Previous Responses to Information Requests LKA3016 of 30 November 1989, LKA3128 of 4 December 1989 and LKA3745 of 5 February 1990, available at your Resource Centre, provided information on forced recruitment of Tamil youths by both the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (EPRLF) up to 1990. More recent information on forced recruitment by these two organizations, wiped out of Sri Lanka as a military force after the retreat of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) in 1990, is currently unavailable to the DIRB in Ottawa.

Forced recruitment is still continuing, however. According to the government-controlled Island newspapers, boys and girls, sometimes as young as 11 years of age, are being forcibly conscripted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (Xinhua 14 Jan. 1992). The same source reported, in April 1992, that, due to the high casualties within its ranks, the LTTE was forced to resume recruitment (Ibid. 26 Apr. 1992). The Canadian Human Rights Mission to Sri Lanka in January 1992 reported that the LTTE forcibly conscripts young people in the north and the east (Jan. 1992, 19).

The government has also recruited Sinhalese and Muslim villagers in northeastern Sri Lanka; although it is unclear whether the recruitment is forced or not, the Mobilisation and Supplementary Forces Act of 1985 does allow for the compulsory conscription of all sections of the population into "auxiliary" or civil defence forces (Amnesty International June 1992, 2). Also, the government of Sri Lanka has been unable to account for more than 2,000 missing Tamil youths in 1991 (Sri Lanka Resource Centre June 1991, 1). A 1991 report indicates that in Batticaloa, people were regularly abducted by persons driving a van at night, but no one was aware of their fate (Ibid.).

Corroborative or additional information on this subject is currently unavailable to the DIRB in Ottawa.

Amnesty International. June 1992. Sri Lanka: Deliberate Killings of Muslim and Tamil Villagers in Polonnaruwa. (AI Index: ASA 37/10/92). London: Amnesty International, p. 2.

The Canadian Human Rights Mission to Sri Lanka. January 1992. Report. Ottawa: Canadian Human Rights Mission to Sri Lanka, p. 19.

Sri Lanka Resource Centre. June 1991. A Special Report on Disappearances and Human Rights Violations in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Oslo: Sri Lanka Resource Centre, p. 1.

The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 26 April 1992. "Rebel Military Organ Resumes Recruitment in Sri Lanka." (NEXIS)

. 14 January 1992. "Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Poised to Combat Army Thrust." (NEXIS)

Amnesty International. June 1992. Sri Lanka: Deliberate Killings of Muslim and Tamil Villagers in Polonnaruwa. (AI Index: ASA 37/10/92). London: Amnesty International, p. 2.

The Canadian Human Rights Mission to Sri Lanka. January 1992. Report. Ottawa: Canadian Human Rights Mission to Sri Lanka, p. 19.

Sri Lanka Resource Centre. June 1991. A Special Report on Disappearances and Human Rights Violations in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Oslo: Sri Lanka Resource Centre, p. 1.

The Xinhua General Overseas News Service. 26 April 1992. "Rebel Military Organ Resumes Recruitment in Sri Lanka." (NEXIS)

. 14 January 1992. "Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Poised to Combat Army Thrust." (NEXIS)