<<previous  |  index  |  next>>

V. Life in the LTTE for Child Soldiers

Basic Training

Former child soldiers told Human Rights Watch they were held at a local LTTE political office or camp for two or three days before being transported to a training camp. Males and females were separated for basic training, which often took place in groups of 250 to 300 young adults and children. Former child soldiers reported rigorous training, including physical exercise, weapons training, and military strategy. Errors or attempted escapes were met with harsh punishment.

A girl recruited at age thirteen described her training experience:

At the camp we did exercise. We got the metal parts for the weapons, and learned how to dismantle and put them back together again. We did target shooting. If we didn’t shoot at the correct target, then we were punished. We were hit. We had to do sit-ups. One punishment was to crawl on our elbows and knees. This happened to me. We also had to dig bunkers in the ground. We had training on war tactics: if there is an army camp, how to approach, kill, plan the attack.⁴⁸

Trainees said they typically rose at 4 a.m. to begin training. One girl, recruited in 2002 at age fifteen, said:

The training was very difficult. They don’t care if it’s a rainy or sunny day. If you get too tired and can’t continue, they will beat you. Once when I first joined, I was dizzy. I couldn’t continue and asked for a rest. They said, “This is the LTTE. You have to face problems. You can’t take a rest.” They hit me four or five times with their hands.⁴⁹

Another former child soldier trained in late 2002 said, “The hardest thing was crawling to enter enemy camps. We learned to use weapons but not real bullets. I was very unhappy, but we couldn’t express our feelings.”⁵⁰

The youngest cadres being trained were often twelve or thirteen. One girl told us that at age twelve, she was the youngest in her training group, but that there were about ten other girls her age.⁵¹ Another, recruited at age fifteen, reported that in her group, “The youngest was eleven. There were about nine that age. The youngest ones are given the same training [as older trainees]. Even if they can’t do it, they have to do it.”⁵²  Another witness, recruited at age fifteen, said that in her unit of about thirty-five girls at least twelve were “very young, very underage.”⁵³

One girl trained in 2002 at age thirteen said that, “I was unhappy and ill. Some of the training was easy to follow; some of it was very difficult. The hardest part was having to roll on the floor and jump over fences.”⁵⁴

Contact with Family

Most of the former child soldiers Human Rights Watch interviewed said they were allowed no contact with their families during training. Aruna said, “I was homesick. I missed my brothers and sisters. My parents came to the camp to see me, but the LTTE did not allow me to see them. So for one year, I could not see my parents. Lots of times, my parents came to see me, but the LTTE would not allow it.”⁵⁵

Vimala said, “When we played together, I was happy, but at night, I worried about my family. My parents could not come to see me. They wouldn’t allow anyone to visit.”⁵⁶

Rangini, who was forcibly abducted in 2003 at age sixteen, described how she felt when her parents visited her for the first time:  “I was very happy to see my mother but very unhappy when she left, even sadder than before.”⁵⁷  She was able to see her mother one more time, but that was completely by accident.  Her mother had to report to the LTTE camp about the death of her uncle and was allowed to visit her daughter while at the camp.⁵⁸ 

Selvamani, recruited in 2002 at age fifteen, said, “I was with the LTTE for two and a half years. I only saw my parents twice. I was not allowed to write letters.”⁵⁹

Advanced Training

After basic training, which typically lasts four to seven months, LTTE soldiers are assigned to units for further, specialized training, depending on what their superior officers have decided to be their particular strengths. Further training can include combat operations, use of specific weapons systems (including landmines, bombs, or heavy weapons), security (including providing personal security for senior cadres such as Karuna), intelligence, or non-military skills, including first aid or administration.  Children with little education are frequently assigned to combat units, while children with more years of schooling may be more likely to be trained in medicine, intelligence, or administration.  

A young woman recruited at age nineteen described her medical training. “I learned first aid, how to prevent fever, to use saline bottles, and dress wounds. I studied for one year. After training, I was assigned to a group as a nurse and treated fever and minor wounds.”⁶⁰ One sixteen-year-old girl told us she was trained in front-line medical care.  She considered herself lucky because she was able to learn English as part of the training.  When the Vanni LTTE attacked Karuna’s forces, her unit was assigned to the front lines at Vaharai, but she managed to escape before the fighting began.⁶¹ 

One former LTTE cadre described being sent for political propaganda work.  She was later assigned to an LTTE political office where she worked until the split in the LTTE.⁶² 

Vimala, recruited in 2003 at age seventeen, said:

After four months I was sent to a landmines unit. I learned to handle landmines, to place them. I did this for four months. I couldn’t concentrate. Sometime a landmine would explode and children would be injured. Their fingers, hands, face. One time we were working in a line, and the last girl made a mistake when removing a landmine. It exploded and she lost a finger. She was seventeen. I was scared to handle them.⁶³

