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Caring for the children in Tamileelam - Press Release

The Child Protection Authority (CPA) of the LTTE Peace Secretariat is dedicated to ensuring the security and the full development of the children of Tamileelam. It functions on the principals enunciated in the United Nations instruments for the protection and development of children.

On this International Day of Children celebrated in many countries of the world, CPA wishes to affirm its commitment to its goals and also wishes to enumerate the enormous challenges faced in enhancing child welfare and the achievements reached in Tamileelam. Hopes were raised in Tamilelam, when the ceasefire was signed in 2002 more than four and a half years ago, that the devastation wrought on the children of Tamileelam could be reversed. In a society, children are the ones who can least afford to wait; everyday without adequate nutrition and education is a loss to their development. However, CPA faces challenges in achieving its goals, in the face of recent brutal military onslaught on the children of Tamileelam by the Sri Lankan military and other forces operated by it.

Underage children continue to flock to join the LTTE for several reasons. High in the minds of these children, whose lives were wrought with tragedies caused by the Sri Lankan military, is the thought of revenge. The CPA has been forceful in ensuring that these children are returned home and when this is not in the best interest of the child they are put through vocational training at the Education and Skill Development Centre. CPA has met with substantial success in this effort and is determined to pursue until it achieves 100% success.

In an uncompleted survey conducted by the North East Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR) together with the Northeast Statistical Division, in 2004, statistics was collected about children killed by the Sri Lankan military over the period of more than three decades from the 1970 till the signing of the ceasefire agreement. Based on this statistics, 365 children under the age of 5; 494 children between the ages of 5 and 10; and 4094 children between the ages of 11 and 17 were killed. Some of the children were killed by indiscriminate bombing and shelling and there were also many children who were killed by brutal murders carried out by the Sri Lankan military. Two examples of glaring cases are, the pogrom in September 1990 when 42 children under the age of 10 were brutally murdered in Saththurukondan in Batticaloa; and the Navaly church bombing in 1995 in Jaffna when 43 children were killed. During this same period 471 schools were fully or partially damaged by bombing and shelling according to the Zonal Divisions of the Department of Education.

After a short period of lull in attacks on children and schools following the ceasefire agreement in 2002, these attacks have increased again over the last one year. 48 children under the age of 17 were killed by the Sri Lankan military and forces operated by it. At least 56 children were disappeared by the same forces; the number of children disappeared could be more than 200, based on some reports of large scale abductions by Sri Lankan military operated paramilitary group in Batticaloa. Some of the murders of the children were carried out in the most brutal manner. The shooting of a baby and a four year old together with their parents in Allaipiddy and the killing and hanging of two children in Vankalai and many other similar ones has weighed on the conscience of the world.

Presently 5400 students from 30 schools in LTTE areas are unable attend schools because the schools are not functioning due to displacement caused by shelling and aerial bombardment by the Sri Lankan military. Another 10 schools in the Mullaithivu district are not functioning because it has to be used to house displaced people escaping shelling and bombing by the Sri Lanka military. This is affecting the education of a further 4000 students.

Prior to the ceasefire agreement as well as since the ceasefire agreement all most all of the civilians who were killed have dependent school aged and pre-school children. It is estimated that one in 300 children in Tamileelam has lost at least one parent through such killings.

The LTTE and several indigenous organizations came forward to care for these children who are left in poverty and left without parents due to ravages of the military offensives. Leading these organizations are the TRO, Education council of Tamileelam and the Centre for Women’s Development and Rehabilitation (CWDR). United National Agencies and International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) have also pitched in to assist these indigenous organizations to take forward these programs. Some of the programs put in place by these organizations are briefly described below.

Senchcholai, managed by the LTTE, was created in 1993 to care for the children who have lost their family in the war. Janani, Head of Senchcholai, capturing the belief in Senchcholai children says,

“From the time Senchcholai was created the word ‘orphan’ was forbidden inside Senchcholai and among those working for Senchcholai. Although the children have lost their family they have not lost their rights. These children have all the rights that children with parents enjoy. Senchcholai generated a status for these children that are in par with the status of other children. A new outlook was created along the line, ‘These are children of Tamileelam. These are our children. There are none among them who have no one.’”

This concept was captured by all the children’s homes that sprung later to care for such children. One-hundred-and-sixty-five (165) children’s homes are caring for 9,577 children in Tamileelam. Several such homes are run under the auspices of TRO. One such home run by TRO is the Iniya Vazhvu Illam (Good Life Home) created for children with sight, hearing and speech impairment and addresses their special educational needs. The home cares for 80 children. Iniya Vazhvu Illam is proud of the four of children in their care who have moved on to attend Jaffna University.

Education and Skill Development Centre (ESDC) is managed by TRO and Rural Education and Economic Development Organisation (REERDO), to take care of children who are unable continue their education in mainstream schools because they have missed out too much schooling. Underage youths who refused to return home after joining the LTTE are also placed at ESDC. UNICEF and the parents visit ESDC regularly and meet the children. Children learning here are given vocational guidance to train in some trade of their choice. Programs are also in place to provide care for families raising their own children. Mother-Child Care centres, run by CWDR, care for the nutritional requirement of pregnant mothers, nursing mothers, and children under five with their mothers, who otherwise would not receive adequate nourishment.

Several programs to assist in the educational development children have also been put in place. Preschools have been started by TRO from urban centres to the remotest areas. There are more than 2,400 preschools that have a total of 70,000 preschoolers. Some of these pre-schools in the poorer areas also double up as nutrition centres and day care centres when both parents are forced to work to make ends meet.

Many Sri Lankan State run schools in Tamileelam face acute teacher shortage. Volunteer teachers are employed and their salaries are paid by the Education Council of Tamil Eelam to fill some of these vacancies. Free evening classes are also arranged where children can do their homework.

The CPA will persevere to enhance these facilities and add more programs in order to ameliorate the adverse effects of the Sri Lankan military attacks on the children of Tamileelam.

CPA is also gratified to note that in comparison to the rest of the island child-labour and child-abuse are extremely low in Tamileelam. Offenders in both cases are severely punished. Especially the extremely low incidents of child-abuse in Tamileelam are something to be proud of. CPA will pursue with vigour to ensure that every child in Tamileelam will enjoy 100% his/her rights declared in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.

01 October 2006

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