that the LTTE was 
planning to pull out of UNICEF's Action Plan for Children 
(Reftel A).  UNICEF's Watkins said that UNICEF's earlier 
press comments about LTTE recruitment in Internally Displaced 
Persons (IDP) camps had caused the LTTE to "tense up," 
prompting an LTTE demand that UNICEF not publicize Tiger 
recruitment.  According to UNICEF Protection Officer Bo 
Viktor Nylund, the LTTE threatened UNICEF with withdrawing 
from the Action Plan.  To date, they have not acted on this 
threat.  Since the tsunami, according to Nylund, the LTTE has 
not handed over any children to UNICEF as required under the 
action plan. 
 
5. (C)  On February 3, according to the LTTE Peace 
Secretariat website and other press reports, the Tigers 
 
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released 23 children--but not to UNICEF.  Instead, the Tigers 
released the children, whom they characterized as  having 
"volunteered for enlistment with the LTTE,"  to the North 
East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR), an organization 
the LTTE created in July 2004 (Reftel B).  The LTTE Peace 
Secretariat website reported that four of the children were 
 
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handed over to their parents, but that NESOHR would maintain 
custody of the other children until their parents are 
located, as "extra caution is being exercised... to avoid 
children going into wrong anti-social elements."  UNICEF's 
Nylund told poloff that UNICEF was not able to verify this 
information, and that the children would not be counted as 
releases in the UNICEF child soldier database. 
 
6. (C)  Rory Mungoven, the UN's Senior Advisor on Human 
Rights for Sri Lanka, told poloff that he sees the LTTE's 
release of children to NESOHR as something that might have 
happened anyway, tsunami or no.  He surmised that the LTTE 
was sending a message to UNICEF:  if UNICEF criticizes Tiger 
recruitment, then the Tigers will bypass UNICEF entirely and 
use their own organizations (Tamil Rehabilitation 
Organization and NESOHR) to "address" human rights issues. 
 
7. (C) Human Rights Watch (HRW) Asia Researcher Tejshree 
Thapa told poloff February 1 about LTTE regarding HRW's 
coverage of the issue, including HRW's October 2004 report on 
LTTE child recruitment and November and December 2004 
meetings HRW hosted in Toronto and London to educate diaspora 
populations about LTTE child recruitment practices in those 
cities.  Thapa recounted that the LTTE disrupted the public 
meetings in both locations by intimidating people who tried 
to speak in the meetings, and forbidding participants from 
speaking in Tamil.   Later, the LTTE distributed circulars 
(in English) in Toronto and London claiming the human rights 
group was linked to Al Qaeda. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C)  Continuing Tiger recruitment of children is no 
surprise, but releasing children to NESOHR, an LTTE-run 
organization created to deflect criticism of LTTE human 
rights violations, is a departure from the LTTE's practice so 
far.  The Action Plan for Children is the only quasi-treaty 
the LTTE has with any international actor, and thus is 
valuable to the Tigers as a way to reinforce the LTTE's 
legitimacy both in Sri Lanka and abroad.  The agreement with 
UNICEF allows the LTTE to showcase "concern" for child 
recruitment, but at a cost--UNICEF demands for more releases 
of child soldiers grow increasingly louder.  The Tigers, if 
their clamp-down on HRW meetings with Tamil diaspora last 
autumn is any indication, are determined to stop public 
criticism of their child recruitment practices (if not the 
actual recruitment itself).  By bypassing UNICEF in this 
latest move, the LTTE may be sending a message that 
international criticism of its human rights abuses--even if 
valid--is not welcome. 
LUNSTEAD