US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO120

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, DRL, SA/INS, DRL/BA 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  01/22/13 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PTER, CE, Human Rights, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Forcible recruitment of children by the LTTE 
remains a serious problem, with no quick fix in sight 
 
Refs:  Colombo 113, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Charge d'Affaires Lewis Amselem. 
Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Forcible recruitment of children by 
the Tamil Tigers remains a serious problem, especially 
in eastern Sri Lanka.  The extent of the practice 
remains unclear, however, with contacts divided as to 
whether or not it is a worsening problem.  The UN and 
the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) are pressing the 
Tigers to clean up their act.  Our assessment is that 
this issue is not going away any time soon.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) A SERIOUS PROBLEM:  Forcible recruitment of 
children by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
remains a serious problem.  Tamil contacts, including 
some who are pro-LTTE, regularly report to Mission that 
LTTE personnel are forcing children as young as ten into 
political and military training.  In addition, Sri 
Lankan newspapers carry stories almost every day about 
forcible recruitment by the LTTE, as well as reports 
about children who have escaped from the group.  (Note: 
There are also reports of voluntary returns by the LTTE, 
but these are more rare.)  One recent newspaper story 
that was particularly poignant reported that in 
Batticaloa a young girl, apparently backed by her 
family, was threatening to kill herself by lighting 
herself on fire.  She claimed that her brother had been 
abducted by the LTTE and she wanted the group to release 
him.  (Note:  It is not clear what the exact denouement 
of this incident was, but the girl did not kill 
herself.) 
 
3.  (U) With respect to location, most of the reported 
abductions take place in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province. 
Some abductions also occur in Jaffna District and along 
the GSL-LTTE "line of control" near Vavuniya, a city in 
north-central Sri Lanka.  Children are also recruited 
with some regularity in the LTTE-controlled Wanni 
region.  There are no reports of abductions of children 
from the large Tamil community in Colombo. 
 
4.  (U) EXTENT UNCLEAR:  The extent of forcible 
recruitment of children by the LTTE remains unclear. 
Numbers, for example, are very hard to come by and there 
are sharp divisions on whether the problem is 
increasing. 
 
5.  (C) Some contacts, for example, report that the 
problem is essentially out-of-control and growing worse. 
In a January 22 meeting, Ambassador Bernard 
Goonetilleke, the chief of the government's Peace 
Secretariat, told us that in the past several months 
 
SIPDIS 
upwards of 2,000 children may have been abducted by the 
LTTE.  From what he had heard, very few of these 
children have, subsequently, been released by the LTTE 
or escaped from the group.  Goonetilleke's comments 
track with those of Father Harry Miller (please 
protect), an Amcit Catholic priest based in Batticaloa, 
who believes that "thousands" of children have been 
abducted by the LTTE in the past year.  Goonetilleke, 
Miller, and some local NGOs in the east believe that the 
problem is decidedly on the upswing. 
 
6.  (C) On the flip side, respected international 
organizations are reporting that the problem is more 
limited in scope.  UNICEF, for example, which has been 
dealing with this issue for some time, states that the 
number of forcible recruits was somewhat over one 
hundred in 2002.  The Norwegian-run SLMM is reporting 
somewhat higher figures at upwards of 300 abducted 
children in 2002.  In addition, UNICEF, the ICRC, and 
the SLMM all report that they believe that the child 
recruitment problem has been on the downswing in the 
past several months.   The SLMM, for example, cites 28 
reports in December 2002, down from 38 in November, 
which, in turn, was down from 60 in September. 
(Note:  The vast discrepancy between what Goonetilleke 
and Miller are hearing and what UNICEF and the SLMM are 
reporting is difficult to account for.  That said, 
Goonetilleke's and Miller's estimates seem more 
anecdotal, whereas UNICEF and the SLMM are relying on 
actual "hard" reports.  SLMM contacts have wondered 
whether the reports they are receiving only constitute 
the "tip of the iceberg" of the problem.) 
 
7.  (SBU) PRESSING THE TIGERS:  The UN and the SLMM are 
stepping up their pressure on the Tigers to clean up 
their act, urging the group to honor its prior 
commitments.  (Note:  On numerous occasions, the LTTE 
has pledged it will stop recruiting children.)  UNICEF 
Executive Director Carol Bellamy, for example, is due to 
visit Sri Lanka from January 30 - February 2.  She is 
tentatively slated to meet with LTTE representatives 
during the visit.  UNICEF reports that the issue of 
forcible recruitment of children will be high on 
Bellamy's agenda.  We have also heard that UN SYG Annan 
plans to raise the issue when he visits Sri Lanka in 
late February. 
 
8.  (SBU) In the meantime, the SLMM continues to urge 
the LTTE publicly and in private to stop its recruitment 
efforts.  The SLMM reports that its chief, Major General 
(ret'd) Trond Furuhovde, plans to raise the issue on 
January 22 in meetings with the LTTE.  In addition to 
the UN and SLMM efforts, Ambassador Goonetilleke 
confirmed to us that human rights issues will form a 
major part of the agenda at the next round of peace 
talks scheduled for February 7-10.  The issue will also 
be an important topic in GSL-LTTE peace sub-committee 
meetings. 
 
9.  (C) COMMENT:  Our assessment is that this issue is 
not going away any time soon.  Although they pay lip 
service to their previous commitments, the Tigers are 
evasive as to what they plan to do to stop child 
recruitment.  With the onset of the peace process, 
however, it is getting increasingly difficult for the 
Tigers to hide what they are doing.  Journalists and 
many others are visiting areas in the north and the east 
with some regularity now, and reports of what transpires 
in those areas are seeping out.  (Note:  See, for 
example, a January 6 article in THE NEW YORK TIMES 
spotlighting the child recruitment issue.)  At the same 
time, if the Tiger leadership wanted to end child 
recruitment, it is not clear whether it has control of 
all of its cadre, especially those in the east. 
Overall, even in the best case scenario with the peace 
process continuing, we doubt that there will be a quick 
fix in this area soon.  END COMMENT. 
 
10.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
AMSELEM