Sri Lankan Rebels Step-Up Child Soldier Recruitment
(17 Feb 09-RV) The U.N. Children’s Fund today said Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels
have stepped up child recruitment in the civil war against government forces, leading
to the death or wounding of many. The rebels who lost many of their strongholds to
government forces in the past months are now fighting desperately to defend a small
sliver of land in the northeast where they are cornered near the island's coast. Since
2003, UNICEF has recorded more than 6,000 cases of children recruited by the LTTE.
Some are as young as 14 years old. The Communication Chief at UNICEF Sri Lanka, James
Elder, told us more about the horrors that child soldiers face.