Child guerillas

A substantial number the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerillas are children, either forcibly recruited or somehow coerced into joining up.

The rebels, who have been fighting for the last 14 years to carve a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka, are silent about hiring youngsters. But they don't deny the existence of children in their ranks, either. Privately, many of them even admit it.

"We don't have a choice," they claim, "When more and more adults die and there are no more to be recruited, what else can we do?"

The United Nations International Child Education Fund workers in Colombo, who are increasingly worried about this trend, say it is impossible to impose any regulation on the group.

‘'How can you get an illegal group to obey rules?’ an official asks.

During a visit to the war-torn north, the official saw many young boys carrying guns. "They looked like kids playing with toy guns! It is a terrible childhood to go through," she says.

A study by a Sri Lankan paediatric expert, Professor Harendra De Silva, reveals that, of the 19 child soldiers interviewed, the majority had volunteered. Seven of them joined fearing they would be abducted by the LTTE if they did not; three for economic reasons, and the rest said they wanted the thrill of being a freedom fighter.

The study also found that many had tried to run away at least once. Or disobeyed orders, resulting in severe punishment, blackmail and death threats. Most of the youths were deployed for heavy manual work, front-line fighting and setting mines.

"A majority are trained in the use of firearms and methods of self destruction," Professor De Silva reports.

Analysts say children are generally drawn into the LTTE ranks because their families are in a desperate situation. Reports show that psychologically the most vulnerable groups are women who have either lost their husbands or sons at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.

"They are told their underage sons would carry on the struggle and revenge the death of their father or brother. The families are brainwashed into believing this is the best thing to do," the UNICEF official says.

Boy recruits start as early as 8 to 10 years, while girls join from 10 years on. "After a couple of months training, the recruits are handed weapons -- which they can hardly carry -- and told to go out and fight the enemy!’' she says.

The stories of irrational behaviour and trauma suffered by recruits are horrifying -- insomnia, irrational talk, abnormal behaviour and aggressive outbursts are just a few in the long list of psychological consequences.

An 11-year-old boy, for instance, joined the Tamil movement after a normal upbringing on a farm. He was given extensive training and taught that those who do not support the struggle are his enemies and should be killed. When he started active combat duty, the killings affected the boy. But gradually, he became obsessed by the need to see blood and started getting pleasure from the most brutal murders.

"The boy recounted how he held a small child by the legs and beat its head against the wall till the brain came out," says a psychiatrist who treated him, "He enjoyed hearing the mother scream -- he hacked her to pieces later. He said they deserved to die. He took part in four village massacres and felt bored and restless when inactive..."

UNICEF, meanwhile, has charted out a programme to support the children affected by Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. This will be put into effect in its Country Programme, running from 1997 to 2001.

Last year, Mozambique's former first lady Grace Machel had done an extensive global study for the UN on the use of children in armed conflict in 30 countries. She had urged for raising the military recruitment age to 18 and wanted all child recruits to be demobilised. In August, the UN, concerned with the slow progress of the Machel report implementation, had appointed a special representative to follow it up.

"But that’s easier said than done," says a social worker, "particularly in Sri Lanka’s case."

UNI