DATE=7/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LAKAN RIGHTS / L-O
NUMBER=2-264331
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A group of Sri Lankan Tamil academics has
accused the country's Tamil Tiger rebels of forcibly
recruiting young children in their fight against
government forces for a separate homeland. And -- as
Vandana Chopra reports from Colombo -- the Sri Lankan
government has also come under rebuke.
TEXT: A human rights group -- The University Teachers
for Human Rights -- says girl soldiers as young as 13
are being drafted into the rebel ranks.
In its report, the rights group -- mostly made up of
Tamils who formerly taught at Jaffna University - says
a new child recruitment drive began May Fifth, soon
after the rebels captured the key Elephant Pass
military complex.
The academics say only five percent of the children
are voluntary recruits.
The 18-page report criticizes the government for using
censorship to cover up atrocities on civilians by
security forces.
The group accuses government forces of extra-judicial
killing and torture of civilians and cover-up of
incidents involving attacks on civilians.
The human rights group says a large number of children
have been killed in action and more than one thousand
children have been hospitalized with serious injuries.
The report says 15 children were recruited by the
rebels in the past year from a school in the northern
jungle region, Wanni. It says the bodies of six of
them were brought back to the school for display
before their funerals -- giving the dead an aura of
heroism and making the other children feel guilty
about not joining.
In the past, the Tiger guerrillas have been accused by
the government of conscripting young children -- even
after promising the United Nations that they would not
recruit anyone younger than 17.
There has been no immediate comment from the Tiger
rebels on the report.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been
fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's north and
east since 1983. (SIGNED)
NEB / VC / WD
12-Jul-2000 06:09 AM EDT (12-Jul-2000 1009 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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