SRI LANKA: Breakaway Tamil Tiger faction to stop child recruitment

Photo: Government of Sri Lanka

TMVP leader Vinyagamurthi Muralitharan (right) with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse

 A breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers is to stop underage recruitments completely, the group's leader told IRIN. 

Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), which broke away from the Tamil Tigers in 2004, said it signed the action plan with the government and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on 1 December, with a three-month deadline for ensuring that all underage recruits in the TMVP are demobilised. 

"I do not want children to carry arms and get into the armed culture. We, the TMVP, signed an agreement with UNICEF to show our commitment to protecting the rights of children," Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, told IRIN. "My wish is to provide children with the basic facilities for their education and also for their development in life." 

Muralitharan, who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1983 as a 17-year-old, broke away in April 2004 and formed the TMVP. He was appointed a member of parliament with the ruling People's Freedom Alliance on 7 October 2008. 

"The Action Plan must now be translated into concrete actions [by the TMVP] on the ground," Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF's representative in Sri Lanka, said. 

UNICEF said the three-month plan set out a clear timeframe: by 1 January 2009, the TMVP must release all children from its ranks; by 1 February, the TMVP is to spell out its stance on underage recruitment and issue directives to members; and by 1 March it should have trained key TMVP personnel on recruitment and child protection. 

Access to camps

UNICEF's spokesman James Elder told IRIN the TMVP would also give UNICEF and the Sri Lankan government access to its camps and offices to verify the status of children associated with the party. UNICEF had complained that efforts to gain access to TMVP camps had been unsuccessful, despite pledges from high-ranked officials. 

"The Action Plan states that the TMVP will carry out checks in all their camps and offices to identify the number and whereabouts of all children in their ranks," Elder said. "They will provide the government and UNICEF with a list of all children, their locations and areas of origin. UNICEF will then work with the government to make contact with the children's parents and begin the preparations for [their] return home." 

Once home, their status will be assessed by Save the Children and the Probation and National Child Protection Authority, the government body overseeing the protection of children. The two agencies will also assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of the children, Elder said. 

"UNICEF's preferred strategy is that all children, wherever possible, return to their families and communities. However, there will be cases where some children upon release need to go into alternative care," said Elder. "Ideally these children should be accommodated in areas where they can maintain their links with their community, culture and family. But if there are security threats to the children, it would be in their best interests to move outside their district until it is safe for them to return." 

According to UNICEF statistics, there were 133 outstanding cases of underage recruitment by the TMVP as of 31 October. Of that number, 62 were younger than 18, while 71, who had been recruited while under 18, had passed that age. 

Muralitharan told IRIN his organisation was not recruiting children into armed combat but that most of the underage members had sought protection. 

When it entered elected politics in the Batticaloa District in eastern Sri Lanka, its home base, by contesting two regional elections in March and May this year, the TMVP also released more underage recruits from its ranks. In April, it released 39 children just before the elections for the Eastern Provincial Council.