According to UNICEF in a report published in 2011, more than 60 per cent of t...

According to UNICEF in a report published in 2011, more than 60 per cent of the LTTE's fighting cadre from 1983 to 2002 consisted of boys and girls less than 18 years of age. UNICEF recorded more than 5,700 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE from 2003 to 2009. Human Rights Watch has suggested a figure of more than 21,000. Following the tsunami, orphaned children were harvested for combat purposes. Child soldiers were also used as suicide bombers, especially girls. Each family was forced to surrender even very young children for combat purposes in the final stages of the conflict. The LTTE had no scruples about sacrificing thousands of children in the frontline of combat. Children were given cyanide capsules by their leaders to commit suicide to avoid capture.