Vol. 8 Issue 7 - Public International Law & Policy Group

Last month, Sri Lankan military commanders said Prabhakaran may have left the island as
his retreating forces were driven back into a small area of jungle.
Sri Lanka's navy has stepped up patrols along the island's north-eastern coast to track
attempts by rebel leaders to escape, while India and Malaysia have put ports on alert.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) here said they were preparing to
evacuate another batch of wounded and sick from Mullaittivu on Monday.
ICRC spokeswoman Sophie Romanans said they had already helped bring out 745 war
wounded, other patients and carers last week.
The ICRC had said a "humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding in the region where the
government says thousands of civilians are held as a human shield by the Tamil Tiger
guerrillas.
The United Nations, the US and Britain have asked the Tigers to allow civilians to leave the
conflict zone while urging the Colombo government to declare a temporary truce. Both have
rejected the call.
On Saturday, the defense ministry accused the Tigers of a grenade attack that killed a woman
and wounded 13 people who were trying to flee the shrinking area still under rebel control.
Claims by either side can not be verified as the government severely restricts access to the
war zone.
Sri Lanka rebels sign up child soldiers for final battle
Amal Jayasinghe, Agence France Presse, 2/17/09
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have stepped up conscription of child soldiers, the United Nations
agency for children said on Tuesday, as the rebels prepared for a final onslaught by the
military.
Government troops are on the verge of crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) and ending their 37-year campaign for an independent Tamil homeland after a series
of victories across the northeast of the island.
"We have clear indications that the LTTE has intensified forcible recruitment of civilians and
that children as young as 14 years old are now being targeted," Philippe Duamelle,
UNICEF's chief in Sri Lanka, said.
The Tigers, who are encircled in a small patch of jungle, have a long record of using child
soldiers, and have recruited more than 6,000 since 2002 according to UNICEF.