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[COLOMBO, 18 December 2008] - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, losing territory in a major military offensive, have stepped up forced conscription of soldiers, including children, a rights group said on Monday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has also tightened restrictions on civilians trying to flee the fighting in northern Sri Lanka, it said. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Tigers were "brutally abusing the Tamil population in areas under their control" and the plight of ordinary people had become worse as fighting escalated. "The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians in the (northern region of) Wanni," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. The report came as government forces moved to dismantle the LTTE's grip in the island's north and capture the rebels' political capital of Kilinochchi. "As the LTTE loses ground to advancing government forces, their treatment of the very people they say they are fighting for is getting worse," Adams said. Only about 1,000 people had escaped the LTTE-controlled Wanni area since March, HRW said. The rebels have often been accused of recruiting young boys and girls to join its military ranks. The rights group said the LTTE now forces two or more family members to join them. "Trapped in the LTTE's iron fist, ordinary Tamils are forcibly recruited as fighters and forced to engage in dangerous labour near the front lines," it said. The report said the LTTE had urged 14- to 18-year-old children to join the group, often sending 17-year-olds for military training. The rebels calculate that by the time such cases are reported to child protection agencies, the youths have turned 18 years and no longer considered as child soldiers, the HRW report said. "Last year they were taking people born in 1990, now those born in 1991," the HRW report quoted a humanitarian official in the Wanni as saying. This month, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said there were 1,500 outstanding cases of child-soldier recruitment by the LTTE. UNICEF estimates that its figures reflect only a third of the actual number of children enlisted. The rebels, who have been fighting for a separate state for minority Tamils since 1972, have been accused of killing tens of thousands of people, including politicians, journalists and those opposed to their rule. Further information
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