International Day Against Use of Child Soldiers on 12 February

Today, the International Community joins together against the conscription of children in armed conflicts as child soldiers. As per UN reports, at present thousands of children have been conscripted as child soldiers in some countries violating all International covenants. In 2001, the UN Security Council sent a powerful message to the world that the recruitment and use of child soldiers would no longer be tolerated.

We, as the Sri Lankan expatriate community living in Ontario will never forget the forced conscription of innocent young children, as young as even nine years old, by the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from 1983 until the end of the conflict on 19 May 2009.  It was a painful period for our nation as the LTTE not only carried out heinous crimes against our nation but conscripted more than 7000 children to the terrorist outfit. The so-called liberation movement for Tamil people forcibly recruited their own innocent Tamil children depriving of all their all rights. Due to innumerable record of heinous crimes including suicide attacks, attacks against civilians and places of worship, assassinating two world leaders, arms and human smuggling, child soldiering among other crimes, the LTTE was banned by UN, EU, USA, Canada, and India among other countries.

A brief history of crimes committed by the LTTE

i.                    LTTE launched massive propaganda to forcefully recruit children to its ‘Baby Brigade’ as the child soldiers unit was called. For this purpose, the LTTE surrounded schools and gave speeches of heroism to convert students to the LTTE, if not the children were abducted for forceful military training. Wealthy Tamil parents had an option to pay a ransom to the LTTE terrorist organization in lieu of giving the child to the LTTE. Other poor parents had no option but to weep as their young children were torn away from them by the LTTE. The innocent children were given many difficult tasks which included spying, building bunkers, manning bunkers and fighting at the front line and forced to be a suicide bomber.

ii.         The Sri Lankan government forces were mindful of these tactics of the LTTE and rescued children and handed them over to government civil administration for rehabilitation and family re-union. During the final phase of the war in May 2009, 12,000 were rescued, rehabilitated and re-united with their families within a very short span of time.

iii.               During the rehabilitation period, the rescued children were provided free education, to sit for the University entrance exam. Many of the children who sat for those examinations are at present professionals and are working as engineers, doctors, accountants etc in Sri Lanka.

iv.               All successive governments of Sri Lanka have ensured rights of children through free education from Grade 1 to 12 in schools since our independence in 1948. The following statistics and policies are provided.

–                      Free school uniforms, books and mid-day meal.

–                      At present there are 6,370 Sinhala medium, 3031 Tamil medium, 35 Sinhala and Tamil medium, 531 Sinhala and English medium, 170 Tamil and English medium and 38 Sinhala-Tamil and English(trilingual) medium schools in Sri Lanka. 

–                      Students by language: Sinhala medium 3,098,539. And Tamil medium 1,026,877, and bilingual 89.356.

–                      Teachers by medium: Sinhala 176,537, Tamil medium 64,297 and English medium 6500.

–                      Students have an inalienable right to education and sit for any exam in their preferred medium.

–                      In addition to the above, University education is totally free for all students who qualify and enter.

 
Our objective of this writing to you is for the following;

a.                  to understand the brutality of the LTTE and lay a concrete foundation for non-recurrence of child conscription.

 v.                  Being Sri Lankan Ontarians, we invite you all to join in strongly condemning the use of children in armed conflicts and child conscriptions committed by LTTE and other armed groups and terrorist organisations and strengthen the rights of all children in the world for a beautiful childhood and a bright future.