by Namini Wijedasa
The head of the country’s national child protection body last week lashed out at the international and local community for clamping shut on the LTTE’s recruitment of child soldiers, saying that anyone drafting children to the armed forces could not be for peace.

"My core issue is why are we quiet about child abductions and recruitment?" said Prof. Harendra de Silva, chairman of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), directing his criticism also at local and international aid agencies and NGOs.

"I have spoken to members of the international community... I can even mention names if it comes to a push...," he elaborated in an interview with The Island. "I tried to speak to them so many times and they say no, no, no, don’t talk about child soldiers, it’s too sensitive. You will upset the peace process."

"But my question is how are you going to have a peace process in which there is abduction of children?" he asked. "If you want peace, you can’t demonstrate that by building up your forces. This applies to both sides."

De Silva has just completed a book called ‘War, Violence and the Child’ (due to be published in the near future). He has also written two international papers on child soldiers. Much of his research is based on interviews with child soldiers. Meanwhile, the NCPA recently led numerous raids and investigations resulting in the successful detention of many child sex abusers and paedophiles.

Stressing that he is not spurred by political gain, de Silva emphasised that children were being used as the main fighting force of the LTTE for several reasons. For instance, they have idealist minds.

"You can tell them something and make them believe it," he explained. They are also strong, flexible, have no responsibilities, are more easily brainwashed and are less likely to ask questions.

"We have to be able to speak about this," de Silva asserted.

Commenting about child soldiers and continued recruitment, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission chief Trond Furuhovde said that the SLMM had set out very clearly to the LTTE that the practice was a violation of international rules and regulations.

"They can’t do it," Furuhove said in an interview. "It upsets a lot of people. It has upset the international society and everybody knows that."

SLMM reports in the past few months have shown that child abductions and drafting continues unabated.

"Sometimes I wonder why they don’t stop it," he continued. "That is the question everybody else is asking themselves. There is no difference between my feeling in this issue and anybody else’s. On the contrary, I bring this up more or less at every meeting I have."

"The LTTE understands that this is a breach of international rules and regulations. To build their image and to be accepted by the international community, they have to react according to international requirements."

However, Furuhovde pointed out that his understanding of the LTTE was that they didn’t want to be forced or pushed into a situation — dictated a solution. They want self-determination and the freedom to find their own solution. The LTTE needs support to find a solution, he said.

Furuhovde said he found the phenomenon of continuing LTTE child recruitment "strange" because the Tiger leadership expressed commitment to eradicating the practice. He explained that he found the leadership very concerned about ending child drafting.

"On the other hand, something is happening in the local areas that doesn’t correspond with decisions taken by the leadership," he pointed out. "This is something we can see all the time".

The SLMM keeps the LTTE leadership well informed of all the complaints it receives by forwarding the reports. They also take up the issue in discussions.

Furuhovde said the Tigers need co-operation. "There will be no quick fix," he warned.

Prof. de Silva emphasised that there were various negative effects on children drafted to the military. From a rights perspective, a child has the right to live with his/her parents and siblings, associate with his/her friends and express opinion. It’s a rights violation for a child to be used as a soldier.

The practice is classified in section 180 of the International Labour Organisation as a form of child labour. A child is made to fight, kill or attack other people and manufacture or lay bombs. Recruitment exposes a child to actual or potential damage; he is likely to be attacked or injured.

"The basic definition of child abuse can be applicable in this instance," he stressed.

There is also a process of emotional abuse: forcing a child to think in a particular way and prohibiting him/her from raising questions. There is psychological and mental abuse. A child is trained to become an anti-social or destructive person. A child is blackmailed. He is prevented from expressing his/her opinion and punished in various ways or threatened.

There was also the great possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder. The child is denied an education, thus depriving him/her of a future.

"Where are we going?" Prof. de Silva asked. "Even if they get Eelam, what will happen to these kids? At the moment, they live in fear and are restricted. But what other training do they have? They are killing machines."