Children Still Forced To Fight Wars

[dgridley]

COLOMBO, 19 July 2007 (IRIN) - For four years, R. Ganesh and his wife Lakshmi have held out hope that one day they would see their son safely return to his home in Trincomalee District in eastern Sri Lanka. Lakshmi has hardly stopped crying since the day her only child, Jeggan, then nine years old, was taken away by members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and forcibly recruited as a soldier.

Jeggan was abducted on 14 December 2002 by four LTTE soldiers, dressed in combat uniforms, who forced their way into the family’s house.

“They stuck guns to our foreheads and told us not to scream,” Lakshmi told IRIN. “They blindfolded the three of us and told us that we had to fight for the Tamil struggle,” she added. “They then took my son away and we have not seen him since.”

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73308

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, is a militant organization that has been waging a violent secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s in order to create a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). [wiki]

Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all over the world with children being pressed into battle. Just wanted to bring this to mind so we can appreciate the things we may have that they do not.

 

[ZuraX]

I dont see how this works. I would be scared the people we kidnap to fight would kill me when I wasnt looking...

 

[bluearrow]

COLOMBO, 19 July 2007 (IRIN) - For four years, R. Ganesh and his wife Lakshmi have held out hope that one day they would see their son safely return to his home in Trincomalee District in eastern Sri Lanka. Lakshmi has hardly stopped crying since the day her only child, Jeggan, then nine years old, was taken away by members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and forcibly recruited as a soldier.
Jeggan was abducted on 14 December 2002 by four LTTE soldiers, dressed in combat uniforms, who forced their way into the family’s house.
“They stuck guns to our foreheads and told us not to scream,” Lakshmi told IRIN. “They blindfolded the three of us and told us that we had to fight for the Tamil struggle,” she added. “They then took my son away and we have not seen him since.”
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73308
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, is a militant organization that has been waging a violent secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s in order to create a separate Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). [wiki]
Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens all over the world with children being pressed into battle. Just wanted to bring this to mind so we can appreciate the things we may have that they do not.

They use younger kids since its easy brainwash them and make them think them selfs as freedom fighters. Sad thing is they can't even run away because first thing they get if you run away you will be dead or one of your family members will be dead.
Its same story for suicide bombers too if they refuse or run away without reaching the target their families would be tortured to death. They have no choice but give up their lives so their families can live another day. And rest of the world see it as they die for freedom !

.

 

[Jeffrey]

This is similar too in El Salvador during the 1980s where the boys at age 12 were forced to become soldiers, not by the rebels, but by the government of El Salvador. What made it worse was the US was financially and technically supporting the government of El Salvador. Many innocent people especially children got killed in the process.

I got that information from the movie Innocent Voices, it is based on true story of the crews of the movie production.

 

[dgridley]

More info:

http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm

http://www.child-soldiers.org/

http://www.amnesty.org/childsoldiers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children