Nirmala, recruited at age fourteen, said:

I was in a combat unit. I had nine children and was responsible for their training. Some were twelve or thirteen.  The most difficult part was heavy weapons training, and using the RPG [rocket-propelled grenade launcher]. We also used bombs and landmines. We practiced placing [fake] landmines. If the opposing forces come and the landmines didn’t go off, you were supposed to sleep on the mines for punishment. In another drill, we were sent to find hidden Claymore [remote activated] mines. If we didn’t find them, we were forced to run for one to one and a half hours.⁶⁴

Another witness, forcibly recruited when she was fifteen years old, said that after receiving a head injury during frontline combat, she was re-trained to do other tasks.  She received specialized training on LTTE administration and finance.  She was also taught English.  After her injury, she was not sent to the frontlines again, and instead did administrative work for the LTTE.⁶⁵

Punishment and Discipline

Discipline in the LTTE is strict, and punishment for mistakes can be harsh. Manchula said, “After the first training I had special training on carrying heavy weapons. We carried them around the playground. One day I had cramps and fever and said I couldn’t come. They poured hot water on my body and back as punishment. This left a burn mark.”⁶⁶

The LTTE practices collective punishment, often punishing an entire group for the mistakes of one member. Ammani, who trained at age thirteen, said, “If you make a mistake or don’t follow orders, you are assigned difficult physical training. This happened to me once. One girl in my group made a mistake, so we were all punished.”⁶⁷

Vanmathi said that because she was an orphan, the LTTE “treated me very well.” But she was still held responsible for mistakes in her training group. “I had ten other cadres to train. If any of them made a mistake or tried to escape, I had to face punishment. Punishment could be being sent into the forest with two seniors for a beating.”⁶⁸

Punishment is particularly harsh for those who try to escape. Children who are caught are typically beaten in front of their training unit, in part as a warning to others. Nirmala said:

Lots of people tried to escape. But if you get caught, they take you back and beat you. Some children die. If you do it twice, they shoot you. In my wing, if someone escaped, the whole group was lined up to watch them get beaten. I saw it happen, and know of cases from other groups. If the person dies, they don’t tell you, but we know it happens.⁶⁹

Several children said that they considered trying to run away but abandoned their plans when they saw the beatings others received. Selvamani said, “Some others tried to escape, and ran to their homes, so the LTTE was able to recapture them. They were tied and beaten.  I thought about trying to escape, but saw others being beaten, so changed my mind.”⁷⁰

Combat

Since the cease-fire agreement was signed in February 2002, except for an occasional cease-fire violation, there has been no significant military combat between the LTTE and government forces. Very few of the former child soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch had any combat experience, since the large majority had been recruited in the two years since the cease-fire, or shortly before the cease-fire took effect.

One young woman, who was twenty-one when we interviewed her, was recruited in the late 1990s at age sixteen and trained as a medic. She said she was exposed to combat many times:

I participated in many battles. There are incidents I can never forget. I fought my first battle in 1998 in a Sinhala border area. When the soldiers got wounded, they would be left there screaming and I was supposed to treat them. There were times when I was about to get caught by the army, but I escaped. At that time, you always remember your home. I carried one grenade and one cyanide capsule. We were medical personnel; this was for our protection. When the army comes we were supposed to throw the grenade at them or blow ourselves up. There are plenty of times when this happened.⁷¹

Another woman, who was forcibly recruited at the age of fifteen, told us she fought her first battle at the age of sixteen armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and no helmet.  She was shot in the head during that battle.⁷²  Another woman experienced her first battle in 1997, at the age of sixteen, four months after she had been recruited.  Although she was badly injured, she was sent to another frontline position after she had recovered.  She contracted a serious illness after this second battle, and was in an LTTE hospital for an entire year, recovering.  She said she was sent to the frontline two more times after this.⁷³

Vanji, who joined voluntarily at the age of sixteen, was severely disabled during combat on the frontlines.  She is now very bitter about her experience: 

They took away my younger brother the other day.  He was coming home from the market and he was taken away.  I went and begged them, saying I gave you years of my life and I gave you my health.  Please let me have my brother back—he is the only one I have who takes care of me, helps me to go to the toilet, helps me get into bed.  They didn’t release him, and they threatened to shoot me if I reported his abduction to any NGOs.  They also told me at the same time that I had to re-join.  Is this how they thank me for all the time I gave them?  Why are they doing this to me?⁷⁴

All the children interviewed who had experienced combat described themselves as having been very scared. 

Since the cease-fire, the LTTE has allowed some child soldiers to study after completing basic training. Most, however, appear to receive continuous military training. After basic training, they may receive six months of specialized training, followed by additional courses of military training.